EDITORIAL: Judge got it right in day labor case

The Day Labor Site that has served Laguna Beach so well for nearly 20 years is safe, at least for the foreseeable future.

Superior Court judge Gregory Munoz got it right when he determined that the center “provides a public benefit” no matter who its “customers” are — whether legal to work or not.

Laguna has hung onto its Day Labor Site in the face of a two-year onslaught of criticism, protests and in-your-face tactics by opponents who are unapologetically waging a national fight over illegal immigration on a case-by-case basis.

The resilience of Laguna’s program has stood the test of time.

While many cities have abolished long-standing day labor sites and passed new laws designed to discourage private day labor operations, Laguna has continued providing a public service that is apparently greatly needed.

In the new climate of antagonism toward the undocumented, many other cities are now grappling with the same problem that Laguna came to grips with nearly 20 years ago: how to get day-labor seekers off the streets.

A municipal ordinance outlawing the solicitation of employment is unconstitutional and unenforceable, but it is possible to use a carrot-and-stick approach to remedy the problem of chaotic job-seekers on city streets and neighborhoods.

It is clear the “Laguna” approach works best: pass a law that outlaws the behavior where it is not wanted but allows it in a place that is the least problematic, and organize a site and operate it in a manner that encourages rather than discourages its use.

Nearby cities like Costa Mesa that have tried a blunt instrument approach — kick the day laborers out — are finding that simply doesn’t work. The job-seekers don’t go away, they simply go back to the streets.

Now the illegal immigration activists can take their case to a higher court, where they apparently were headed all along, and we’ll find out if the “higher” court judges have the stomach to abolish a workable local solution to an intractable national problem.