National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) is a network of labor unions and labor advocacy nonprofits. The network exists to advise its member groups on strategy and on the mobilization and organization of day laborers and their supporters within the wider organized labor movement. ¹ It also engages in litigation against state and federal governments and businesses and forms initiatives to expand worker centers for day laborers across the United States. ^{2 3}

The group supports left-of-center immigration policies including urging cities to adopt sanctuary policies and other tactics to obstruct local coordination between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local law enforcement. The group is vehemently opposed to President Donald Trump and his immigration agenda. ^{4 5}

Background

The National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) was formally founded in July 2001 at a gathering of organizations representing day laborers in Northridge, California. Originally a grouping of 12 community-centered organizations in the movement, NDLON over time became a national force with an added location in Washington, D.C. ⁶

NDLON includes among its stated “Principles & Values” diversity, peace and nonviolence, gender equality, adherence to “the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” and commitment to “green values and practices.” ⁷

Much of the group’s efforts center around opposing deportations of illegal immigrants, as most of the day laborers represented by the group lack legal status in the United States. The group frequently decries “white supremacy,” alleging that Donald Trump’s policies are racist and has described some of Trump’s comments as “Trump’s white supremacist American fever dream.” ⁸

Activities

On its website’s historical timeline, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) cites an October 2000 decision of a federal court judge to strike down as unconstitutional an anti-day-laborer-solicitation ordinance from Los Angeles County as a major moment in day-laborer organizing history. It was the major legal precedent that led other similar ordinances across the country being struck down, legitimizing the day-laborer movement and granting more freedom to NDLON’s practices and activists “regardless of their immigration status.” ⁶

In March 2006, in response to the Sensenbrenner Bill of 2006 (HR 4437), a piece of legislation that would have enhanced immigration law enforcement and expanded border security, NDLON created the ceremonial Day Laborer Run for Peace and Dignity, a cross-nation run from Santa Monica, California, to Coney Island, New York. The run was modeled after a Native American spiritual journey, and its participants included 12 day laborers and labor activists who connected with immigration rights centers along the way. ⁶

In August 2006, NDLON and the AFL-CIO signed a landmark partnership agreement. NDLON soon after became formal partners with Change to Win, another federation of labor unions. ⁶

NDLON launched the “Turning the Tide” campaign to brand the 2010 Arizona immigration restriction legislation SB 1070 as legislation in violation of human rights. ⁶

NDLON runs the Day Laborer Workforce Initiative (DLWI), a New York-based collaboration between La Colmena, NICE, Coalition for Immigrant Freedom, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, and the Justice Workers Project to expand and improve the day laborer worker centers of New York’s five boroughs. The Initiative seeks to improve workplace conditions, regulate currently unregulated industries, litigate the civil rights of day laborers, and end “wage theft.” ³

NDLON tracks ongoing litigation cases for day laborers on its website. ²

During the 2024 Presidential election, NDLON strongly opposed former President Donald Trump’s candidacy. Regarding rumors concerning Haitian migrant communities in Ohio, which were amplified by Trump and his allies, the group called on President Joe Biden to visit Springfield, Ohio, stating that “Biden needs to act as if we were back in 1960’s Mississippi. Or 1930’s Germany. Because that is where Trump has nearly taken us.” The group also called Trump a dictator, stating that “This is how dictators take power. They create intense feeling, offering hate like a powerful drug. But when you get addicted to a drug, you have to keep taking more and more. That is why Trump keeps repeating and repeating the lies.  And it is why his supporters accept them.  To feed the hate. His words keep getting darker, more extreme, more horrible.” ⁸

NDLON has supported sanctuary laws throughout the United States, stating that localities should adopt such laws prohibiting coordination with federal immigration authorities and further obstruct deportation activities. In Los Angeles, the group stated that “This week’s sanctuary-city vote in LA should remind us all that there is much that city officials nationwide can do to thwart Trump‘s mass-deportation threats — enacting bright-line sanctuary policies is a good first step.  But it is just that — a first step.  And with the fanatical threats being made today, this sanctuary policy in LA isn’t going to cut it.  It’s a necessary first step.  But it must be a launching point for a clear-eyed and comprehensive plan to defend civil and human rights, not the end of it.” ⁵

NDLON also organizes protests in conjunction with other organizations. The group organized protests against a Home Depot store in Rochelle, New York in 2024 that barred day laborers from loitering on its premises. ⁹

Members

69 organizations are listed as members of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, including the American Friends Service Committee, Arise Chicago, Coalition for Immigration Reform, and the Workers Defense Project. ¹⁰

Leadership

Pablo Alvarado and Nadia Marin-Molina are co-executive directors of NDLON. Alvarado co-founded the Institute of Popular Education of Southern California in 1991 and the Los Jornaleros del Norte day laborer band in 1996. He was instrumental in founding NDLON in 2001. He has been recognized for his activist work by the Rockefeller Foundation, which awarded him the Next Generation Leadership Fellowship, and by the Ford Foundation, which in 2004 included him in its “Leadership for a Changing World” program. In 2005, TIME included Alvarado in its “25 most influential Hispanics in the U.S.” list. ¹¹ In 2021, the American Prospect interviewed Alvarado on his personal life and the American organized labor movement as part of its “Alt-Labor Chronicles” series, funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation. ¹²

Marin-Molina, in addition to working as co-executive director, leads NDLON’s Workers Centers and Workers Rights programs. In the past, she was responsible for NDLON’s disaster response initiative which trained “thousands” of day laborers in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, and for developing NDLON’s member organizations. At the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, her previous place of employment, she led a fight to protect the health of nail salon workers and a campaign to prosecute construction contractors who were in violation of legal codes. She also previously worked as the executive director of the Workplace Project, an immigration rights and hate speech watchdog group based in Long Island, New York. ¹¹

NDLON’s board of directors includes Marisol Aguilar, who is also on the board of Adelante! Alabama Worker Center; Fernando Garavito of We Are Casa; Maria Marroquín of Day Worker Center of Mountain View; Fancisco Aguirre; Martha Arevalo of CARECEN-LA; and Yessenia Alfaro of Chealsea Collaborative. ¹³

1. “National Day Laborer Organizing Network.” The Action Network. Accessed 22 May 2022. https://actionnetwork.org/groups/ndlon.
2. “Our Litigation.” NDLON.org. Accessed 22 May 2022. https://ndlon.org/our-work/litigation/.
3. “Day Laborer Workforce Initiative.” NDLON.org. Accessed 22 May 2022. https://ndlon.org/day-laborer-workforce-initiative/.
4. “About Us.” National Day Laborer Organizing Network. Accessed January 5, 2025. https://ndlon.org/about-us/
5. “LA’s Sanctuary Law Must be a Launching Point.” National Day Laborer Organizing Network. Accessed January 5, 2025. https://ndlon.org/la-sanctuary-law-must-be-a-launching-point/
6. “Our History.” NDLON.org. Accessed 22 May 2022. https://ndlon.org/about-us/our-history/.
7. “About NDLON – Our Principles & Values.” NDLON.org. Accessed 22 May 2022. https://ndlon.org/about-us/
8. “President Biden, Please Go to Ohio.” National Day Laborer Organizing Network. Accessed January 5, 2025. https://ndlon.org/president-biden-please-go-to-ohio/
9. “Protest held in response to New Rochelle Home Depot banning day laborers from parking lot.” ABC 7 Eyewitness News. May 8, 2024. Accessed January 5, 2025. https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/new-rochelle/2024/04/29/new-rochelle-ny-home-depot-day-laborer-arrest-calls-treatment-into-question-hudson-valley/73374464007/
10. “Members.” National Day Laborer Organizing Network. Accessed January 5, 2025. https://ndlon.org/about-us/members/
11. “Meet Our Team.” NDLON.org. Accessed 22 May 2022. https://ndlon.org/about-us/staff/.
12. Meyerson, Harold. “Helping the Powerless Build Power – Pablo Alvarado: An oral history.” The American Prospect, 31 August 2021. Accessed 22 May 2022. https://prospect.org/labor/the-alt-labor-chronicles-america-s-worker-centers/helping-the-powerless-build-power-pablo-alvarado/.
13. “Our Board.” NDLON.org. Accessed 22 May 2022. https://ndlon.org/about-us/board-of-directors/.