{Wink Wink}they thought workers at hospital were legal

[jimpasz]

Charleston Daily Mail

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Contractors say they thought workers at hospital were legal

Jake Stump
Daily Mail Capitol Reporter



Friday July 13, 2007
The contractors who supplied Mexican workers for a Logan County jobsite say they had believed the men to be legal immigrants.

Of 11 workers questioned this week, seven remain detained by federal immigration officials, who suspect the men were working illegally on a construction job at Logan Regional Medical Center.

West Virginia State Police in Logan contacted the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services this week after receiving anonymous tips about undocumented Mexicans working on upgrades and renovations to the hospital.

"We responded to their request," immigration services spokeswoman Ernestine Fobbs said Thursday. "We interviewed them, determined who was here illegally and took them.

"They are now in the removal process (awaiting deportation)."

Fobbs said the agency couldn't release the men's names Thursday because of privacy laws.

Carol Cole, marketing director for Logan Regional Medical Center, said the hospital hired a contractor for a series of minor upgrades. The workers were making fire code upgrades, wrapping beams, caulking and fixing penetrations in the hospital walls. No major construction projects were involved.

A press release from the hospital states, "Our agreement with the contractor clearly requires them to comply with all laws and assume responsibility for their workers. We are disappointed that these issues have emerged and trust the contractor will take the necessary steps to resolve this matter."

The general contractor, Nashville, Tenn.-based Batten and Shaw, was able to bring in replacement workers to finish the job.

But Batten and Shaw President Jimmy Batten said it was not his company's direct responsibility to verify the legal paperwork of the workers because they were provided through a subcontractor.

The subcontractor, Rocklyn-Thomas, a plastering, drywall and insulation company also based in Nashville, provided the Mexican workers.

Rocklyn-Thomas owner Rocky Sizemore said his business requires two forms of identification, usually a driver's license and Social Security card, from potential workers.

"This is news to us as well," Sizemore said Thursday. "At no time did we feel that we put anyone illegally on the job."

Sizemore acknowledged that a Social Security number provided by a worker sometimes turns out to be a fake. But he said his company doesn't find out from the government there's a problem until months after hiring a worker.

Whether the men were here legally or not, Sizemore said he believes foreign workers simply weren't wanted in the Logan community and that everyone made a "knee-jerk reaction."

"I feel bad for the whole situation," he said. "But this all got started because people up there didn't want Mexicans in the area.

"If not for immigrant workers, there would be no construction in this country."

Sizemore said the men detained were hired quickly before they were sent to West Virginia. They came to his company's office looking for work and were not solicited by Rocklyn-Thomas, he said. In the contracting business, companies rely on the first available workers they can get, he added.

The men started their work in late June and were expected to complete hospital renovations next week.

Sizemore said none of the blame should be placed on the general contractor or the hospital. Instead, he said the federal government should ramp up efforts to crack down on the problem.

"I can't open up an arm of the FBI to run a drywall company," Sizemore said. "But I still don't think these guys should have been crucified, herded up and taken over to the police department."

The general contractor, Batten and Shaw, is a nationally known company that has worked on several hospital projects in West Virginia. In addition to the Logan hospital renovations, it is working on a 20,000-square-foot surgery and angiography expansion at Raleigh General Hospital in Beckley.

"We work all over the country and hate when these things happen," Batten said. "When the crew arrived in Logan, we were told they were all well-documented and able to work in this country. If that turns out not to be the case, then what happens should happen."

Police and immigration officials have made a few other recent arrests of illegal immigrants in West Virginia recently.

In May, an illegal immigrant living in Boone County was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to causing a fatal car accident that killed a 4-year-old boy. Christian Javier Sanchez-Rubio, 23, of Whitesville, pleaded guilty to two drunken driving-related charges, including driving under the influence causing death.

Sanchez-Rubio was here working in area mines for Milwaukee-based Minserco, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bucyrus International.

Last August, an illegal immigrant was arrested in Elkins for allegedly hacking a man to death with a machete in Texas.

Leon Lugo Andrade, 36, was extradited to Texas to face trial. He was working illegally at a Mill Creek lumber mill. SpanForce Labor LLC, a labor-supply service with offices in Lewisburg and Terra Alta, was responsible for bringing Andrade to West Virginia, according to authorities.






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[LegalUSCitizen]

Mistakes.

[girlygirl369]

"If not for immigrant workers, there would be no construction in this country."

Not IMMIGRANT WORKERS, ILLEGAL ALIEN WORKERS. There is a VAST difference.

Its getting tiresome hearing these companies whine about how they can't tell for months, if someone is legal or not. Why are there so many companies WHO DO NOT HIRE ILLEGALS? They check potential empoyees the same way.

[nntrixie]

OK, this isn't going to stop until these employers stop getting a pass,
'because we didn't know'.

I think the government is going about arresting these illegals with no intention of deporting them. What they are doing, I fear, is just filling up the detention centers, hiring lawyers for them, and then they can come to us and say 'it just costs too much'.

So fine the employer for the first offense - then jail time for the second offense of hiring illegals. We won't have to worry about dentention space, lawyers, or any of that.

Stop the jobs, stop the freebies - and they will go home on their own.

[MW]

Whether the men were here legally or not, Sizemore said he believes foreign workers simply weren't wanted in the Logan community and that everyone made a "knee-jerk reaction."

"I feel bad for the whole situation," he said. "But this all got started because people up there didn't want Mexicans in the area.

"If not for immigrant workers, there would be no construction in this country."

It's employer attitudes like this that is causing the problem. We must start punishing the employers or the problem will continue.

[IndianaJones]

How ironic...the illegals get paid to build the hospitals then they bankrupt the hospitals with all the free services they get and having their anchor babies. Nice deal.

[dman1200]

I'm sick of hearing the ignorance excuse. Prosecute their lying treasonous greedy butts into the ground. If only we had a real government to do so and not these pathetic sellouts.

Look at Georgia. They just passed some new laws to get tough on illegals and employers of illegals and now I hear the illegals are already self deporting themselves out of Georgia. Probably will end up going to some other state more invader friendly, but Georgia is just another example of how enforcement really does work and I suspect that if Arizona gets their employer sanctions law passed, that invaders will be leaving that state in droves as well.

[zeezil]

Fobbs said the agency couldn't release the men's names Thursday because of privacy laws.

Illegal aliens are protected by privacy laws? Frankly, I don't believe this. SHOW ME.

[MinutemanCDC_SC]

Rocklyn-Thomas owner Rocky Sizemore said his business requires two forms of identification, usually a driver's license and Social Security card, from potential workers.

Where is any mention of prosecution of Mr. Sizemore or of Rocklyn-Thomas?

Oh, I see. "I feel bad for the whole situation," said Mr. Sizemore.

That should be penalty enough.