12 [Fort] Bliss Workers Detained After Immigration Check

Twelve construction workers were detained Friday at Fort Bliss because they were in the country illegally or didn't have proper work permits, officials said. The 12 were detained after Military Police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents interviewed 335 workers at one housing construction site, at Fort Bliss and another at Biggs Army Airfield.

The workers were required to verify their identification and employment status. ICE agents will continue the investigation into the source of the false documentation, post officials said.

Most of the workers were employed by four subcontractors -- a framing company, a drywall company, a rock-wall builder and a flooring company -- working for Balfour Beatty Construction, said Winn Maddrey, a Balfour Beatty spokesman.

Maddrey said the subcontractors are required to provide documentation of workers' immigration status to Balfour Beatty. The prospective employee must present a copy of the form certifying his documentation and personal identification before he is issued a work badge, Maddrey said.

Balfour Beatty requires its subcontractors to obtain all the required documentation, he said, and it is the subcontractor's responsibility to verify the information.

So far, he said, nearly 3,000 people have received badges for the work, which involves four neighborhoods and 1,659 units. On an average day, about 650 workers carrying Balfour Beatty badges are working at Fort Bliss, Maddrey said.

It will be up to the prime contractor for Fort Bliss housing to determine whether any action will be taken against the subcontractors, she said.

"You're taking an awful chance when you're on a federal installation and you're using illegal workers," Offutt said.

While I think companies that knowingly hire illegals ought to suffer, it’s ridiculous for people to jump on the “get the company bandwagon”. IF they have SSNs and their cards and IDs appear to be in order, it is not UP to you and me as company employees when hiring to be held responsible for someone ELSE holding FORGED documents. Congress, and people around the country need to get off this trip of “blaming companies” outright. Let’s FIX the forms, and identification procedures, and make States stop giving legal drivers license to illegal aliens FIRST, THEN when we fix that, go after companies who are behaving illegally. (Unless you personally can say every document isn’t a forgery, then you need to hire people if they appear legit.)

You will find that the business who follow the law will not have a problem w the ID checks.

You will find that the business who want no enforcement want to hire illegals.

12 out of hundreds not clearing the ID check probably means that these sub-cons were truly trying to hire citizens and not illegals, so I would not be as harsh on these sub-cons. Lets face it 12 out of hundreds turning up illegal in El Paso means that these sub-cons did a good job checking things out...having lived in EP for years I know this is a low illegal-American citizen ratio

However, we must hold those business responsible for hiring illegals, especially when it is blatant.

You are severely misinformed and so are an awful lot of other people. If you bother to read the I9 form it asks for various identifications. These include passports, Social Security Cards and drivers' licenses.

I have WATCHED as my wife who used to manage a large-chain fast food place (multiple locations) over the course of over 14 years in the industry go through the forms with people, examine them carefully (she was the on-duty manager taking applications) and read the forms carefully. At the end, she accepted the forms and put down the data, or the prospective employee did so. In some of those cases, the materials turned out later to have been FORGED documents and the "employees" were found to be illegal aliens.

Not ONLY was the organization NOT responsible for this, neither was my wife -- who by the way CAN tell the difference in real and counterfeit money, but who can't tell the difference in Social Security Cards because there IS NO METHOD BY WHICH TO TELL!.

You and many others are very misinformed about who does and doesn't "Follow the law". To FURTHER complicate matters, and I expect you instead of arguing with me on this subject to CHECK for yourself, if you contact the Social Security Administration about suspected illegal documents from their Agency, you will discover they will tell you that they "Can do NOTHING about it".

This problem should NOT be pushed on the heads of businesses, unless and until the GOVERNMENT becomes proactive in removing illegal aliens from this country, and making it difficult to duplicate or forge papers. (I know that is asking a lot, but thepoint here is that people are now looking for scapegoats, and they are blaming BUSINESS for this problem when it is NOT a BUSINESS problem. For ONCE the government is AT FAULT for this and need to take responsibility for this situation. )Stop blaming businesses. That's BS.

However, we must hold those business responsible for hiring illegals, especially when it is blatant.

BLATANTLY hiring illegals is a whole different story. We're not always talking about that. Companies are ALL required to do the I9 thing, when they hire someone. Those "hiring under the table" are more suspect than others. HOWEVER, don't forget that there are these "Day Labor" places in many counties of the US who hire anyone for a few hours on perhaps a daily or weekly basis, and they ask for SSNs for the people, only in most cases. THEY ARE USUALLY AFFILIATED with the government in some manner and are the ones who BLATANTLY hiring people. So the government is STILL AT FAULT here!

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.