Lawsuit generates publicity, stokes opposition to illegal alien day labor site

Lawsuit generates publicity, stokes opposition to illegal alien day labor site

A public-interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption says it's very pleased that a Virginia community has shut down a controversial day labor site that had been a magnet for illegal aliens.

Officials in Herndon, Virginia ,ordered the site closed down September 14, after two years of legal challenges from local taxpayers who believed the city's sanctuary policy violated the law and worsened the illegal alien problem in the city. Tom Fitton is president of Judicial Watch, which represented the citizens. He says the pressure of a lawsuit got things moving.

"We're real pleased the Herndon town council shut down its illegal alien day labor site which used tax dollars to support the illegal hiring of illegal aliens," says Fitton. "We sued Herndon two years ago on behalf of local taxpayers, and that generated a ton of opposition to the day labor site and ... ultimately led to its demise."

The Judicial Watch leader is convinced city officials would not have made the decision to close the site if it were not for pressure created by the lawsuit. The opposition was strong, he says, when local citizens contacted JW.

"We galvanized the opposition," he explains. "[T]his was the first legal challenge to these day labor sites across the country -- and not only now in Herndon is there significant opposition, obviously ..., but in other localities and across the country, citizens are opposed to these illegal day labor sites, and no longer are these day labor sites seen as uncontroversial."

Fitton says Judicial Watch is pursuing a similar taxpayer lawsuit against Laguna Beach, California, over its use of taxpayer money to fund an illegal day labor site. That lawsuit is scheduled for trial October 1.