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  1. #1
    Administrator Jean's Avatar
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    CO: Undocumented workers return after raid at Buckley

    http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/l ... 70,00.html

    Undocumented workers return after raid at Buckley
    A roundup last year found dozens of illegal immigrants employed at a military building project, but some say they were quickly back on the job

    By Fernando Quintero, Rocky Mountain News
    February 26, 2007

    Illegal immigrants say they were working on a military housing project outside Buckley Air Force Base within days after a major immigration raid there last year.

    Immigration officials said at the time that they were protecting national security and sending a message to employers with the Sept. 20 raid, which nabbed more than 120 workers.

    Most of the workers were from Mexico and were quickly deported. Others came from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Three had outstanding criminal warrants and were turned over to Aurora police.

    Julio Cesar Rodriguez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, told the Rocky Mountain News he was back on the job a few days after the raid.

    So was Martin Torrez, who said he saw about a dozen workers who returned to Buckley after they were deported.

    Several workers claim they were not fully paid for their work, which included hundreds of hours of overtime. A number also said they received off-the-books payments in cash.

    Federal immigration officials said the raid was part of a nationwide crackdown on illegal immigrants who could pose a security risk to the nation's "critical infrastructure facilities."

    The housing site is near the giant golf ball-like satellite monitoring systems on the base, which assist in global surveillance, missile warnings and homeland defense operations.

    But officials said the raid also was part of a renewed effort to go after companies suspected of hiring illegal immigrants.

    In December, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided the Swift meatpacking plant in Greeley along with other Swift plants around the country.

    On Thursday, hundreds of illegal immigrants, including a dozen in Colorado, and three top officials of a cleaning service were arrested.

    Immediately after the Buckley arrests, ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok wouldn't comment on whether there would be charges filed against the subcontractors or the main contractor, Hunt Building Co. Ltd., based in El Paso, Texas.

    "Knowingly hiring illegal aliens is a violation of immigration law," he said. "The bottom line is this is an ongoing investigation."

    The U.S. Department of Labor is continuing to investigate, but as yet no charges have been filed.

    When asked in writing last week whether the ICE investigation was ongoing, Rusnok did not answer the question. He wrote:

    "ICE routinely and continuously works with representatives from critical infrastructure facilities - such as Buckley AFB - to ensure that only authorized personnel have access to sensitive areas."

    Asked to respond to claims by illegal immigrants who said they were rehired at the Buckley site after the ICE raid, Rusnok said: "The process of ensuring that only properly authorized people work in sensitive area is an ongoing process. That's why ICE maintains close ties with representatives from these facilities."

    A Hunt spokeswoman said the company would have no comment.

    Back across the border

    Several former Buckley workers said illegal immigrants were not only asked to work after the ICE raid, but they also saw deported workers back on the job.

    "Some of them were never paid for the work. Others were just desperate for work, so they came back even though there were no guarantees they would be paid," said Juan Guzman, a legal permanent resident who befriended some of the deported workers.

    He said one worker told him he called a foreman while he was still in Mexico to see if he could get his job back.

    "He was told, 'Just come back under a new identity, and we'll hire you back,' " Guzman said.

    He said many undocumented workers didn't stick around because rumors quickly circulated that ICE was ready to conduct a second raid at the housing site.

    Several workers, who have since moved on to other jobs, say they are still owed money for work they did at the site.

    Julio Cesar Rodriguez said a supervisor with JMB of Denver, one of the framing subcontractors at Buckley, initially hired him July 1 on a piece-rate basis, around $6,000 per home completed, to be divided among him and three other undocumented workers.

    He said the supervisor also worked as a labor broker for JMB, hiring him and several others. Labor brokers generally act as middlemen, finding workers on short notice for contractors and taking a cut for themselves.

    Rodriguez and other workers said the broker took several hundred dollars from each of them for insurance, although the workers said they never saw proof that they had workers compensation coverage.

    The broker, Rosendo Mendiola, denied paying the workers in cash when he was contacted by the Rocky. He said his position had since changed to foreman rather than labor broker for JMB.

    Harry Jordan, another JMB foreman who oversees framers at the Buckley site, would say only that the workers who claimed back wages worked as independent contractors.

    Dean Kostelecky, general manager of JMB, reiterated that. He said JMB pays all employees by check. He declined to discuss the back wages claims or supply copies of checks to those who claimed they were paid cash. He also denied knowingly hiring illegal immigrant workers.

    "They don't work for us. Anybody we pay, we check out. We're OK," he said.

    Rodriguez said he was paid only $450 for two months of work, but continued on the job in hopes he would be compensated for the rest. He wasn't caught in the Buckley raid because a fellow worker warned him that ICE agents had descended on the site.

    After the raid, Rodriguez said, he filled out a work application and was rehired. He and some of the workers said they presented fake IDs or fake Social Security numbers or both. The same broker who had initially hired him told him he would be making $17.74 an hour, the prevailing wage for construction framers, instead of working piece-rate, Rodriguez said.

    With that amount, multiplied by the number of hours he put in, plus overtime, Rodriguez estimates he is owed nearly $11,000.

    The Davis-Bacon Act, which applies to all federal construction projects, requires that workers receive prevailing wages plus fringe benefits, which is money that normally goes to an employee in the form of health insurance and other perks.

    The law applies to all workers, whether in the country legally or not, said Alex Salaiz, district director of the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division in Denver.

    All employees who work for companies that generate at least $500,000 in gross sales must pay minimum wage and overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Salaiz said.

    Underpayment claims

    At least nine workers who have claimed unpaid back wages from their work at Buckley filed complaints with the state Department of Labor and Employment's Labor Standards Office.

    The state agency sent letters to some of the workers this month saying it was referring their complaints to the U.S. Department of Labor because the Buckley project is under federal contract.

    A spokesman for the state Division of Labor said the department received complaints that JMB was not paying the prevailing wage for certain workers. The department referred those complaints to federal authorities.

    Salaiz said his office would investigate the claims.

    Torrez, who said he was not paid at all for his work at Buckley, said he also wasn't paid three other times for work at residential and commercial construction sites in Silverton, Castle Rock and Centennial.

    "Why do they hire us if they're not going to pay us?" he said. "We might be illegal (immigrants), but we're not slaves."

    Gustavo Maldonado, a union organizer with the Rocky Mountain Regional Council of Carpenters, said the use of undocumented workers at construction sites in Colorado is "rampant."

    "Go to just about any construction site and you'll find workers without documents being paid cash or not being paid at all," he said.

    Still, several workers say finding work has grown increasingly difficult.

    David Dominguez, an undocumented worker who did not return to Buckley after the raid, has worked only a handful of jobs since then. He believes a state law that went into effect Jan. 1 - House Bill 1017 - has made it harder for him to get hired. The law requires employers to follow stricter procedures to document that new workers are in the country legally.

    Dominguez said he got his most recent job because his legal status wasn't scrutinized. That is contrary to state law, as well as federal requirements of the Immigration Reform and Control Act, which makes employers responsible for verifying the identity and eligibility of all workers. The process begins with an employer completing an employment eligibility form called an I-9.

    At Buckley, Dominguez and others said they were never asked to fill out any forms. Dominguez said a JMB foreman would pay a designated worker by check. The worker would then cash the check and parcel out payments to Dominguez and others.

    The common practice of subcontracting has effectively insulated companies from paying consequences for employing foreign workers, say those in the industry. But the Labor Department's Salaiz said that because Buckley is a federal project, the main contractor, Hunt, is ultimately responsible for all workers' wages.

    "Under the Davis-Bacon Act, it doesn't matter who the subcontractors are. Once the prime contractor gets the federal contract, they are accountable for all workers," Salaiz said.

    "When we make an investigation, we go to the first tier, the subcontractor. We could right away go to the prime contractor, but we have to give everyone due process," he said.

    When ICE spokesman Rusnok was asked if ICE is still investigating Hunt's role, he said: "To be absolutely clear, the aliens arrested were hired by contractors who worked for Hunt."

    Dominguez just hopes he gets his back wages so he can move forward with his plans to raise enough money to return to his hometown, buy a house and start a business.

    "We just want to work hard and then return to Mexico. Have a life without worries," said Dominguez. "These are tough times. I just hope we can survive."

    About the series

    • Today: Illegal immigrants say they were working at a military housing construction site a few days after an immigration raid there in September.

    • Tuesday: The construction industry is addicted to illegal labor.
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  2. #2
    MW
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    Wow, this article is potentially explosive if the reporting is accurate. Sounds like DHS is knowingly allowing these illegals to continue to work for these contractors, just not in senstive areas. This is ridiculous!

    A number also said they received off-the-books payments in cash.
    So much for the taxes the politicans are swearing the criminal aliens pay!

    "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" ** Edmund Burke**

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    Quote Originally Posted by MW
    Wow, this article is potentially explosive if the reporting is accurate. Sounds like DHS is knowingly allowing these illegals to continue to work for these contractors, just not in senstive areas. This is ridiculous!

    A number also said they received off-the-books payments in cash.
    So much for the taxes the politicans are swearing the criminal aliens pay!
    can someone get the addy and info on this I have an idea

  4. #4
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    This is absolutely ridiculous! These people who were deported must've walked right back across the international border the following night, probably got on a bus, and were back in Colorado after a couple of days (I'm assuming that's what happened.) So much for border security.

    I hope that ICE does something about this!

    Ostrich

  5. #5
    Senior Member gofer's Avatar
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    Dominguez just hopes he gets his back wages so he can move forward with his plans to raise enough money to return to his hometown, buy a house and start a business.
    I guess the "everybody is starving" line is no longer being used. I am glad we can pay their medical bills and food stamps and taxes so they can build a nice home and start a business. That's the least we can do for these "poor" people!

  6. #6
    Senior Member SOSADFORUS's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TheOstrich
    This is absolutely ridiculous! These people who were deported must've walked right back across the international border the following night, probably got on a bus, and were back in Colorado after a couple of days (I'm assuming that's what happened.) So much for border security.

    I hope that ICE does something about this!

    Ostrich
    They probably have buses ready to bring them back, free of chargs!!
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  7. #7
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    No way the contractor has any "friends" on Capital Hill that made some calls after the raid.
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  8. #8
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    This was nothing but a circus. Illegal immigrants returning to work a day or two later! They dont care, and our government doesn't care either. Why waste taxpayer monies to investisgate, arrest, and give them an opportunity to appear in court, when they are just going to be let go the next day? This is preposterous!

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