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Joined: May 22, 2006 Posts: 28613 Location: Mexifornia
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 2:22 am Post subject: FL: Feds: 100 workers at Duval courthouse site provide fake
Feds: 100 workers at Duval courthouse site provide fake ID documents
Four more illegal workers arrested; mayor considers breach of contract
* By Matt Galnor
* Story updated at 7:54 PM on Monday, Nov. 9, 2009
More than a quarter of the workers at the new Duval County Courthouse construction site provided false identification documents to the city, authorities said.
Federal officials discovered about 100 fake documents after looking at the paperwork the city started collecting three weeks ago to crack down on arrests of undocumented workers.
The city was informed of the federal checks Monday , the same day four more undocumented workers were arrested near the construction site, according to immigration officials.
Nineteen illegal workers have been arrested in three incidents since September.
A top aide to Mayor John Peyton asked city attorneys Monday to determine whether the continued problems could be considered a breach of contract by Turner Construction, the contractor on the $350 million project, or any of the firms hired by Turner.
Last month, the city made all of the 350 people listed as employees reapply for badges to work on the site. Employees had to fill out an additional form, that the city keeps on file. If the worker is not a U.S. citizen, the city also keeps a copy of the documents the workers provide.
All paperwork is available for inspection by federal authorities, Peyton spokeswoman Misty Skipper said.
Skipper said the city expects to get the list of 100 illegal workers today and will give it to Turner. Turner must revoke all badges for those workers and permanently ban them from the project, or the city will find Turner in breach of contract, according to a letter sent to the company Monday.
“Please know the City of Jacksonville takes this issue very seriously and will not tolerate the hiring of undocumented or unqualified workers for any construction project in our community,” Chief Administrative Officer Alan Mosley wrote.
The city also told Turner it must meet with every subcontractor to ensure every worker has proper documentation.
Turner Vice President David Reaves told the Times-Union on Monday evening he would call back after a meeting. Reaves did not, and he did not return further messages left at his office and on his cell phone.
The city’s contract with Turner prohibits knowingly hiring undocumented workers and Turner’s agreements with subcontractors contain the same language.
John Parker, president of the North Florida Building and Construction Trades Council, said what the city does from here on will show how committed it is to having legal workers on the project. And while Parker said the news about the false documents confirms what he already knew, even he was surprised there were 100.
A Border Patrol agent was en route to a standard patrol at the downtown bus station when several Hispanic men scattered after seeing the federal vehicle. The agent arrested four men, said Danny Conway, patrol agent in charge for Border Patrol in Jacksonville.
Neither city officials nor Conway could say who the four men worked for.
The first 15 people arrested all worked for United Forming, the subcontractor pouring concrete on the project.
Construction on the courthouse began in May and is scheduled to be completed in summer 2012.
Joined: Nov 01, 2007 Posts: 3652 Location: New Alien City-(formerly New York City)
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 1:35 pm Post subject:
Quote:
“Please know the City of Jacksonville takes this issue very seriously and will not tolerate the hiring of undocumented or unqualified workers for any construction project in our community,” Chief Administrative Officer Alan Mosley wrote.
Way to go Jacksonville!
_________________ If a man sneaks into your home he is a burglar, not an undocumented tenant you must provide for!
Joined: May 22, 2006 Posts: 28613 Location: Mexifornia
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 2:45 am Post subject:
100 Illegals Working On New Courthouse
City Review Of Employment Records Found Undocumented Workers
POSTED: Tuesday, November 10, 2009
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Just because the long-delayed new Duval County Courthouse is finally under construction doesn't mean all the controversy is behind the project.
One of the selling points to build the new $350 million courthouse was to create jobs for the city, but it was expected those jobs would be American workers -- not illegal immigrants.
So city workers said they were shocked when they learned Monday that out of 350 construction workers hired at the courthouse, 100 of them had falsified green cards.
That does not sit well with Kelly McMullen.
"I've been looking for a job since March, February of this year and I can't get any work anywhere," McMullen said.
Hiring undocumented workers could be a major problem for the contractors building the courthouse.
"Our primary concern is to make sure everyone who is working is doing so legally, so we have asked the General Council's Office to examine all of the facts involved, all of the laws involved and any contract provision to determine how best we should move forward," said Misty Skipper, spokeswoman for Mayor John Peyton.
The city has sent a letter to the general contractor, Turner Construction, saying, "knowingly hiring illegal workers could include contract termination." The city says the work badges of all the 100 illegal workers must be revoked, and failure to do so would be a breach of contract.
Federal Immigration and Custom Enforcement officials have been watching the construction site and have picked up 19 illegal workers near the courthouse since September.
The U.S. Border patrol told Channel 4's Jim Piggott that they are not legally allowed on the construction site, so the city has required the contractor to keep extensive records of employees, including green cards of anyone not a citizen of the United States. A review of those records on Monday revealed that scores of immigrant workers did not have proper documentation.
The city said they will be watching even closer in the future.
"Our concern is that there are people working on a city job site ... not doing so legally," Skipper said.
Joined: Aug 04, 2007 Posts: 1674 Location: north carolina
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:54 pm Post subject:
Great step by the city council people. Though, to clean up Florida they have a hell of a ways to go to get rid of the ILLEGAL ALIENS! _________________ "When you have knowledge,you have a responsibility to do better"_ Paula Johnson
"I did then what I knew to do. When I knew better,I did better"_ Maya Angelou
Joined: Nov 28, 2008 Posts: 844 Location: Unoccupied Southeast Georgia
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 4:43 pm Post subject:
And there currently are approximately 20 to 30 million unemployed Americans. Unbelievable!!!!!!! _________________ There is no freedom without the law. Remember our veterans whose sacrifices allow us to live in freedom.
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Nice to know that some cities are trying to do the right thing.
