Thread: Tree farm workers detained after raid

http://www.newsreview.info/article/2006 ... S/60303006

JOHN SOWELL, jsowell@newsreview.info
March 3, 2006

Thirty-five Hispanic workers at the D.L. Phipps Nursery at Elkton were taken into custody Tuesday on employment documentation violations.

Officers with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services raided the 261-acre tree seedling nursery operated by the Oregon Department of Forestry. All but three of the nursery’s 38 workers were detained, said Jenny Solomon, the nursery’s acting manager.

“They had suspicions on whether they had proper work documentation,” Solomon said.

The workers were supplied by Bermudez Brothers, a farm labor contracting firm in Winters, Calif. That company was responsible for hiring the workers and ensuring they had the legal right to work in this country, Solomon said.

The owner of Bermudez Brothers was not immediately available this morning for comment.

The nursery, which grows seedlings for public and private reforestation, is working with a Roseburg employment agency to supply a new crew of workers. Solomon said she expects the nursery to be back in full operation by Monday.

Several of the detained workers had employment documents that checked out, Solomon said. They are among those expected to be at work next week, she said.


• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.

If ICE would ride up to the tree farms here in Western NC, they'd need many, many buses to take all the illegals back to Mexico. Many of the tree farmers here seem to hire only illegals

At the Walmexico Cultural Center in Hendersonville, NC, you could fill a couple of 747's.