Day Laborer

The Washington Post has a profile of a day laborer. An excerpt:

In the Washington region, the typical day laborer is a 35-year-old Central American man who has been living in the United States less than five years and goes to church, according to a 2004 UCLA study of 16 D.C. area hiring sites. This laborer has at least one child, and he sends money to his home country to support his family. He often performs perilous work -- moving, construction, carpentry -- with no safety training or equipment. The typical Washington area laborer makes $1,620 in a very good month.

Like Daniel, the nationwide study showed, three-fourths of day laborers are illegal immigrants. Daniel agreed to be interviewed for this story because, he says, he wants people to understand the difficulties immigrants face in the United States. He says he also wants to counter the negative impressions of Latinos he thinks Americans might form from news reports about criminals with Hispanic surnames.