Illegal immigrants find work, little scrutiny in Hampton Roads

11:00 PM EDT on Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Reported by: Doug Aronson

America's influx of illegal immigrants is no longer confined to the borders or large cities.

Immigration enforcement officials estimate there are more than 100,000 illegals in Hampton Roads. Most of them are trying to make an honest living. But if they can reach secure areas, so too, the fear goes, could a terrorist.

In the last couple of years, military installations have been infiltrated. The ports have, too.

There are fewer Immigration enforcers than suspected illegals, which is why federal agents have to set priorities. That is allowing many illegals to slip through the cracks until something happens.

It’s not unusual these days to hear Spanish spoken in downtown Norfolk. Many construction workers building a new housing complex are from Mexico. Their employer says his workers filled out the proper paperwork stating they can legally work in this country and have the proper identification as proof.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, has taken dozens of bogus IDs from immigrants and some of them look as good as the real thing.

Employers like Marc Gravely of Hampton aren't trained to know the difference. “Only to the best of my knowledge, basically. I look at it. If it looks real, that's the extent that I can verify it," he said.

That’s why employers are rarely punished for hiring illegals. Instead, the feds crack down on the immigrant who is arrested, processed in federal court and often deported. "These get put into the statistics as victories as somebody's war on terror. It's not my war on terror. And it's not the war against terror I think people in this country want to fight," believes Attorney Richard Colgan.

Colgan represented Alfonso Maldonado, an illegal who has since been deported to Mexico. His client was one of dozens hired to repaint USS Bataan at a Norfolk shipyard. He was in a high security area in which he needed official clearance. Maldonado’s false ID might not have been flagged had one of his co-workers not died on the job less than two weeks earlier.

Investigators found out that man killed had bogus identification. Investigators then questioned all the workers subcontracted by a company called Network Industries. 17 people were charged.

Maldonado’s girlfriend defended the men. "They're not terrorists. They're hard-working people. Whether they were illegal, legal, all they were doing was working like everybody else," Leah Corrillo said.

Maldonado eventually told an immigration agent that he came to Virginia because of the amount of work here.

He illegally crossed the U.S border in Texas before a friend told him he could make more money in Virginia. He bought a car, packed his bags and false identification cards he purchased for $80 at a flea market in Houston.

In his official statement to the federal agent, Maldonado stated that he worked from 6:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. or 5:00 p.m. with no days off. He received $18 an hour plus per diem and overtime.

So Maldonado was making around $40,000 a year. The average income in Hampton Roads is $33,400 adjusted for inflation, according to the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission.

Employers who've hired immigrants tell us there's a misconception about cheap labor. For them, it's all about the work ethic. "And they just do an enormous amount of work in the average day and they're there every day. Every day," said Raymond Key, who is president of a construction company.

Key and his wife, Janice, have employed immigrants – all legal to their knowledge. They have praised them for being on time, polite and dependable.

Immigration agents admit that these workers aren't a priority for them unless they know they're illegal. And they're not checking IDs unless they get a tip.

Last year, police in James City County stopped an illegal for drunk driving but no one verified his ID. The next time police talked with him, he was accused of rape and murder.