Thread: Don't ask, don't tell

Don't ask, don't tell
By GRANT HUANG Staff Writer
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Early yesterday, a handful of men stood chatting in Spanish outside the Wawa in Glen Burnie - a regular thing most mornings.
Bundled up in hooded sweatshirts and thick jeans on a cold, pre-dawn April morning, they arrived in a non-descript white van with newspapers covering the rear windows.

"Coffee first, then I think about working," said Santiago, a 24-year-old member of the group who speaks halting English with a cheerful smile.

He and his six friends say they are undocumented workers - Mexican immigrants who paid cash to enter American by way of California for the prospect of jobs.

They're part of an unknown number of immigrants in Anne Arundel County illegally, workers who fill an important hole in the labor force by taking entry level jobs in areas like construction and landscaping.

For the most part, these are jobs that most citizens don't want, said Russell Roeding, president of Associated Builders and Contractors' Chesapeake chapter.

"The employment rate is pretty high across the state and in this county," he said. "Pretty much anyone who wants to work has a job. Look at entry level labor jobs. How many young men and women, native-born, are clamoring for those jobs?"

Very few, if any, a fact that Santiago and his friends are well aware of.

He said his group has experience in basic construction work like hanging drywall or putting up siding, two common tasks they perform on a daily basis. On average, he and his friends earn $10 an hour, always paid in cash.

"You gringos don't want to do what we do," Santiago said. "So we do it (because) we have no problem ... why are we bad guys?"

That doesn't mean they are accepted. During his 18 years in the General Assembly, County Executive John R. Leopold opposed extending any benefits to undocumented immigrants.

"Illegal means illegal," he said. "This is a nation of laws and laws must be respected."

How many?

Estimating the number of undocumented workers in the county is a very rough science at best. People here illegally are unlikely to stand up and be counted.

But according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the county is home to about 20,400 foreign-born residents. More than half are naturalized citizens, leaving a minimum of about 7,000 foreign-born residents who are either legal permanent residents or illegal immigrants.

Some people who work with Hispanic immigrants, the largest group of people moving to the county from other countries, say the county figures are far higher. Some estimates have put the figure at 30,000 or more.

"I can't tell you who's got papers and who doesn't," said Susan A.M. Stroud, director of government affairs for Home Builders Association of Maryland. "But the fact is, foreign workers have become an integral part of the construction industry."

She stressed that "foreign workers" doesn't refer exclusively to Hispanic workers. But according to data from the U.S. Office of Immigration Statistics, 57 percent of all undocumented immigrants nationwide came from Mexico, dwarfing mostly single-digit figures from every other country in 2005. Immigrant populations in Anne Arundel County come from other countries as well, including El Salvador and Nicaragua.

"They'll come and line the wall some days," said Bob Rettberg, an electrician who works for a Glen Burnie contractor.

"Then they get picked up and leave, sometimes 15 guys packed into the back of one truck."

Mr. Rettberg said his company, which he declined to name, hires only union members. But he's seen other contractors come to rely on workers with unclear immigration status.

"These guys, they're everywhere - Wawas, 7-Elevens, pharmacies, you name it," he said. "We've called cops ... we've called immigration. It just doesn't work."

Large builders and specialty contractors don't have much use for entry-level labor, making them less dependent on workers without documentation, Mr. Roeding said.

"They wouldn't want to take the risk of hiring illegal workers," he said. "But pretty much any unskilled stuff like landscaping, debris-clearing or work for small housing contractors is what day labor gets picked up for."

And contractors aren't the only ones doing business with undocumented workers. Homeowners hire them for simple but physically demanding jobs like gardening or clearing vegetation, Mr. Roeding said.

"The reason these people are being used not necessarily because they provide cheap labor, it's just labor period," he said.

Who's responsible?

For their part, county police said they have no jurisdiction over immigration issues.

"We can only enforce loitering, trespassing or disorderly conduct issues at the Wawa or any other place where undocumented workers congregate," said Cpl. Sara Schriver, police spokesman.

"If they are being peaceful and we suspect they're illegal aliens, there's nothing we can do about it. It's all up to (immigration agents)."

But Immigration and Customs Enforcement won't go after groups of undocumented day laborers either.

"We're not doing dragnets on people standing in the street corners because we don't know if they're illegal or not," said Ernestine Fobbs, an ICE spokesman based in Maryland. "That's profiling, and we don't do that. Our priorities are people who knowingly hire undocumented workers."

"Knowingly" is the key word. The two businesses ICE raided March 31 didn't know about their undocumented workers.

Officials from Under Armour in Curtis Bay and Dixie Printing and Packaging Corp. in Glen Burnie said the employees arrested by ICE agents in their plants had been provided by a Baltimore employment agency. The agency was the target of the investigation.

It's getting tougher than ever for business owners to hire only legitimate immigrant workers, with employment agencies becoming such a routine part of staffing.

"About all we can do is check IDs: Social Security cards, drivers licenses, I-9 forms or whatever other forms of identification people have," said Newth Morris, president of Dixie Printing and Packaging.

"The problem is, there are very good forgeries out there. We do everything the government requires us to do and we can't tell."

The ICE raid cost his company four trained employees and about $20,000 in lost productivity, Mr. Morris estimated.

"They were good workers," he said. "And we had to shut down for three hours and while (ICE agents) sat everyone down for interviews."

The end result is too much responsibility foisted on employers, who often face a no-win situation, Mr. Roeding said.

"If a guy shows up with papers and says he's legal, what are you going to do?" he asked. "If you hire him and he's illegal, you get targeted by (ICE). If you don't hire him and he is legal, he can turn around and sue you, so you just can't win."

At the Wawa yesterday morning, Santiago said he had no problem talking about his illegal status. Immigration agents have no way of tracking him down and don't care about a few day laborers, he said. But he admits the ICE two raids have made him a bit more cautious.

"No nombres," Santiago said, gesturing to himself and his friends still in line for coffee. "I don't give all names, OK?"

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Published 04/11/07, Copyright © 2007 Maryland Gazette,
Glen Burnie, Md.
http://www.hometownglenburnie.com/vault ... /11-36.HTM

On average, he and his friends earn $10 an hour, always paid in cash.