They try to make a living waiting on street sides in the heat of the afternoon sun, offering cheap work to the people who pass by each day.
Many people drive by groups of day laborers throughout the East Valley each day, and Tempe and neighboring cities have begun to take notice.
Rosa Inchausti, diversity manager for Tempe, said the city has not had as many problems with day laborers as other Valley cities.
Still, Inchausti said it was important for Tempe to pay attention to local day laborers and employers because it is a state, regional and national issue.
"I think we're trying to be proactive," she said.
In Chandler, the workers became enough of an issue to prompt city officials to hold a forum for East Valley cities, including Tempe, last Thursday.
Many people may incorrectly perceive all day laborers to be illegal immigrants, said Leah Powell, an assistant to the Chandler city manager and one of the coordinators of the event.
"Not everyone, the day laborers, out there is an illegal worker, which is a common misconception," Powell said. "If a group of people is congregating in an area, people have these perceptions that it's unsafe."
Powell said Chandler has a day-labor center that has been open for about two years and has helped the people who choose to take advantage of it.
"The people who utilize it are successful," she said. "It's underutilized, is the problem."
Powell said after speaking with local day laborers, Chandler found that many people did not realize the day labor center existed.
Many laborers think they have a better chance of getting jobs if they are on the street, and wonder if they will make less money by using the center, Powell said.
"A misperception on the laborer's part is that there is a fee to use the center, there's not."
The center is run by a local church, Light and Life Free Methodist Church, and no city funding is used, Powell said.
"It is done all with donations," Powell said.
Joel Navarro, a member of Tempe's human-relations commission and chair of the day-labor subcommittee, said he thought the forum created a good and necessary dialogue among concerned parties.
Navarro said the insight and statistics he heard from city of Los Angeles representatives at the forum were particularly helpful.
"California is probably the number one location in day labor," he said.
Navarro described Tempe as a progressive community that is open to "new and better ways of doing things."
"We're just trying to organize [the city] so it's a more desirable atmosphere for everybody," Navarro said.
Reach the reporter at emilia.arnold@asu.edu.
