Feds eject 24 Turkish pedicab drivers
Feds eject 24 Turkish pedicab drivers
New rules in response to 2009 death in San Diego bar foreign student workers from the jobs
Written by Jeff McDonald
5:33 p.m., Sept. 11, 2012
http://media.utsandiego.com/img/phot...5bbb3c5b81acd3Pedicabs such as this one from the U-T files have been the subject of federal scrutiny regarding foreign students brought in to drive them.
Previously
Federal immigration officials have ordered 24 Turkish nationals to leave the U.S. after they were found operating pedicabs illegally in downtown San Diego.
Those affected, students from Turkish colleges, were detained after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents executed arrest warrants at four San Diego locations late last month.
ICE confirmed the events of Aug. 30 this week after The Watchdog approached the agency with questions about the raid.
The sweep has exposed what agents suspect is a criminal ring that recruits young foreigners to supply cheap labor to pedicab owners and has raised questions about city pedicab oversight.
“Basically criminal facilitators have gotten involved as middlemen, making money connecting these young adults with willing employers here in San Diego,” said Michael Carney, the deputy special agent in charge of the local ICE field office.
Agents became aware of the situation in early August, when State Department analysts flagged ICE that the students might be illegally working as pedicab operators.
The federal government made it unlawful for foreign students to drive pedicabs after a high-profile accident in 2009 left a San Diego tourist with fatal injuries.
Through background checks and surveillance, agents here identified 20 men and four women from Turkey driving pedicabs, which are three-wheeled cycles that carry passengers short distances for a fare.
Most of them lied on immigration applications about their work intentions or supplied false Social Security numbers to San Diego city officials when they sought pedicab permits, ICE said.
“They weren’t completely unwitting in this,” Carney said of the students. “There is some culpability on their part.”
During the sweep, 20 or so agents executed what are known as administrative arrest warrants at four downtown residences. Agents declined to provide names or the location of arrests.
The immigrants, ages 20 to 25, were taken into custody without incident and ordered to leave the country, Carney said. Fifteen have left; the others are expected to within days.
According to ICE, the students paid deposits of several thousand dollars to facilitators who arranged for permits, housing and leases to operate the cabs.
The case remains open, allowing for follow-up work such as tracking down people who recruit or hire the workers.
Fatal history
Pedicab operators and owners were not surprised by the sweep.
Roy Grant, who has driven a pedicab downtown for five years, said foreign exchange students have been coming to San Diego for pedicab work for years.
Under federal immigration rules, foreign students are eligible to work in the United States for up to 90 days, although the visa now specifically excludes pedicab work. Students are often recruited based on other work, then steered into the pedicab business by recruiters, agents say.
Navigating a three-passenger rickshaw through busy tourist areas is not without danger.
On July 4, 2009, Sharon Miller of Sherman Village, Ill., died after she tumbled from a cab and struck her head. Police said the 23-year-old cabbie was a Turkish national who was driving in “a serpentine pattern” from side to side in an area restricted to pedestrians.
Feds eject 24 Turkish pedicab drivers | UTSanDiego.com
