Day laborers face off with protesters in Mesa

As the Mesa Association of Hispanic Citizens laid out its plan Tuesday to assure day laborers are paid, members of the Minuteman Project for the first time took to the streets of Mesa to protest the hiring of illegal immigrants.

A small group waving American flags and holding signs such as, “If you hire illegals you are the problem,” stood Tuesday morning on one corner of Broadway and Gilbert roads — a common pickup spot for day laborers — while across the street a small group of Hispanics held signs such as “Don’t want guest workers? Get off your (butt) and work.”

The announcement by the Hispanic organization and the protests were unrelated, said Minuteman member and Mesa resident P.J. O’Malley.

“If you are here illegally, you shouldn’t be working, and people picking them up here, they are creating the problem,” O’Malley said.

Richard Lemon said he organized people to go to the intersection to defend the workers after seeing the Minutemen and their supporters.

“The reason these workers live here is Americans don’t want to do these jobs,” Lemon said. “You can’t have it both ways.”

The Broadway and Gilbert intersection was targeted last summer after business owners complained that they were losing customers. But the workers have just moved to the fringes of the intersection.

The Hispanic organization’s president, Phil Austin, said his group’s plan is to file complaints against contractors who do not pay employees, have a team of lawyers help workers file wage claims and report chronic offenders to Mesa police.

The idea of forcing employers to pay their workers — even if they’re here illegally — is not new to the state.

In 2002, state lawmakers introduced a bill spelling out that laws requiring prompt payment applies to all workers regardless of their status.

That bill was written in response to a March 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found a California man, who was illegally fired, could not collect back wages because he was in the country illegally.

Sen. Ken Cheuvront, D-Phoenix, who crafted the measure, said it was voted down despite some bipartisan support at the Legislature.

- Tribune writer Dennis Welch contributed to this report