Off-duty cops to monitor construction workers at Duval courthouse site
Last month, 103 of about 350 workers found with fake IDs
By Matt Galnor Story updated at 6:18 AM on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009



Off-duty police officers will be checking the IDs of every worker who steps foot on the Duval County Courthouse construction site — one of the latest steps aimed at screening out undocumented workers.

Jacksonville city officials have also pushed all companies on the downtown project to use E-Verify, an Internet-based system used to determine a person’s eligibility to work in the United States. The precaution is required for all federal projects.

The measures are part of the city’s ongoing struggle with undocumented workers on the courthouse project. After three rounds of arrests this fall, a cross-check of records by federal immigration officials last month found 103 of about 350 workers authorized to work on the site provided what appeared to be false identification documents.

About half of the 103 were still working at the site at the time of the check. They’ve been banned from the project until they can be cleared by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, city spokeswoman Misty Skipper said.

All of the workers with questionable documentation either work for United Forming, the company doing concrete work on the $350 million project, or one of United Forming’s subcontractors, Skipper said.

After the false documents were discovered Nov. 9, city officials asked their attorneys to look into possible sanctions for Turner Construction, the company overseeing the project. The General Counsel’s Office is still reviewing the matter.

The city’s contract with Turner allows for termination if the company knowingly allows undocumented workers on the site, but both Turner and United Forming say they didn’t know the workers were illegal immigrants.

In the meantime, city officials have been working with federal agencies and Turner to put more checks in place aimed at deterring and detecting undocumented workers. Turner recently hired off-duty cops to man the two gates serving the construction site.

“We’re going to lock it down,â€