(Washington, DC) -- Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that more than three months after Herndon residents voted out of office proponents of a taxpayer-funded day laborer site for illegal aliens, Herndon taxpayers are still spending up to $435 per hour to defend the site in court.  Herndon officials, meanwhile, refuse to take the necessary steps to make the day laborer site consistent with state and federal law. 
 
The most viable option for the Town of Herndon to ensure that the site is operated in a lawful manner remains the imposition of a simple screening requirement to prevent the provision of services to illegal aliens. 
 
The Town of Herndon has the authority to compel Project Hope & Harmony, the organization operating the day laborer site, to screen users of the site under its “revocable” licensing agreement.  Under the agreement, the Town of Herndon can determine whether activities at the site are being carried out in a lawful manner, and terminate the contract with 30-days notice if illegal activity is occurring at the site.  To date, Herndon officials refuse to exercise this authority.  Most recently, the Herndon taxpayer-funded lawyers spent half a day in court pushing an arcane procedural motion defending the illegal day laborer site.
 
Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit against the Town of Herndon on September 1, 2005 on behalf of Herndon residents who are opposed to the use of taxpayer funds to provide a day laborer site, and various other employment services, for illegal aliens.   Judicial Watch argues that the day laborer site violates a state law prohibiting the use of public funds to assist illegal aliens, and at least seven federal statutes, including laws that prohibit the “encouraging or inducing residence by illegal aliens,” and laws “making it unlawful to provide certain public benefits to illegal aliens.”
 
“The Town of Herndon is forcing taxpayers to not only bear the burden of funding illegal activity, but to also pay for the defense of that illegal activity in court.  This is an unconscionable waste of taxpayer funds and a complete abdication of fiduciary responsibility on the part of Herndon officials,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.  “There is a very simple and practical solution to this legal confrontation.  All Herndon officials must do is to require that users of the day laborer site be screened to make sure they are legally eligible to work in the United States.”
 
Judicial Watch also filed a lawsuit against Fairfax County on October 18, 2005 after the county’s Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to provide $400,000 in taxpayer funds for the operation of three illegal day laborer sites, including the site in Herndon, Virginia.

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Click here to read all documents related to Judicial Watch’s day laborer site lawsuit.