Thread: Hawaii: PRP Accuses Contractor of Hiring Illegal Immig

PRP Accuses Contractor of Hiring Illegal Immigrants

Updated: June 16, 2008 08:56 PM PDT

By Minna Sugimoto

KAPOLEI (KHNL) - A construction company is accused of using illegal immigrants on a project in West Oahu. The group Pacific Resource Partnership says federal authorities raided the job site and arrested nine workers.

Crews are hard at work at the future home of Hawaii Self Storage on Kamokila Boulevard in Kapolei. But one group says construction came to a halt recently, as immigration agents took eight adults and a minor into custody.

"We represent workers at the Hawaii Carpenter Union and right now, we've got about 20% of our workforce unemployed," Kyle Chock, Pacific Resource Partnership, said. "So we have local people who are playing by the rules, who follow all the rules, who aren't working at the expense of illegal immigrants who are coming here and not playing by the same rules."

A project manager for the general contractor, Ledcor US Pacific, denies the allegations.

"The only thing I can tell you is that, no, there was no illegal people and there was no arrest," the manager said. "There was nobody taken from this site."

He refers us to his company's main office, which doesn't return our call.

"We have nothing to hide on that," the project manager said.

"Why would you not want to say that on camera though?" this reporter asked.

"Because it's our company policy," he replied. "We don't make statements."

The Pacific Resource Partnership says federal authorities arrested 19 illegal workers with another Ledcor project, the Pinnacle condominiums in Downtown Honolulu, six months ago.

"It's problematic in the sense that it becomes a pattern of behavior," Chock said.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Honolulu didn't return our call. We're told the investigation is ongoing.

http://www.khnl.com/Global/story.asp?S=8501077

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June 17, 2008


Labor-contractor group's leader says illegal workers stealing jobs

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

The head of an organization that represents contractors and unionized carpenters said the recent arrests of undocumented workers in Hawai'i is just the "tip of the iceberg" and he fears many more people could be working illegally in the state.

Kyle Chock, executive director of Pacific Resource Partnership, said he doesn't know how widespread the problem is, but believes the number of illegal immigrants is significant. Pacific Resource Partnership is an organization of contractors and the 8,000-member Hawaii Carpenters Union.

"For us it's problematic because we've got about 1,500 members in the Carpenters Union who are unemployed and these are law-abiding, local people who are losing their jobs to illegal workers. It's just not right," Chock said.

He cited the arrests last month of 22 alleged illegal immigrants who were working at restaurants on Maui, and the arrests of 19 others last December at two Downtown construction sites as examples of the growing problem.

"If you peel off more layers of the onion, there's a lot there," he said. "I wouldn't even want to venture to guess a number, but it's significant enough where we have rising unemployment and we have the airlines going out of business and you've got undocumented workers taking jobs away from local people. I really think there's a lot more there."

Chock called for greater enforcement of immigration laws, as well as harsher punishments for companies that hire illegal aliens. He said most contractors employ workers who are in the country legally, but said a few companies choose to break the law and hire the cheaper labor.

Chock said he is also concerned that recent comments by City Council member Rod Tam about illegal workers may be diverting attention from the problem. Tam recently was censured by the City Council for using a racially insensitive word to describe illegal Mexican workers during a committee meeting.

"We're not out there to go after any ethnic group at all because our union is built by ethnic minorities," Chock said.

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