WHAT'S NEXT

Tell Herndon City Council to Abolish Discriminatory Day Laborer Restrictions
  1. Signatures
    138 out of 500
    Petitioning
    1. Councilmember (+ 5 others)
      Petitioning
      close
      • Councilmember (Connie Haines Hutchinson)
      • Vice Mayor (Lisa Merkel)
      • Councilmember (Sheila A. Olem)
      • Councilmember (Jasbinder Singh)
      • Councilmember (Bill Tirrell)
      • Councilmember (Grace Wolf)
  2. Created By
    Prerna Lal
    Washington, DC
About this Petition Petition Letter
How We Won

Feb 09, 2011

Victory! Under pressure from advocates, the Herndon City Council has done away with the discriminatory measure targeted at Latino day laborers.

Several years ago, people in Herndon, Virginia loathed the site of Latino immigrants hanging out for jobs so much that the city passed an ordinance to ban all solicitation along major thoroughfares and their accompanying pedestrian pathways.

The law quashed free speech and has the intent of discriminating against mostly Hispanic laborers seeking day-to-day employment. Additionally, the city ordinance also had unintended consequences and banned all day laborers, from cheerleaders promoting a car wash to people begging for change. Now the City Council is waking up and revisiting the ban, hoping to amend it  to allow people to at least solicit on sidewalks.

It's time to restore some sanity to Herndon, Virginia and let common sense prevail. Tell Herndon City Councilmembers to get rid of discriminatory day labor ordinance.

For more information and to get organized locally, see Virginia New Majority.

Recent Signatures

Abolish Restrictions on Day Laborers

Greetings,

I am writing in support of the recent move by the Herndon City Council to amend its day laborer restrictions.

The current ordinance is a defacto attack on immigrants that does not pass constitutional muster and opens the city to lawsuits. Individuals have a right to stand in public space and engage in free speech related to employment. Herndon cannot use zoning ordinances and anti-solicitation laws to prevent that kind of speech, without violating the constitutional rights of day laborers.

The wave of apparent anti-illegal immigration measures in Herndon has created an unwelcome mood for even legal immigrants. Help Herndon rise about the hate and reconsider the discriminatory ban on day laborers.

Thank you.

[Your name]

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