A shiny black Mercedes pulls up to the 7-Eleven [convenience store] on Elden Street in Herndon, and immediately it's clear that the driver is not here for a Slurpee. Without exchanging a word, eight guys in T-shirts and jeans sidle up to the car. The driver points to the first two men who reach him, and they wordlessly climb into the Benz.

Depending on your view of U.S. history, world affairs and Herndon politics, the driver, Basir Yousefi, has either helped turn the wheel of the American economy or struck a blow against his community. Yousefi, a mortgage broker who is himself an immigrant from Afghanistan, needs work done around his house -- cleaning, yard stuff -- and he has just done what many people in the Herndon-Reston area do when they need quick, cheap labor: He's paid a visit to the 7-Eleven parking lot at Elden and Alabama Drive, where 90 men, all of them immigrants from Central and South America, wait for a chance to make $7 to $10 [USD] an hour cleaning or building.

Marc Fisher has an excellent article on how one community (just West of Washington DC) is trying to do what it can to help new immigrants get work and fit into society - despite the objections of some.

-Thom