Police Nab Alleged Illegal Immigrants at Work Site
Last Update: May 19, 2007 6:22 PM

Posted By: Paul Merrill


Five Latin American men began their Saturday on a construction site but by the end of the day, they were in the custody of immigration officials.

Rensselaer Police say they arrested five illegal immigrants who were working on the city's school building project.

Investigators tell FOX23 News that a Putnam County subcontractor was paying the men to dismantle some scaffolding on Saturday morning.

Rensselaer Police Sergeant Donald Christensen says, "We got the call earlier this morning and I sent two uniformed cars up there."

Christensen says that call came from a supervisor at the Partition Street construction site where workers are trying to finish a new city school building before the end of the year.

Police don't know how the site's manager got wind of the illegal workers but they do know this Saturday wasn't their first day on the job.

"I know for a fact that they were up there last Saturday," Christensen tells FOX23 News. "I don't know exactly how long they've been up there."

Officers took six men into custody but released one, a 30-year-old man from Virginia, after he turned out to be a legal U.S. Resident.

The other five men range in age from 21 to 28.

They come from Bolivia, Guatemala, and Mexico.

Investigators tell us they didn't try to hide the fact that they were breaking the law.

Sergeant Christensen says, "All the illegals that they interviewed up there...they did admit that they were in this country illegally."

Police say the men were with a subcontracting company called Innovative Wall Systems out of Brewster, New York.

Christensen says the city's police department has worked closely with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in the past but Saturday's bust was the first in a while.

"We haven't had any problems in the last year or two," he says.

Rensselaer Police tell us an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agent took the five illegal immigrants to the Department of Homeland Security facility in Colonie for processing.

The men are being held at the Albany County Jail, awaiting a Monday morning immigration hearing which will determine their bail and whether or not they'll face deportation.

FOX23 News left a message with the man who answered the phone at Innovative Wall Systems in Brewster; we are still waiting for a call back.

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