By Stephanie Armour, USA TODAY

The sun is barely up over the horizon when Juan Reyes arrives at Casa de Maryland, which operates a job site for day laborers here. Most days he comes to this parking lot to wait for painting, landscaping or other jobs. Reyes mills about with the other men who sit in groups quietly talking or sharing steaming tamales eaten off paper plates. He needs work, he says, so he can send money to support his three children, ages 18, 12 and 10, in Guatemala.

"Sometimes it's very hard, very hard (to find work)," says Reyes, 36, who is an undocumented worker who lives in Takoma Park. Still, he says, employers rarely ask to see paperwork and hire him even though he's in the country illegally. "They never ask."

But pressure is on to change that. Last month, the Department of Homeland Security vowed to expand its efforts to target employers who hire illegal immigrants, with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff pledging to "counter the unscrupulous tactics of employers."