On any given day around the U.S. more than 100,000 men and women can be found looking for work on selected street corners commonly known in the Hispanic community as "paradas."

Many of them wait for hours along a sidewalk until someone comes along, usually in a truck, and hires a handful of them for a paid job that day; this is the life of a daily laborer.

Many of the day laborers are undocumented immigrants that cannot find steady work because of their legal status and resort to finding jobs that pay under the table, Al Jazeera America reported.

A national study on day laborers found that these day laborers often go through struggles of stolen wages, accident injuries, physical threats and abuse on top of the risk of deportation, which has increased to an average of 1,100 a day under President Barack Obama's administration.

Recently, however, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) has been helping day laborers become organized and educated of their labor rights.

NDLON's New York representative Nadia Marin-Molina told Al Jazeera that the group is also helping the day laborers stand up themselves against abusive employers.

"People think these workers are so vulnerable that they would never stand up for themselves," Marin-Molina said. "But they do have rights, and they're willing to fight for them."

According to Al Jazeera, all workers are protected under labor laws in the U.S., regardless of immigration status. Workers have the right to receive payment and a safe work environment that is free from abuse.

Marin-Molina said it could be tough for many of the workers to exercise and demand their rights for fear of being turned over to law enforcement. She added that, because many have so little, they also have little to lose and lot more to gain.

"I don't have a job for tomorrow, they often say, so what does it matter if I lose the one I have today?" she said.

The biggest problem many of the day laborers face is the lack of promised pay or not receiving the entire expected wage. Workers Justice Project (WJP) Executive Director Ligia Guallpa said this is because the process of getting hired for the day is very informal.

"The informality of the arrangements between these women and their employers (mostly local households) creates a space for wage theft and other abusive practices," Guallpa told Al Jazeera.

Much like NDLON, WJP also advocates for day laborers' rights and regularly visits female day laborers on a Brooklyn street corner to educate them about their rights.

"It's not sophisticated," Guallpa said. "But it works, and it gives a lot of power to the women."