Protest at Anderson fire station construction site enters second day

Anderson Independent Mail ^ | 2/13/09

[4everontheRight]

ANDERSON — Civil unrest escalated Thursday while protesters stood outside the Anderson construction site of a city fire station and said the workers on the project were not documented as legal United States residents.

[4everontheRight]

According to what I read and heard, several citizens complained that the men working on this fire station were illegal. Next thing you know, people start showing up to protest and the "workers" scattered! Later truck loads of "the workers" were passing back in forth in front of this fire station and telling the protestors to "meet them down the street!!"

[Travis McGee]

Sounds like my 2nd novel.

[UCFRoadWarrior]

Its good to see people standing up against illegal aliens and Economic Anti-Americanism.

Next election the residents of Anderson need to vote their anti-American city leaders out of office. They may not be directly involved, but the builders they used should not be allowed to use illegal aliens

[indcons]

Pssst- where’s the excerpt/article? You’ve replaced the original article with your comment.

[4everontheRight]

That is an exerpt from the article.
But here goes.....

ANDERSON — Civil unrest escalated Thursday while protesters stood outside the Anderson construction site of a city fire station and said the workers on the project were not documented as legal United States residents. Chad Summerall, the owner of Summerall Masonry Inc. in Anderson, organized the protest on Simpson Road and asked a half-dozen people to hold up signs. He is frustrated because he thinks companies have been relying on illegal immigrants to push bids so low his company cannot compete. Officials for the fire station project have said that the workers are documented as legal residents. Summerall said that two truckloads of Hispanics drove by protesters on Thursday and angrily asked the protesters to meet them down the street. He also said that a plumber working on the fire station site told the protesters to “go to McDonald’s and get a job.” “I will be out here until I get a job,” Summerall said. More than 40 residents have also signed a petition from protesters stating they were concerned about social justice and the hiring of legal workers. The petition will eventually be presented to city of Anderson officials, Summerall said. About 25 protesters rotated shifts for hours as they held up signs outside the construction site on Thursday while drivers honked their horns and stuck up their thumbs in support. Damian Berrios, 22, of Greenville is an electrician for subcontractor Priority One Services and he spent the day pulling wires on the construction site. He confirmed that a worker on site did tell the protesters to find a job at McDonald’s, but said the protesters have been a distraction. “People are beeping their horns and making comments to everybody at work," Berrios said. He also said that if the protesters spent as much time job searching as they do protesting they would be able to find employment. However, Berrios did not dispute the charge that there may be illegal immigrants on the site. “Everybody knows there are illegal aliens on every job site there is,” Berrios said. Summerall said he believes the workers for J&H Masonry are illegal immigrants. Jose Hernandez, the owner of J & H Masonry, said on Wednesday that all of his workers are legal residents. Brad Fousek, the superintendent of the project from Lazer Construction Company Inc. in Anderson, said that protesters intimidated workers as they worked on Wednesday. He said he did not want any of his workers engaging in civil unrest. “If it comes from this side, I don’t condone it,” Fousek said. “I don’t want anyone yelling across the street.” City officials have said that city police officers cannot enforce federal and state employment laws and the city depends on contractors to uphold those laws. Randall Williams, a spokesperson for the city of Anderson Police department, said that no reports have been made to the department regarding shouting at the construction site. He said residents should call the police department to let them know about any civil unrest if they would like the city police to patrol the area more frequently. Brian Welborn, 34, of Anderson said he participated in the protest on Wednesday and Thursday. He has been out of work for six months after serving as a laborer for Summerall. Welborn said more investigation into whether the workers are legal residents was needed. He also said that J & H Masonry needs more diversity on its staff. “That is another country taking our jobs,” Welborn said. “They have their own country.”

[indcons]

“Jose Hernandez, the owner of J & H Masonry, said on Wednesday that all of his workers are legal residents.”

LOL - Jose must have arranged for the legal “paperwork” through his own amigo network.

[indcons]

FRiend,

You may consider asking AdminMod to replace your comment with the body of the article. This is a good article that goes into interesting and troubling details.

[4everontheRight]

According to the lead protestor - the truck the workers arrived in has no license plate.

[hellbender]

protesters stood outside the Anderson construction site of a city fire station and said the workers on the project were not documented

We need a few thousand people marching outside the White House protesting that its occupant is not documented either.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

The City leaders would use the same excuse my neighbors use about their lawn men - “I hired an american firm, I can’t help it if the workers aren’t legal”....

[aberaussie]

Welborn said more investigation into whether the workers are legal residents was needed. He also said that J & H Masonry needs more diversity on its staff.

???

[1010RD]

He is frustrated because he thinks companies have been relying on illegal immigrants to push bids so low his company cannot compete. Officials for the fire station project have said that the workers are documented as legal residents.

Let's not confuse opinion with fact. They look like illegals? How do illegals look? Their prices are too low? Competition is American. Low prices and lower prices are American.

Sounds like a competitor protesting too much and abusing the sentiment against illegal immigrants. This is a tempest in a teapot. Not a noteworthy example.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Are you kidding me? How do illegals look? Apparently you don't live near pockets of illegals - they are shorter than most American Hispanics and much darker - and here's a big clue - they don't speak English!

Competition is great, the American way - but not when one company is allowed to break the law to have the lowest rates. No insurance, no taxes - sure they can underbid everyone else - they are almost using slave labor.

[indcons]

“I hired an american firm, I can’t help it if the workers aren’t legal” That was Mitt Romney's response during one of the GOP primary debates when he was asked about hiring multiple illegals to work on his family's multiple properties.

[Fee]

The way to solve this is to require all employers to e verify their applicants thru the Homeland Security. That is available for everyone to use, but voluntary.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Oh really? Yikes - people justify their actions.

[Just mythoughts]

The story tells what illegals look like, they scatter and run when questions get ask.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

I have a neighbor who owns a lawn care service. All of his workers are illegals. I confronted him once and he calmly said "all of my guys have a social security number" - and I thought, yeah I'll bet they do but it isn't theirs.

I noticed a few years ago that his company trucks have two different names - some have one, some have the other. I figured he cooks the books and is ready to flip the guys to the other company if someone starts asking questions.

[indcons]

Even worse - he just stopped short of calling Rudy Giuliani a racist when Giuliani brought up the news report of Romney’s personal “legalization” program during the 2nd or 3rd debate.

[indcons]

And, I assume you’ve heard the recent news that e-verify is not going be renewed by Obama and the ‘rat Congress? It expires in March 2009.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

That is why they aren’t even attempting to hide the illegal workers any longer - it doesn’t matter now. So my hope is that some of the big labor groups make sure the firms who have cheated by using them HAVE to pay them full scale wages plus cover all insurance/benefits. Payback is a bitch.

[IYAS9YAS]

Competition is great, the American way - but not when one company is allowed to break the law to have the lowest rates. No insurance, no taxes - sure they can underbid everyone else - they are almost using slave labor.

Exactly. A company from SoCal that competed against a company from ID (that I worked for) won many Pacific NW customers from the ID company. How? The ID company was buying and paying the same price for raw materials, and shipping costs were much lower from ID to OR and WA. Reason, SoCal company was paying much less for labor than ID company.

Only way for CA company to achieve this? Illegal laborers. No way they were paying market rates for labor and still able to save enough to cover the difference in shipping costs.

[IYAS9YAS]

I have a neighbor who owns a lawn care service. All of his workers are illegals. I confronted him once and he calmly said "all of my guys have a social security number" - and I thought, yeah I'll bet they do but it isn't theirs.

Turn his ass in to the authorities.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

I live in Houston - no one cares about illegals. They are everywhere - you go into a fast food joint and tell one person your order and she/he shouts out in spanish to the others scurrying around to fill it.

[1010RD]

The story tells what illegals look like, they scatter and run when questions get ask.

You are lying. The story states no such thing. It does have a misleading headline that is intentionally inflammatory.

Don't let your blinders destroy your rights. You should have the right to work where you want and when you want despite your skin color, appearance or national origin. I read the story.

Nobody presented anything but opinion and innuendo. At face value the story is bunk. It lacks the basic elements of reporting. Instead it is an editorial disguised as news.

Shouldn't conservatives be naturally sceptical of anything the MSM reports?

[1010RD]

The workers never “scattered” as you reported. Don’t mislead on this thread. The story doesn’t state any facts, just a series of opinions.

Summers is a laborer. The least skilled of any construction trade. Laborer is a union designation. What you’ve likely stumbled on to is a union thug disguising his inability to compete as being caused by illegal immigrant workers instead of a ridiculous and arbitrary salary schedule.

It is a bigoted and false claim. The story doesn’t support it. Summers should try McDonalds. They work hard there.

[Just mythoughts]

Damian Berrios, 22, of Greenville is an electrician for subcontractor Priority One Services and he spent the day pulling wires on the construction site. He confirmed that a worker on site did tell the protesters to find a job at McDonald’s, but said the protesters have been a distraction. “People are beeping their horns and making comments to everybody at work," Berrios said. He also said that if the protesters spent as much time job searching as they do protesting they would be able to find employment. However, Berrios did not dispute the charge that there may be illegal immigrants on the site. “Everybody knows there are illegal aliens on every job site there is,” Berrios said.

I am lying you say? And you read the article?

[4everontheRight]

If you were not there as I was not there, you have no idea if they scattered or not! I PERSONALLY have seen this happen at a local chicken processing plant that hired illegals! The INS showed up as I was shopping next door and raided the place and yes...they scattered! It does happen. It is not a “labor” or “union” issue. It is an issue of LAW! I don't care who or what works where...if you are legal you can work on the moon for all I care! If you are not a legal resident of this country, you should not be able to work in this country let alone work for the city!!!

[IYAS9YAS]

I live in Houston - no one cares about illegals. They are everywhere - you go into a fast food joint and tell one person your order and she/he shouts out in spanish to the others scurrying around to fill it.

I hear ya. I'm in New Mexico myself. It seems as if every fast food restaurant I go to is like this. Not all the sit-downs are this way, but most of the fast foods are.

[1010RD]

According to the lead protestor - the truck the workers arrived in has no license plate.

Are you the "lead protestor"? There is nothing in the story to support that allegation. Are you just making this up as you go to inflame anti-illegal passions?

[4everontheRight]

No, I am not the lead protester. He was interviewed on the local media and reported his story to the media.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Another illegal apologist here on FR - maybe when he loses his job (unless his job is filling our jobs with illegals) he’ll realize he is wrong.

[1010RD]

You are a liar and you've mislead in your statements twice. Just now and also before.

You originally stated: The story tells what illegals look like, they scatter and run when questions get ask.

Neither the story, nor your re-post even contains the word "scattered". It is not in the story. Either you misread it or misstated it, but to continue to state it and pretend it is true is a lie and is intentionally misleading.

Your re-post contains no facts, just additional opinion and innuendo.Berrios did not dispute the charge that there may be illegal immigrants on the site. This is not a statement of fact. It is an opinion. It is not proof, it is innuendo.

You need to recant. Either you misread the original story or injected your own opinion as fact. Neither is the truth.

[1010RD]

Then you are reporting opinion as fact and that is not true. Summer’s has every reason to lie. Why shouldn’t we be skeptical of his unproven claims?

[4everontheRight]

Look, you believe what You want. Every story has a report of a person telling their side of a story. So as you see it, every person telling THEIR side of the story, is basically lying.
This man's opinion.... to him, is fact. He reports it as he sees it. I guess the other guy's side couldn't be documented since they left the scene.

[1010RD]

You are correct. You’ve also made my point. No one posting on this board nor the article itself indicated that anyone was confirmed an illegal. The story did not contain the word “scattered”. Nothing is proved in this intentionally inflammatory story.

The City hired the GC, who then hired a series of subcontractors. The City hired no illegals, at least not intentionally.

I won’t be surprised to find that this is a union v. non-union labor issue, masquerading as an illegal immigrant issue to get broad support. Be skeptical, please.

[4everontheRight]

I believe I used the word scattered. I reported what the lead protester said to the media. Being as he was there, he had a opinion.
My guess is that you spend your time engaging people as some part of a liberal movement. I have more time to spend on this being as I am off work today so I got all day.

[Just mythoughts]

L O L ...as IF I care about you calling me a liar....

The ‘scatter and run’ was NOT placed as a ‘quotation’ from the story. Rather I used the words, MY words, to let you know what illegals LOOOOOOK like. You attempted to make this about ‘race’ and I refused to take your bait.

[Oldexpat]

We all need to start enforcing the laws.
When you hire a contractor or gardener to do work on your place..require him to give you a photo copy of the driver’s license or State ID for every worker he brings on your property. Tell him that it is required for your liability insurance. Tell him it is also for security, because people who have workers around their house tend to be robbed later on. If he won’t cooperate..find another contractor.

[1010RD]

No one ran away. That is not in the story you posted. You have two opinions stated in the story. Neither is fact and either could be a lie. Both sides have an incentive to obfuscate the truth, no? You’ve chosen to accept the one side whole cloth. You would do better to be more skeptical.

Unions have been pulling this kind of story for almost a century. Most union work rules and local codes were designed to lock out cheap southern labor (read: Blacks).

This smacks of the same thing only this time it is the Browns who are getting it. If they are illegals then the law has them. If they are not let them work and enjoy the product of their labor.

[1010RD]

Re-read your own posts. You continue to deceive, either intentionally or accidentally. In your own words, again: “The story tells what illegals look like, they scatter and run when questions get ask.”

The story makes no such statement. The story is riddled with holes and is non-factual. I think you and the original poster have been baited by a union laborer and the reporter.

I am not baiting you, just correcting you. You need to deal with your own cognitive dissonance. This is getting a bit boring, no?

[4everontheRight]

uh - huh

[Just mythoughts]

Re-read your own posts. You continue to deceive, either intentionally or accidentally. In your own words, again: “The story tells what illegals look like, they scatter and run when questions get ask.” The story makes no such statement. The story is riddled with holes and is non-factual. I think you and the original poster have been baited by a union laborer and the reporter. I am not baiting you, just correcting you. You need to deal with your own cognitive dissonance. This is getting a bit boring, no?

Oh so you are not only a mind reader but a doctor as well. My guess is that you are one of those moderate elites who sit above the rest playing the role of GOD. Or possibly one of the more equal than the rest as described in Animal Farm. They only way you can accurately call ME a liar would be if you had the ability to read my mind.

[Balding_Eagle]

Read post 37

[1010RD]

You are confusing look with sound. Two different things. Nothing in the article, if you read the whole thing, indicated that any worker was illegal. It is just surmise. Calm down.

I understand that illegals are an emotional issue. The poster changed the title of the article. Added additional unproven and unsourced commentaries to inflame passions.

There is little to go on one way or the other. It sounds, though, to me that a union company lost out on the job and is using the issue of illegals to obfuscate their inability to compete in a free market.

I am not blind with rage as many poster are about illegal immigration. We need to treat the problem, which is governmental, bureaucratic and legal in nature. Not flail at the leaves, no?

[1010RD]

The way to solve this is to repair our wrecked immigration policy and make it easier for legal immigration. It shouldn’t take years and years to legalize immigrants. The entire situation is a mess. They lose people all the time. You wait in lines and have to kow tow to idiot bureaucrats.

The rules are arcane and intentionally so. They are riddled with all kinds of weasel clauses like H1-B and EB-5.

If you truly want legal immigrants then the entire system needs to be revamped. The U.S. gains greatly from immigration. If instead you are anti-immigrant, then you disgust me.

[1010RD]

They only way you can accurately call ME a liar would be if you had the ability to read my mind.

Nope. Just by reading your posts.

Why not own up to your mistake and retract it. The article made no statement regarding "scattering" at all. You were wrong. That you are too embarrassed to admit your mistake is your problem not mine.

[1010RD]

Read the article, then read post 17.

4everontheRight changed the true and original title of the article to one that was completely inflammatory and Just mythoughts fell for it. Just mythoughts continues to pretend the article supports his false statement.

I mean “don’t confuse me with facts” shouldn’t be the fallback position for conservatives. It is liberalism 101. We need to always use the truth and honesty in presenting our side.

CBS, the MSM, the Democrats, homosexuals, Greens, etc. can lie all they want, but catch a conservative lying and it is news. We need to operate in the realm of facts and truth. If we stoop to the other sides agenda and style we lose.

[1010RD]

Every ID can be duplicated and here in Illinois we’ve had busts of major operations producing fake ID. The problem is the system rewards law breaking and punishes legality. The system is as stupid as welfare.

We need to smooth the path to citizenship, legally.

[Just mythoughts]

Nope. Just by reading your posts. Why not own up to your mistake and retract it. The article made no statement regarding "scattering" at all. You were wrong. That you are too embarrassed to admit your mistake is your problem not mine.

Honey go pick somebody else's nose. I am not these least bit embarrassed by your own self admitted boorish behavior.