In this episode, we hear the story of how Farmingdale officials and some of their constituents were growing increasingly hostile to immigrant day laborers in the village. The workers had been congregating at a day-laborer pick-up site close to the housing complex at 150 Secatogue Avenue. While many Latin American immigrants lived there, most of the people involved in the case were NOT day laborers. Nevertheless, they were still ostracized by other Farmingdale locals. 

We hear from local immigrant rights and worker advocates who were involved in campaigns defending the rights of day laborers to congregate safely in neighborhoods where very often local white residents did not want them. It was almost inevitable that the immigrant worker struggle soon merged with the housing discrimination case, just as the local, racist backlash against the Secatogue Nine was bubbling over in online chats and public meetings.

Learn more at qpli.hofstra.edu

This five-part podcast is the product of a multi-disciplinary collaboration between the National Center for Suburban Studies, the Law Reform Advocacy Clinic at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, and the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication’s online hyper-local news site, The Long Island Advocate.