http://www.nbc-2.com/articles/readleearticle.asp?articleid=19657&z=14Last updated on: 6/4/2008 6:14:52 PM by Michelle Burdo
LEE COUNTY: There is new information in the case of more than two dozen people arrested for working in Lee County illegally. County leaders met with the construction company that hired the workers, in an attempt to figure out who was at fault.
Kraft Construction, which is in charge of all the building at the new Lee County Jail site, met with county staff Wednesday. Their goal was to show the county they did not knowingly hire the 25 illegal immigrants who were arrested while working on the jail.
NBC2 spoke with county staff and they say they saw 25 legitimate I-9 forms for those workers on Wednesday.
An I-9 form confirms the person is legally able to work in the U.S. Now, the county says everything is OK with Kraft Construction - they did everything right.
Still, somewhere along the line these illegal immigrants got hired.
County staff members say the problem is that companies cannot question the authenticity of the document - because by law that would be viewed as discrimination.Original Storyhttp://www.nbc-2.com/articles/readarticle.asp?articleid=19299&z=3FORT MYERS: Deputies and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 25 construction workers at the site of the new Lee County Jail off Ortiz Avenue due to concerns over their immigration status.
Working on a tip, the sheriff’s office planned the bust Wednesday night and carried it out Thursday morning.
"Got with ICE and decided to go first thing in the morning. Much better time on the job site, catch everybody," said Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott.
One of the workers explained what happened Thursday morning.
"They made everybody go into one room. They told everybody who didn't have proper ID to get on one side and the others to get on the other side," said one of the workers.
Twenty five people were arrested.
"Twenty-two males and three females from a number of different countries- Guatemala, Mexico, Brazil," said Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott.
The 25 illegals are all employees of several different subcontractors hired to work on the new jail facility.
Neither the sheriff's office nor ICE would name all the businesses involved, but Spectrum Painting was identified as one of the businesses.
We spoke to the Vice President of Spectrum Contracting, Inc., but he said he didn’t know anything about it.
Late Thursday afternoon, we were sent the following statement from the President of Spectrum, John Schallert.
"At this time, we are unable to confirm how many of our employees have been detained by INS this afternoon. Every person who applies for employment with our company goes through our hiring process, and that includes producing the required documentation to prove employment eligibility. Just as any other business does, we want to hire people who are hard working and take pride in doing a good job. Spectrum Contracting has been a specialty contracting company for 15 years in this area, providing area builders with services that include waterproofing, fireproofing, hurricane repairs, reconstruction management, specialty coatings and painting for commercial buildings and high-rises."
When we went to Kraft Construction, the general contractor for part of the project, we were asked to leave their property.
We later spoke to Richard Hart- the Vice President of Human Resources. He admitted one of the workers arrested was theirs.
Hart says he doesn't know why the worker was arrested because he had all of the proper paperwork.
"In my humble perspective, until there's a border, we can't even begin to dream of getting a hold of what's going on here," said Scott.
The suspects are in the custody of the ICE Office of Detention and Removal. They have all been placed in removal proceedings and will remain in custody pending the outcome of their case.
