Thread: NY:Authorities Arrest 6 Construction Workers on Mall Site

Authorities arrest 6 construction workers on mall site

by John O'Brien / The Post-Standard
Friday March 13, 2009, 4:57 PM

Federal agents have arrested in the last two weeks six illegal immigrants working at the Carousel Center mall expansion project in Syracuse.

Border Patrol agents took four Bolivians and an Argentinean into custody Feb. 26 in the mall's food court, according to agent A.J. Price.

Two days earlier, state troopers detained a 43-year-old Mexican at a Thruway exit in Van Buren for driving while talking on cell phone, state police Investigator James Hunt said. Border Patrol agents took him into custody.

All six were in the U.S. illegally and are being deported, according to authorities.

Some of the workers arrested in the mall were employed by Cleveland Construction Inc., which is installing interior drywall and studs in the mall expansion, according to Dan Wireman, the company's general counsel.

Cleveland Construction was subcontracted by the mall's owner, Destiny Holdings LLC, Wireman said.

Shortly before the arrests, Cleveland Construction heard that some of its workers might be illegal, Wireman said. The company told all its workers to bring their paperwork to the job site again, including papers showing they were legally in the country, along with two forms of identification, Wireman said.

"We started at ground zero and checked all of the paperwork," Wireman said. "A group of guys, maybe 10 or 15, refused to show up."

Cleveland Construction, which is headquartered in Mentor, Ohio, fired some workers whose paperwork looked suspicious, Wireman said. The arrests were made shortly after the company's audit, he said.

"We're very vigilant about making sure that workers are legal," Wireman said. "We have a pretty good control process in place, but you can't necessarily stop everything."

Joe Fecht, a mechanical contractor on the project, said he saw the Border Patrol agents arrest the workers in the food court. The workers had vests and helmets reading, "Cleveland Construction," he said.

The agents arrested the workers when they went to the bathroom near the food court, Fecht said.

Larry Barnes, a pipefitter on the project, said he's had problems at the site with workers who didn't speak English and seemed inexperienced. He works a lift that carries one-ton pipes through the air. The area underneath the pipes is marked off with red tape so no one will walk underneath, he said.

"These guys are walking right through it," Barnes said. When he asked Cleveland Construction's safety officer about it, the man said the workers don't understand English, Barnes said.

Michael Gilhooly, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, would not say whether his agency is investigating. Cleveland Construction officials have not been contacted by ICE investigators, Wireman said.

Destiny spokesman David Aitken did respond to requests for an interview.

His boss, Robert Congel, promised to use local labor when the project began two years ago, according to local union leaders.

"He wanted to do it all local," said Martin Dillon, a field organizer for Bricklayers Local 2. "That was when he needed union support" to get a 30-year tax deal.

The expansion project last week passed the one-million work hours milestone, said Brian Watson, project manager for Cianbro Corp., which is the construction manager.

Construction is expected to be finished by late spring, Watson said.

John O'Brien can be reached at jobrien@syracuse.com or 470-2187.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/ ... truct.html

Construction is one area that should be targeted heavily for employing illegals. Every construction site I see in NC has Spanish speaking workers on it,most of them probably illegal, I suspect.

That is why I throw off my property any contractor I hire who shows up with non-English speaking crews. Why should I bother sitting there watching these folks and when I see them doing something wrong or shoddy work, I should at least be able to explain what is wrong without calling in a translator.
At least this contractor was conscientious enough to look into the accusations, but there are a load of companies that wouldn't bother. And one thing that makes me insane is punishment for the employer only if they "knowingly" hired illegals. Employer claims they are not document experts and were fooled. End of story as far as fines for the employer.

Originally Posted by hattiecat

Construction is one area that should be targeted heavily for employing illegals. Every construction site I see in NC has Spanish speaking workers on it,most of them probably illegal, I suspect.

Can illegals easily get into Unions?
Or will all Obama's Unionization stop them short?
Wouldn't the SS information be checked?

This is not surprising. I retired from the military in Savannah, Ga and visit my parents who retired in North Syracuse. I constantly see illegal aliens in the food court at that mall. And I hear the local employment office there as in this area is flooded with Americans including construction workers looking for work. There are many illegal aliens building a library down the road from I live. We have a population of 160,000, not much industry (we are a tourist town), a poverty rate of 25 percent and a 25 percent unemployment rate. Our unemployment rate shot up by 200 percent last year but again I see illegal aliens employed at the library construction site, the recent Banco De Mexico remodeling project and at our ports too (so much for homeland security) and at all our McDonald's with one who works there on weekends and also at a construction company during the week (I see him on the bus). It is so far beyond insane for this piece of crap congress and oval office occupant to make it easier for illegal aliens to use stolen identities to obtain health care through expanded SCHIP, unemployment insurance, welfare, food stamps, education, jobs and other benefits by killing e-verify, stopping all federal immigration enforcement and hiring laws and cutting health care and other benefits for senior citizens, veterans and indigent Americans.
And Worried American, the unions don't care about citizenship as the SEIU (on of the largest unions and biggest contributors to Obama's campaign) has a larger contingent of illegal aliens who allegedly have been registered to vote in our so called dog and pony shows called elections (the real electors are unions, big labor, corporations, the Chamber Of Comerce, Soros, the UN, the Mexican government and others. Unions are notorious for hiring illegal aliens. They are forcing card check so they can unionize them too. You know this "government" has absolutely no intention of enforcing prevailing wage laws because they are owned and controlled by the unions (the so called stimulus was a pay back to left wing special interests and unions). DC will allow unions to import a continuous supply oif cheap slave labor. This government does NOT care one iota about suffering and struggling Americans and couldn't care less if every Americans was unemployed and living in the streets as it is all about cheap labor and open borders for their union masters.......

And Worried American, the unions don't care about citizenship as the SEIU (on of the largest unions and biggest contributors to Obama's campaign) has a larger contingent of illegal aliens who allegedly have been registered to vote in our so called dog and pony shows called elections (the real electors are unions, big labor, corporations, the Chamber Of Comerce, Soros, the UN, the Mexican government and others. Unions are notorious for hiring illegal aliens. They are forcing card check so they can unionize them too. You know this "government" has absolutely no intention of enforcing prevailing wage laws because they are owned and controlled by the unions (the so called stimulus was a pay back to left wing special interests and unions). DC will allow unions to import a continuous supply oif cheap slave labor. This government does NOT care one iota about suffering and struggling Americans and couldn't care less if every Americans was unemployed and living in the streets as it is all about cheap labor and open borders for their union masters.......

Thanks Retired.... THAT SUCKS!