Union members protest at hotel construction site that employed illegal immigrants
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By Ashley Yarchin

KSDK -- It was one of St. Francois County's largest round-ups of undocumented workers and the sheriff said he did it because too many citizens in his county are out of work.

Sheriff Daniel Bullock explained that Thomas Construction, located out of Lake of the Ozarks, should be employing local, legal residents. Last Saturday, deputies went to the future site of a Hampton Inn in Farmington and took 12 people into custody who were working there, as well as two others they found while searching for the workers.

Bullock said that all of the people taken in are living in the U.S. illegally, but when they contacted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency said to release all but one of the people. ICE would not say why that one individual needed to be held.

As for the others, Gail Montenegro, spokeswoman for ICE, said they have to prioritize based on available resources and detention space.

"Our top priority would be anything or anyone related to terrorism and beyond that we are, we are most interested in individuals who present the greatest threat to public safety," she said.

"To me, this is terrorism. It really is, especially in today's economy," said Shane Pelliccio, an out-of-work carpenter protesting in front of the site Wednesday. "This is the USA. If you want to work here, be an American citizen."

"Beyond that, St. Francois County is working at an 11 percent unemployment rate, the nation's unemployment rate is around 9 percent," said Sheriff Bullock. "There are many people here in St. Francois County out of work that could be doing these construction jobs at $13 an hour."

NewsChannel 5 has not heard back from Hampton Inn's corporate offices.

No one from Thomas Construction would comment on the issue, nor would ICE about whether charges would be filed against the construction company.


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