Rafael Castro, in his frayed sweater, paint-stained pants and working boots, is arguably the most visible --- and hated --- face in the burgeoning national debate on illegal immigration today.

But that weathered 44-year-old face, with a thick mustache, easily breaks into a grin and his eyes light up like a young man's as he folds his arms tight against his chest to ward off the chilly spring morning and explain why he is a day laborer.

"I cannot now look for a regular job because my work permit has expired and my driver's license has been suspended," he says, standing in the doorway of the Burbank Temporary Skilled Workers' Center on a Friday morning. "Before, I was a delivery driver."

For the last two years, Castro has been doing day-to-day work, mostly construction (drywall, roofing, stucco jobs and others). "I learned how to do all of this," he says, his voice rising, "and now I have even learned to drive a trailer."

The Salvadoran native, who came to Southern California in 1987, lives in Highland Park with his "partner" and their two children, who were born here and are naturalized citizens.

He has been coming to the center at Flower and Alameda, which is run by Catholic Charities of Los Angeles, since it opened last January. On Monday through Friday, he arrives by 7:15 a.m., where he's picked up by contractors he knows three or four days a week. They usually pay him $10 an hour for his back-breaking labor.

"I like it here because there are fewer people and more control," he says. "It has provided me with employers. Some hire me on a regular basis. Also, it is closer to my home than the work site I used to go to in Cypress Park.

"That place has a lot more people," he adds. "This has fewer people, so there is more opportunity to find work."

Castro says he has been cheated by employers at another day laborer center, who refused to pay him. He didn't know about a recent national study's finding that wage violations, workplace injuries and abusive employers are facts of life in his precarious line of work.

When asked why there is so much animosity towards day laborers right now --- with cities like Orange arresting nine men Feb. 24 at a Home Depot parking lot, and groups like Save Our State harassing employers and workers at day labor centers throughout California --- Castro purses his lips, then shuffles around in his steel-toed boots.

"There are no other persons they can blame," he says. "We are visible and can be seen. But we are treated well here, and I will keep coming."

'A safe place'
The Temporary Skilled Workers Center in Burbank isn't much to look at --- a small cinderblock box building behind a wrought iron fence at the far end of the huge Home Depot asphalt parking lot. Out back under a covered awning are five brown metal picnic tables plus a Coke and candy machine.

At 8 A.M. on a weekday morning, some 20 Latino men, dressed mostly in flannel shirts or hooded sweatshirts and jeans, are sipping steaming coffee from Styrofoam cups. One middle-aged guy named Romero stands near the U-shaped driveway, talking to a contractor who's pulled up in a Chevy pick-up.

After a minute of on-the-spot negotiation, he nods and a couple younger men climb into the truck. The others go back to drinking their coffee or watching the Spanish news on the mounted TV.

Seated inside, behind a small wood desk, sits Juan Rodriguez, the 46-year-old coordinator of this Catholic Charities program.

"Waiting here is better than being out in the street," he says. "They don't have to worry about being out in the rain or in the hot sun. There's shade here. There's water. We've got picnic tables. There's a restroom. And it's a safe place.

"And, more importantly, it's a dignified place," he stresses. "They feel comfortable here because there is an organized way of finding a job. At most other places and on the street, it's chaotic. It's mayhem, with the men running up to the cars. We try to remove that chaos from the whole system."

From gardening to roofing
The Burbank Temporary Skilled Workers' Center was established under a joint agreement between the city and Home Deport, which built it and pays $94,000 a year for its upkeep. Catholic Charities of Los Angeles runs the pragmatic employment program.

The center is open from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., and men are expected to arrive by 6:30 in the morning for the daily lottery, which determines the order of hiring. Still, men like Rafael Castro, who have a history with certain employers and contractors, work out their own arrangements, and can arrive later.

On average, 30 men a day show up. At the Burbank site, most are from Honduras, but other Latinos as well as African-Americans, Asians and Anglos also come looking for work. On any given day, more than 70 percent find it.

Jobs range from gardening, painting and roofing to building fences, installing drywall, pouring concrete and tearing down old buildings.

"They'll do what's asked of them," reports Rodriguez. "But the thing is we require that the minimum they get is $8 an hour. If they have more skills, then we ask that they be paid more. It depends on the person's skills. Some get paid $50 an hour to move heavy stuff or do whatever. Sometimes the employers are just generous. But the average amount we calculate is $10 an hour."

The Catholic Charities program coordinator says the men don't get regular jobs mainly because they lack English skills or are undocumented. Some have just become accustomed to day labor and prefer it to a 9-to-5, five-day-a-week regimen.

To the charge by anti-immigrant groups that day laborers are taking away jobs from American citizens, Rodriguez shakes his head. He says the best response is a yelling match he overheard from Save Our State people and a drive-through employer at a temporary worker site:

"The employer said to the anti-immigrant SOS guy: 'You find me somebody who was born in this country that does the type of work that I'm asking guys to do for the amount that they're doing and for the quality that's being done, then I'll hire them. Until then, I'm coming here and hiring these guys.'"

And then there's the whole issue of why Catholic Charities is so involved with day laborers in Burbank as well as another center it's administered in Glendale since 1998.

"First of all, as Catholics we are obliged to care for those who are the most vulnerable in our society," Rodriguez says. "This is the mission that was placed upon us by Christ. And these gentlemen are part of the equation. They have little recourse and they often don't know where they can go for support.

"So it is our obligation. It is our responsibility, and we cannot shy away from that responsibility. We cannot be fearful of what others might say. We cannot be afraid of those who are ignorant and cast stones on our acts of charity.

"This is an expression of God's love what Catholic Charities is doing," he points out. "And because these day laborers are a representative of Christ, we must assist them and make sure that they are treated with dignity."