Four blocks from my house is a shopping complex. There is a Home Depot. There is a Giant Foods. The Home Depot opened first just before I moved into my house. The Giant Foods came a few months later. There was one additional parcel of land. K-mart was supposed to be there but it went into bankruptcy. Over this summer the final area was developed. It’s a variety of stores.
There is needless to say a large parking lot. The Home Depot is on one side and the Giant and other stores are on the other.
Something else new has been added to the shopping area. It has suddenly become a magnet for day laborers. This past Saturday I was getting a Christmas wreath and couldn’t help but notice the number of men hanging out. While I was driving out of the parking lot, I counted at least 60 guys hanging out.
Less than a year ago no one was hanging out at all. Now 60 or more. When a car or truck looking for workers shows up it is mobbed.
One day I saw fifteen or more guys surrounding a truck that was already full. The driver was explaining that he had enough people for the job.
I have to assume that a large portion of these guys are illegal immigrants. My feeling on solving the problem is this: if you fined the employers for hiring illegals the problem would go away over night. Consumers would then be crying bloody murder because they would have to paying the going rate say for construction. Costs to employers would go up and those would be passed along.
But my point of this is how did the Home Depot parking lot turn into the day labor center. Like I said, less than a year ago there was no one hanging out. Around April or so guys started showing up. How did this happen? How does word spread to the laborers to start going there? How do employers know to go there?
I’m just curious as to the answer.
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