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DA says 12 illegal immigrants at work site
Workers were taken into custody at construction site and jailed. No criminal charges have been filed.
Saturday, December 02, 206
By MEGHAN SMITH
The Express-Times

HELLERTOWN | Twelve illegal immigrants were taken to Northampton County Prison on Wednesday following a raid on a borough construction site, District Attorney John Morganelli said Friday.

Three subcontractors had been using the undocumented workers for interior jobs at the Oak Ridge subdivision on Cherry Lane, where Ryan Homes Inc. is building townhouses for Ashley Development Corp. of Bethlehem, the district attorney said.

GS Carpentry of Whitehall Township, MP Flooring of Bellmawr, N.J., and Ceylan Painting LLC of Philadelphia allegedly employed the 11 men and one woman who were taken into custody.

Neither the companies nor the workers have been criminally charged.

"As far as companies go, in order to charge them, you have to show they knowingly hired illegals, and it would be very difficult to establish that based on what we have," he said. "At the present time our investigation is continuing."

Reached by phone Friday, Ceylan President Husrev Victor Ceylan said he had "no idea" two of his employees were living in the country illegally.

"This is the first time anything like this has happened to me," he said.

Ceylan said he has already hired replacements for the Hellertown site and has double-checked to make sure they had the correct documents. Because of Wednesday's incident he would be more thorough in screening his workers in the future, he said.

Attempts to reach the other two contractors Friday were unsuccessful.

The seven Brazilian nationals and five Mexican nationals whom Morganelli said entered the country by way of the Mexican border were living in the Lehigh Valley, except for one man whose address remained unknown Friday.

The district attorney said none of the 12 people were carrying any form of identification, yielding no evidence they had committed identity theft. He said his office is still in the process of completing background checks.

According to Morganelli, county detectives began conducting surveillance at the site on Nov. 15 after receiving a tip that illegal workers had been hired there.

The district attorney said 11 of the 12 workers were apprehended without incident. One man attempted to flee and was later caught by Hellertown police, he said.

Borough police Chief Robert Balum did not return calls seeking comment. No news release was issued on the incident this week.

Morganelli said it will be up to immigration officials to determine how long the illegal immigrants are detained in county prison.

Reporter Meghan Smith can be reached at 610-867-5000 or by e-mail at msmith@express-times.com.