Anyone who has occasion to traverse Don Bosco Place en route to the Waterfront Place shopping complex may be familiar with the sight of day laborers waiting for a chance to work. A recent New York Times article illustrated both the business successes and the struggles of the Hispanic community in Port Chester. More recently, a piece by Bill Fallon at westfaironline.com focused on the the plight of immigrant day laborers in the context of the national conversation on immigration.
Don Bosco Community Center has been around since 1928, under the aegis of the adjacent Holy Rosary Church, and has adapted as the immigrant population transitioned from Italian to Hispanic.
With but one paid staff member, Gonzalo Cruz, "Don Bosco Workers" officially gained its non-profit status on June 10, though Cruz has for years served as a liaison between the laborers and their temporary employers, and advocating for workers' fair treatment.
With many Hispanic immigrants living right here in Port Chester, Holy Rosary Church celebrates mass in English and Spanish, ministering to a community that was 59.4 percent Latino in the 2010 census according to Fallon.
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Local immigration Lawyer Cynthia Exner who blogs on Port Chester Patch writes on a variety of topics that relate to the immigrant community and their paths to citizenship. Recently Exner received 24 comments on her post about undocumented workers getting drivers' licenses and carrying insurance and most are not sympathetic to the dilemma of the undocumented driver.
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