Thread: Lee deputies nab 25 illegal immigrants working on sheriff's

Lee deputies nab 25 illegal immigrants working on sheriff's building expansion

By JOHN OSBORNE (Contact)
Originally published 11:12 a.m., Thursday, May 15, 2008
Updated 5:39 p.m., Thursday, May 15, 2008

In cooperation with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, special agents from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement on Thursday morning arrested 25 illegal aliens working on the “Core Expansion Projectâ€

Bookum Dano

Every person who applies for employment with our company goes through our hiring process, and that includes producing the required documentation to prove employment eligibility.

We need the SAVE Act which would require employers nation-wide to utilize E-Verify!

They should be using the E-Verify system!

Dixie

[quote="AirborneSapper7"]Lee deputies nab 25 illegal immigrants working on sheriff's building expansion

By JOHN OSBORNE (Contact)
Originally published 11:12 a.m., Thursday, May 15, 2008
Updated 5:39 p.m., Thursday, May 15, 2008

In cooperation with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, special agents from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement on Thursday morning arrested 25 illegal aliens working on the “Core Expansion Projectâ€

Lee deputies nab 25 illegal immigrants working on sheriff's building expansion

At least they didn't have far to take them after they got arrested. Brave little buggers, weren't they?

Suspected illegal aliens face deportation hearings
Lee County officials trying to determine legal status of 25 employees working for subcontractor on new jail
By By STEVEN BEARDSLEY, Special to the Daily News

Friday, May 16, 2008

Following Thursday’s arrest of 25 suspected illegal aliens who were working on the new Lee County jail, deportation hearings will determine how many of the workers will return to their home countries and how many will remain within the United States.

Barbara Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, said the detainees — 22 men and three women from Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala and Peru — are being held in ICE custody in anticipation of the hearings. She said they are currently being held in a Pinellas County facility, though they will likely be moved in the near future.

Gonzalez would not discuss other facilities to which the detainees might be moved. She also refused to give the names of those arrested, citing privacy concerns.

An immigration judge will determine what happens to the detainees next, Gonzalez explained. "If they’re ordered deported then ICE will carry out those orders," she said.

Gerald Seipp, an immigration attorney in Safety Harbor who is not representing any of the detainees, said a judge will take more than immigration status into account before ruling.

"They’re individuals," he said of the detainees. "Each one may have their own profile."

The most important considerations, Seipp said, include whether a detainee has a criminal background, whether he has been deported previously and how long he has lived in the U.S. Illegal aliens who have previously been arrested, convicted or deported likely have little hope of remaining in the country, Seipp said. Those who return after being deported can actually be prosecuted federally, he added. In March, a 42-year-old Jamaican man with a criminal record was sentenced to five years by the federal court in Miami after entering South Florida following an earlier deportation.

Some of the 25 may be allowed to post bond, Seipp said, if they can show ties to the community that keep them from being a flight risk. Long-term ties and a clean slate could also convince a judge to cancel deportation and allow the individual to remain in the country, the attorney said.

Such a cancellation occurs when detainees "show they have sufficient ties to their area," Seipp said. "Let’s say it’s someone who’s been here a long time and has children in school. Maybe they own a home."

Seipp also said that the federal government could charge some of the detainees with document fraud, as some were reported to have false identification documents. By Florida law, employers are required to check the citizenship status of employees they hire. Gonzalez would not discuss how many of the detainees had false documents.

Lee County attorneys are waiting for confirmation from ICE that the 25 employees snagged off the jail job site were, in fact, illegal aliens.

Deputy County Attorney Andrew Fraser said that he has also requested copies of the documentation relied on in hiring the employees.

"We haven’t determined if they’re in violation," said Fraser.

If the jail project’s main builder — Kraft Construction — or the subcontractors knew they were hiring illegals, then county commissioners can find them in violation of their contract.

"The commission would have grounds to terminate," he said.

But should they? County Public Works Director Jim Lavender says the $52 million project is almost done, and he questions whether terminating the contract would be in taxpayers’ best interest.

Federal laws enforcing civil penalties against companies hiring illegals have been strengthened lately, and U.S. Rep Connie Mack, R-Fort Myers, supported it.

"Quite simply we’re a nation of laws and those laws need to be enforced," said Mack spokesman Jeff Cohen.

Immigration raids have made headlines in recent years as the national debate over immigration policy has raged. In fiscal year 2007, ICE removed more than a quarter of a million illegal aliens, a record, according to the agency. Recent nationwide raids include a meatpacking plant in Iowa on May 12, in which nearly 400 illegal aliens were arrested, and a raid on the construction site of a new U.S. federal courthouse in Richmond, Va., on May 8, in which ICE agents arrested 33 people.

Gonzalez and other officials with ICE declined to give statistics for arrests of illegal aliens in Florida. Another recent raid in the state includes a bust of a "sham marriage" ring in early May, in which 80 illegal aliens were arrested in several cities for forging marriage documents that would allow them to stay legally in the country. According to an ICE press release, several of the arrests were made in Fort Myers.

www.naplesnews.com

Company behind illegal hiring may lose Lee contracts
Reported by Katie LaGrone
Posted on: Friday, May 16, 2008

LEE COUNTY: There is more fallout in the case of 25 contracted workers. Deputies arrested them after, they say, they were hired illegally to do work for the county. Now, ABC7 learned the construction company at the center of it all is at risk of getting fired!

John Pinholster, President of Kraft Construction said Friday, "We certainly are thorough. We do our due diligence."

He offered those defensive words just one day after our cameras were rolling as more than two dozen construction workers at the new Lee County Jail site were cuffed and taken away.

All of them are believed to have been working in the U.S. illegally and they were hired by Kraft Construction and their subcontractors.

While the company defended its hiring practices, late Friday afternoon they confirmed that one employee detained did in fact lie about his status.

As for the 24 others hired by subcontractors, Pinholster said "I don't know the hiring practice of each and everyone of our subcontractors."

He said the company’s subcontractors must abide by the federal guidelines.

The jail expansion project is one of two projects Kraft Construction is currently working on for the county. At more than $53 million, it's also one of the most expensive.

But ABC7 has learned the fallout could leave the Naples-based construction firm forced to give up business with Lee County.

Last year, the county mandated that all contractors must not employ unauthorized alien workers. In an affidavit obtained by ABC7, Kraft Construction Company agreed to that mandate.

"The affidavit we signed says we will not knowingly or willfully hire undocumented workers. We did not knowingly or willfully hire undocumented workers," said Pinholster.

The arrests now have Kraft Construction and Lee County re-evaluating all their contracts and workers.

"It is a serious issue that needs to be addressed and we've done that," said Pinholster.

Officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement still have to determine what's next for the 25 workers.

http://www.abc-7.com/articles/readnews. ... =19330&z=2