Judge Finds In Favor of Day Laborers' Racial Discrimination Claim

I have been following this case for a while as it relates to my local area, but it is a strong victory for immigrant rights activists nationwide.  Here is a brief quote and a link to the article:

A federal judge ruled Monday that the Village of Mamaroneck discriminated against Hispanic day laborers when it closed a hiring site and stepped up police patrols on the streets where they looked for work.

“Since August 2004, and continuing into this past summer, the defendants have engaged in a campaign designed to drive out the Latino day laborers who gather on the streets of Mamaroneck to seek work,” Judge Colleen McMahon wrote. “The fact that the day laborers were Latinos, and not whites, was, at least in part, a motivating factor in defendants’ actions.”

While finding the village liable, McMahon did not specify a remedy, giving the two sides 10 days to make suggestions. And in a footnote at the end of the decision, she suggested there waas still time to find a settlement.