Prince George’s to open center for day laborers

Prince George's County is aiming to join other area communities in opening a day-labor center to curb illegal aliens and others from loitering in public places. Officials plan to begin work within months, despite growing opposition to such facilities.

"Go to any 7-Eleven within a two-mile radius of Langley Park, [and] the intersections will be filled with laborers," County Council member Will Campos said yesterday. "They're not going to go away -- especially if people are hiring them at that spot."

Officials said the center will not check the legal status of laborers, of which Mr. Campos estimates roughly "99.9 percent" are illegal.

Such facilities have moved to the center of the debate over whether local governments should spend taxpayer money to help illegal aliens find work.

In Herndon, town officials are facing a lawsuit for using taxpayer money this past summer to fund a center for day laborers who engaged in such behavior as loitering, urinating and catcalling at women around a 7-Eleven. The center is scheduled to open Dec. 19, despite the opposition.

In Gaithersburg, city officials canceled plans this fall to open a center amid an outcry from residents who were excluded from discussions and planning.

The center in Langley Park will be run by the immigrant advocacy group CASA of Maryland and would be the first in the county and join two others in the state -- in Silver Spring and Wheaton.

Mr. Campos, a Democrat, said CASA officials are negotiating with the owner of the building at Riggs Road and University Boulevard and that the center likely will open within the next three to six months.

"They're in the final, final steps," he said.

CASA and the county would not confirm the location.

The center will replace CASA's temporary one in Takoma Park and will accommodate about 150 laborers, said Kim Propeack, a spokeswoman for the group.

Residents and merchants in the Langley Park area -- like others around the region and the country -- say day laborers are a nuisance and that local governments should help resolve the problem. About 40 laborers mill around outside the Langley Park shopping plaza and a nearby 7-Eleven in Montgomery County, Mr. Campos said.

Miss Propeack said the Langley Park center was proposed about three years ago and that a task force of residents and merchants were consulted.

"This is the end of a very, very long discussion," she said. "The community has already reached an agreement. Certainly there was controversy, but the conclusion was that a new center had to be opened in Langley Park."

Prince George's County will contribute $91,000, said spokesman James Keary. CASA is seeking a grant and private donations to cover renovation costs, Miss Propeack said.

The center will offer English and vocational classes.

Mr. Keary said Langley Park has such a large number of Hispanic, Middle Eastern and Asian immigrants that a strip of shops and restaurants on New Hampshire Avenue has emerged to serve their needs.

Census figures show about 14 percent of county residents are foreign born.

Mr. Keary said everybody in the area will benefit from the center.

"It's just a whole lot better for the business community, for the neighborhood and for the laborers to be coming to a work center rather than hanging out on a corner," he said.