Thread: TX-Italians, not Texans, building signature Dallas bridge

Italians, not Texans, building signature Dallas bridge

11:24 AM CST on Thursday, November 5, 2009

By BYRON HARRIS / WFAA-TV




The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge is now under construction across the Trinity River.
DALLAS — Seventy million dollars worth of federal, state and city funds are pouring into the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.

Supporters hope the span will be a signature for the city. But it may be remembered for something else, because the key jobs in its construction -- tens of thousands of man hours of work — are going to Italians.

On the construction site in the Trinity River bottoms, an American inspector told News 8: "If you don't speak Italian, it's going to be tough to communicate."

In broken English, a man who appeared to be a foreman, told me all the welders and helpers on the project — eleven in all — are from Italy.

The Texas Department of Transportation is buying the bridge. The steel comes from Italian company Cimolai. Cimolai imported the workers to build the span without giving Texans a chance at the jobs, which would have been required under H-2B visas, the kind specified for construction jobs.

When asked what kind of visas he and his colleagues had, the foreman in charge of the project said they had "visa for work (sic)."

Documents show the eleven men came in not as construction workers but "business visitors" on B-1 visas.

State Department rules do allow commercial or industrial workers to enter the U.S. under B-1 visas. They are permitted to enter the U.S. to "install, service, or repair commercial or industrial equipment or machinery."

The rules specifically exclude construction such as bridge-building.

TxDOT spokeswoman Cynthia Northrup White said her agency inquired about the legality of the visas "months ago" and found no problem.

The document Northrup White uses to defend the agency's position is an October 5 letter from Houston immigration attorney Beatriz Trillos Ballerini. The letter is not addressed to TxDOT, but rather to the Italian firm Cimolai, which presumably paid for her opinion.

Ballerini said the B-1 visas are "in full accordance with the federal regulations and the Foreign Affairs Manual." Ballerini cites section 9FAM 41.31N10.1 of the Foreign Affairs Manual, which lets workers use B-1 visas to "install equipment purchased from a company outside the United States."

She does not mention the part of the regulations that say the visas are not to be used for construction.

Ballerini did not return News 8's phone calls seeking clarification of her analysis.

Immigration lawyers commonly find parts of the law that fit their clients' needs to justify importing workers, while excluding parts of the law that do not.

An exhaustive News 8 investigation of aircraft mechanics found repair firms importing foreign mechanics as "scientific technicians" and "aircraft repair engineers" to fit certain sections of immigration law, when what the workers were really doing was fixing airplanes.

So it is with the Calatrava bridge.

Immigration lawyer Ballerini writes that "only highly-trained individuals screened for this project possess the specialized knowledge of Cimolai S.p.A distinctive on-site installation technique, including preparation, unique welding procedures, assembly and appropriate lifting."

This is news to Williams Brothers Construction Company, the general contractor for the bridge.

We asked company spokesman Bill Miller if Italian welders are any different than American welders. "Presumably no," he chuckled. "Nothing that I can name."

TxDOT officials admit that the Italian workers actually welded the wrong ends of two sections of the bridge together.

"They turned one of the boxes [a massive piece of support steel on the bottom of the structure] around the wrong way," TxDOT inspector Stan Ybarra told News 8. "That happens. They’re only human."

All of this, however, is no joke for unemployed welders in North Texas, who might have been working on Dallas' signature bridge.

"We feel like we have American citizens being cheated out of work -- not only from the bridge, but all over by these visas," said Steve Anthony of the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers. He says he could put 50 welders to work today.

Although the bridge is a signature project for Dallas, Mayor Tom Leppert said the lost jobs are not the city's problem. "That one's being run by TxDOT, so TxDOT's going to have to be the one to do the fact check, the analysis, all of those sorts of things; they're going to have to be approached."

Everyone involved in this project points the finger at someone else.

The U.S. consulate in Milan, Italy approved the visas to "install" the bridge.

TxDOT — citing Ballerini's letter to someone else — says it is the responsibility of the general contractor to make sure the law is followed.

Williams Brothers Construction passes the buck to Cimolai.

Cimolai doesn't speak English.

And the jobless Texas welders trying to find a way to put dinner on the table tonight don't have anyone to plead their case.

E-mail bharris@wfaa.com


http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/w ... 028d3.html

This is just plain BS and it has to stop, these people at TxDOT need to be held accountable!!!

Quote:
"The document Northrup White uses to defend the agency's position is an October 5 letter from Houston immigration attorney Beatriz Trillos Ballerini. The letter is not addressed to TxDOT, but rather to the Italian firm Cimolai, which presumably paid for her opinion."

And I assume that someone with a name like "Beatriz Trillos Ballerinini" is herself Italian or of Italian descent? This is a sad departure from the tradition of American patriots of Italian descent such as Tom Trancredo who have been so intrumental in raising the national alarm on the immigration issue.

Originally Posted by Texas2step

Quote:
"The document Northrup White uses to defend the agency's position is an October 5 letter from Houston immigration attorney Beatriz Trillos Ballerini. The letter is not addressed to TxDOT, but rather to the Italian firm Cimolai, which presumably paid for her opinion."

And I assume that someone with a name like "Beatriz Trillos Ballerinini" is herself Italian or of Italian descent? This is a sad departure from the tradition of American patriots of Italian descent such as Tom Trancredo who have been so intrumental in raising the national alarm on the immigration issue.

"Beatriz" as written is spanish. It's wriiten Beatrice if Italian. She may be half Italian; half Spanish. Either way, there should have been no reason to bring in these workers.

Does anyone but me think it's now time to stop ALL work-related Visas, no matter what class, until ALL AMERICAN workers are once again employed?

This is beyond out of control. It's insanity. And inexcusable.

Charity begins at home. Take care of our own first. Get them employed first.

Too many jobs have been outsourced and too many workers that speak no English have been insourced. And we are supposedly the "comsumer nation of the world!" HAH! When consumers can't afford even food, we sure do need the latest widget or gadget. Is anyone going to get a grip soon?

The Texas Department of Transportation is buying the bridge. The steel comes from Italian company Cimolai. Cimolai imported the workers to build the span without giving Texans a chance at the jobs, which would have been required under H-2B visas, the kind specified for construction jobs.

If you need any more evidence this country is selling Americans out, then I do not know what to tell you....

Originally Posted by NoBueno

The Texas Department of Transportation is buying the bridge. The steel comes from Italian company Cimolai. Cimolai imported the workers to build the span without giving Texans a chance at the jobs, which would have been required under H-2B visas, the kind specified for construction jobs.

If you need any more evidence this country is selling Americans out, then I do not know what to tell you....

What The Hell !!

The TxDOT must work for Spain and Italy.

Steel from Italy ???

Designed by a Spaniard ??

TxDOT need to be investigated for sure since this is NOT the first time they have sold us out IE NAFTA Super Highway.

NumbersUSA has faxes you can send to your congress critters AND the Prez to STOP giving visas to foreign workers.

I know this is an old-fashioned concept in our new Global Economy, but why are we importing steel bridges from Italy in the first place? We have steel, we have ornamental steel, we have engineers who can design a bridge, steel factories that can custom-make the steel for this bridge, American iron-workers that can weld, forge, assemble anything you want done including a bridge.

This is a free trade treason problem that leads to an immigration problem. Americans are getting screwed at both ends. Tell these traitors in DC you want these free trade treason deals revoked, repealed, and thrown on the bonfire.

If we can make it here, then we shouldn't import it. No agency of the US government or state government or county or city government should ever use taxpayer money to order anything or hire anyone that isn't American.

Wake Up People.

Originally Posted by USPatriot

Originally Posted by NoBueno

The Texas Department of Transportation is buying the bridge. The steel comes from Italian company Cimolai. Cimolai imported the workers to build the span without giving Texans a chance at the jobs, which would have been required under H-2B visas, the kind specified for construction jobs.

If you need any more evidence this country is selling Americans out, then I do not know what to tell you....

What The Hell !!

The TxDOT must work for Spain and Italy.

Steel from Italy ???

Designed by a Spaniard ??

TxDOT need to be investigated for sure since this is NOT the first time they have sold us out IE NAFTA Super Highway.

NumbersUSA has faxes you can send to your congress critters AND the Prez to STOP giving visas to foreign workers.

You know the Martin Luther King Memorial? His statue was sculpted by a Chinese sculptor in China and hauled to the US marked "made in China". Now, Go Figure. Pretty sick, huh? And you know the new Freedom Tower in New York to replace the World Trade Centers? It's a glass building and the Chinese won the contract to provide all the glass. Now, Go Figure. "Made in China" on our Freedom Tower. Pretty sick, huh?

Thank Club For Growth, Doug Hoffman's underwriters.



Here's a picture of the MLK Statue, Seattle Times, they thought the sculptor made him look like a dictator, and it really does:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/n ... tue10.html

Our country has gone insane.