Workers allege Huntsville company hires illegal immigrants
http://www.waff.com/Global/story.asp?S= ... menu62_4_2
WAFF 48 INVESTIGATORS
Workers allege Huntsville company hires illegal immigrants
July 25, 2006 10:45 AM
Many people come to the United States looking for work, some of them are here legally and some are not. Illegal immigration is the source of heated debates here in the Valley and in Washington, D.C.
Illegal immigrants crossing the border are just one part of the issue. But many wouldn't even risk it if there weren't employers willing to hire them. Catching those employers can sometimes be tougher than catching the illegal immigrants. That is until a group of illegal immigrants showed up at our newsroom door.
They were out of a job and out of money and had some pretty serious accusations against one Huntsville company.
Most of the time we go looking for stories to investigate -- then sometimes they walk right into our parking lot. Like this group of illegal immigrants.
Late on a Friday night -- 25 men showed up on our door step looking for help. They felt they had been wronged. They worked for P and T trailers until the week of July 4th when they say the boss refused to pay them.
"My boss not want to pay to nobody, he's mad for something," says the man we'll call Jose . He says he's not afraid he could lose his current job or even be deported.
After our interview, Jose says P and T's owner Paul Pancola did hand over the group's money when they went back to Pancola's office demanding their hard-earned cash.
"He pay cash. He not ask you for nothing. Your name, social security, anything," said Jose.
That information led the WAFF 48 Investigators to do some digging of our own. We went to P and T looking for answers.
"He's not sure what it pertains to but he says he doesn't have a comment," said the secretary.
"We have several Hispanic workers that came to our station, about 25 of them. They are illegal immigrants and had shirts on from this place and they work for you. And they weren't paid for a week of working so that's what it pertains to and we're running a story on it and if he doesn't want to comment that's fine, but he has the opportunity."
Paul Pancola refused to talk to us.
While we were at P and T, two Hispanic workers were called into his office.
According to these workers we interviewed, all they want is work.
"Sometimes I work from 7 in the morning til 7 in the night, sometimes 8. Four or five days," Jose said. "We come to this state for work, to make money not for free. I have family to take care of. All these guys have family to take care of."
Jose says he hasn't been back to work for p and t since our interview.
And they all know by speaking out, they could be deported to Mexico.
But Jose and his co-workers say it's worth it to let people know how they are being treated and besides he says it would be quite easy to get back to Huntsville.
"I look for somebody to bring me back here," Jose said.
Jose already has another job.
He's working for a landscaping company, but won't reveal the name of that business.
