Several civil rights groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the city of Costa Mesa for its anti-solicitation ordinance, which bars day laborers from seeking work on the streets.
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<\/br>The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network are challenging the constitutionality of the ordinance on behalf of two groups whose members have been restricted from seeking work, according to a joint statement from the organizations.\u00a0
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<\/br>The ordinance prohibits people from standing on a sidewalk or other public area and soliciting employment, business or contributions in a way that attracts the attention of moving vehicles, according to the statement. Those in violation are subject to a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail.
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<\/br>\u201cNot only does it discriminate against day laborers but it prohibits protected speech,\u201d said Belinda Escobosa Helzer, staff attorney for the ACLU. \u201cIt\u2019s so sweeping that it bans school children from holding car wash signs on the street or could prevent struggling businesses from using sign spinners.\u201d
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<\/br>Federal courts around the country have stricken down anti-solicitation ordinances, according to the statement.
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<\/br>\u201cDay laborers have contributed to the Costa Mesa economy for decades,\u201d said Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. \u201cParticularly during these tough times, the hard work they provide the community should be rewarded and not the target of destructive law enforcement practices.\u201d
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<\/br>— Raja Abdulrahim<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Several civil rights groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the city of Costa Mesa for its anti-solicitation ordinance, which bars day laborers from seeking work on the streets. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network are challenging the constitutionality […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4133,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-266548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266548\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}