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Published on 12/09/1996 All articles from this issue

Hospital district to review job center legality after hearing opposition

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Town Crier Staff Report

St. Joseph the Worker Job Center is again meeting with opposition, this time from a group that questions the funding of such a center for "illegal aliens."

The El Camino Hospital District Board agreed to review the legality of providing $67,500 in funding for the job center, which opened a location last month in Mountain View at 4898 El Camino Real.

"We do not want any more of our tax money being spent to provide job services to people who are here in this country illegally," said Joseph LaVelle of Sunnyvale, a member of Immigration Control Advocates. LaVelle said a job center does not get workers off the street.

"It makes the situation much worse because it encourages more people to come," he said. "This is because it sends the message that Americans support illegal aliens coming here."

Josephina Fregoso de Ramirez, the center's administrator, said she's been busy registering workers who have come to use the center.

"We've been able to place a lot more people (at the new location," she said. Fregoso de Ramirez said the center has close to 400 workers registered.

"Contractors feel relieved we have a place like this," she said.

Fregoso de Ramirez has said many of the workers are here legally, but the center helps regardless of their status.

The day worker center is the outcome of months of efforts by several groups, most notably St. Joseph Church of Mountain View.

The El Camino Hospital grant, announced in December 1995, was the greatest funding source.

The center has been opposed by those concerned with the presence of loitering workers.

Richard Warren, the hospital district's executive director, said the issue would return to the board in January for further discussion and a possible decision on whether to continue funding.