| More Arrests
There's nothing like reading good news! I only hope they keep it up. Quote:
Four supervisors for Fischer Homes were among 80 people arrested Tuesday as part of a two-year probe into the use of illegal immigrant workers in the home construction industry in Northern Kentucky.
The supervisors were charged with hiring illegal immigrants. The other 76 persons arrested were charged with being in the United States illegally.
The investigation, which is continuing, ties Fischer Homes directly to the subcontractor who hired and employed the undocumented immigrants, according to court documents. Indeed, court papers say, the subcontractor, Robert Pratt, also provided housing for the immigrants, most of whom are from Mexico or Guatemala.
As court hearings in the case began Tuesday, other federal authorities were at the headquarters of Fischer Homes on Chancellor Drive in Fort Mitchell. They arrived about noon with local police and were still there Tuesday evening, but did not say what they were looking for.
In a statement released late Tuesday from Washington, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which led the investigation, issued a harsh warning to employers.
"ICE has no tolerance for corporate supervisors who harbor illegal aliens for their workforce and deny labor opportunities for legitimate American employees," said Julie L. Myers, the assistant secretary for the agency.
"This enforcement action demonstrates how we will use all our investigative tools to bring these individuals to justice, no matter how large or small the company."
Pratt, court papers say, used his companies, Progressive Builders and Pratt's Quality Construction, to try to provide a buffer between Fischer Homes and the undocumented workers who worked on homes the company was building. But the use of contractors, sub-contractors and subsidiaries was just a ruse, said an affidavit filed by James Bellamy, a senior special agent with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.
All the work was coordinated by Fischer supervisors and Pratt, Bellamy said, and Fischer supervisors communicated directly with Pratt.
"This indicates that the Fischer supervisors are aware of Robert Pratt's business structure," Bellamy's affidavit charged.
"This also is an important indicator that Fischer has knowledge that Robert Pratt and his construction companies are used to provide a layer between Fischer and the illegal alien subcontractors and workers. However, this layer does not relieve Fischer of the responsibility to ensure that their contractors are employing a legal workforce."
Pratt, who has not been charged, could not be reached for comment.
Fischer Homes released a statement saying it had done nothing wrong.
"Fischer Homes utilizes a rigorous screening process for all of its employees, including citizenship verification," President and Chief Operating Officer Robert T. Hawksley said at company headquarters.
"We require all subcontractors to sign a document promising they will use no illegal aliens as employees. Fischer Homes does not, in any way, condone the hiring or use of illegal immigrants. We support all governmental employment regulations, and we stand by our hiring procedures."
Hawksley added that the company was "working with the authorities to get the facts" and said he might have new information today. But he wouldn't answer reporters' questions about the probe.
Federal authorities said the 76 illegal workers were all arrested on Fischer job sites - at the Tree Top subdivision in Hebron and at the Tara subdivision in Plantation Pointe in Florence. Many of the men admitted to investigators they were in the United States illegally, Bellamy stated in his affidavit.
Indeed, one of the supervisors who was arrested, Timothy Copsy of Independence, told investigators that half of the workers in the Fischer job site in Florence were illegal immigrants, according to the affidavit.
The men performed skilled labor such as framing, drywalling and roofing, according to court documents. One attorney said they were paid $7 to $10 an hour, significantly below the average wage for such work.
According to the Carpenters Union, union carpenters averaged $20.45 an hour in 2000, and nonunion carpenters averaged $13.51. Union drywallers averaged $17.93 an hour in 2000, and nonunion workers averaged $12.19.
Federal authorities identified the four supervisors as Copsy, a Fischer Homes construction manager; Douglas Witt, a Fischer Homes superintendent; William Allison, a Fischer Homes superintendent; and William Ring, a Fischer Homes assistant superintendent. All four pleaded not guilty during an arraignment Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Covington and were released, pending a hearing May 18.
Each is charged with aiding and abetting, harboring illegal aliens for commercial advantage or private financial gain. The maximum punishment for the crime is 10 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.
"Today's case is another tough step in our targeted and aggressive enforcement of our immigration laws within the interior of the United States," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a statement from Washington.
"We will continue to bring criminal actions against employers who are consistently harboring illegal aliens. We will stop this type of illegal facilitation."
U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Gregory Wehrman began arraigning the 76 immigrants Tuesday afternoon in groups of 10. That process will continue today.
All the men were held without bond. Each is charged with a misdemeanor of entering the United States "without inspection and at a time and place other than a designated port of entry."
Each man faces a maximum sentence of six months in prison and deportation.
They were all arrested in a planned pre-dawn raids at apartment complexes where they lived or construction sites by agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Kentucky State Police, the Boone County Sheriff's Department and Florence police.
| http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs....WS01/605100364
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Politicians are like diapers, they both need changed occasionally for the same reason.
Calling an illegal alien an "undocumented immigrant" is like calling a drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist"
The hard work of one will do more than the prayer of millions. |
05-14-2006, 07:40 AM
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