by Brent Ashabranner

About the author: Brent Ashabranner writes books for young adults on social issues.

Every morning at six o’clock Roberto leaves his shabby room in a Los Angeles boardinghouse and walks eight blocks to a street where mostly Hispanic men in work clothes have already begun to gather on the sidewalk. Like Roberto, they are illegal immigrants, and also like Roberto, they hope that a labor recruiter will come by and pick them for a day’s work on a construction job. Hiring illegal aliens is against the law, but some employers are willing to take the risk because illegals will work for less pay and expect no job benefits beyond their daily pay.

With only a few years of elementary-school education, Roberto had never been able to find work in Hermosillo...