'Jornalero': Utah documentary puts spotlight on day laborers and the abusive treatment they face

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

A new Utah documentary highlights the abuse faced by some day laborers, immigrants sometimes here illegally.
Pablo Tellechea's film, "Jornalero," puts a focus on the perspectives of three Utah day laborers.
Screenings are scheduled for Weber State University and Salt Lake Community College.

SALT LAKE CITY — As the debate over illegal immigration in the United States intensifies, Pablo Tellechea has sensed an increasing acceptance of abusive treatment targeting day laborers.

Typically immigrants here illegally, day laborers — jornaleros in Spanish — seek landscaping and construction work, usually from outside home improvement and hardware stores. They labor in the informal economy, relying on the goodwill of their clients, sometimes contractors, to pay them. But Tellechea, an independent journalist, says they increasingly face raw treatment, discrimination and worse.

"They don't get paid or they get paid less. Also sometimes, the contractors come to them and say, 'I assume you're illegal. I'm going to call ICE,'" he said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency tasked with enforcing U.S. immigration laws.

Such threatening behavior is illegal, he maintains, and in a bid to shed light on the topic, he's crafted a documentary digging into the topic and offering the perspective of three Utah day laborers, Raúl, Agustín and José.

"Jornalero: Una Mirada al Frente" — or "Day Laborer: A Look Ahead" in English — has been making the rounds at different showings in Utah, and it's to be shown this coming Friday, April 11, at Weber State University in Ogden. Another showing is scheduled for April 18 at Salt Lake Community College in West Valley City. Tellechea, an immigrant from Uruguay, plans to show it in California as well.

He's not aiming to get political, Tellechea said, but his documentary offers a sympathetic look at day laborers even as debate about illegal immigration reaches a crescendo. Immigrants who break the law deserve punishment, he maintains, but day laborers, many of them immigrants from Mexico and the rest of Latin America, are typically seeking pay for hard work.

The photo from the documentary "Jornalero: Una Mirada al Frente" shows journalist Pablo Tellechea, left, interviewing Luis Valentan about day laborers. The documentary looks at the lives of three Utah jornaleros, or day laborers. (Photo: Jornalero: Una Mirada al Frente)

"The documentary shows that even if people here are living without documents, they have rights," said Tellechea, who also hosts a talk show on 107.1 FM, La Ley, a Spanish-language radio station in Salt Lake City. "Even if they don't have legal status to work, asking for a job on a corner is not a crime."

Indeed, in the 44-minute documentary, Tellechea, who teamed up with Alejandra Quechol in making it, points a finger at those who seek work from day laborers and don't pay them or short-change them. The Mexican Consulate of Salt Lake City and Artes de México en Utah, an art and cultural organization, sponsored creation of the documentary.

"In the documentary, I show that the real crime comes from the people that hire them and don't pay. It's a crime. Even if it's an informal job contract, you have to pay them," Tellechea said.

Interspersed with dialogue from Raúl, Agustín and José are comments from lawyers, advocates for day laborers and other experts.

Even if they have rights, day laborers will typically remain quiet in the face of harsh treatment and nonpayment, Tellechea said, part of the motivation for his effort. He estimates Utah is home to 300 or so day laborers, some of them immigrants here legally, and that for 80% or more, such work is their main source of income.

"Most of them stay quiet because they're afraid. They feel they don't have rights and they don't know where to go for help," he said. "They deserve support. Most of them are good people. They're looking for a job. They don't deserve to be treated in that way. They're not criminals."

The showing on Friday, April 11, starts at 5 p.m. and will be held at Weber State's Browning Center. The April 18 showing at Salt Lake Community College at 3460 S. 5600 West in West Valley City starts at 6 p.m. Both are free and open to the public.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.