Posted on 06/28/2007 9:50:45 AM PDT by KeyLargo
tampabay.com Deputies go to building sites, grab workers who run away
By ASSOCIATED PRESS Published June 28, 2007
PANAMA CITY BEACH - The Bay County Sheriff's Office has developed a remarkably effective - and controversial - way of catching undocumented workers: Deputies in patrol cars pull up to a construction site in force, and watch and see who runs.
Those who take off are chased down and arrested on charges such as trespassing, for cutting through someone else's property; or loitering, for hiding out in someone's yard; or reckless driving, for speeding off in a car.
Immigration authorities are then given the names of those believed to be in this country illegally.
"It's not wrong for them to run, but it's not wrong for us to chase them, either, " said Sheriff Frank McKeithen, who created his "illegal alien task force" in April to target construction sites in this Panhandle county.
Immigrant advocates say the technique is repugnant, and the American Civil Liberties Union says its constitutionality is questionable.
Undocumented workers are leaving town. And builders are worried the crackdown will deprive them of the labor they need to take part in a building boom in which Panama City's Beach cheap spring break motels are being torn down and replaced with high-rise condos.
The sheriff said the raids are justified under a long-standing Florida law prohibiting employers from knowingly hiring undocumented immigrants.
His department has conducted dozens of these raids over the past three months, sometimes using five or six patrol cars, and has reported more than 500 people to immigration officials since November.
The Mexican American Legal Defense Fund is investigating the arrests because "the intimidation factor is of great concern, " said Elise Shore, the regional counsel for the organization.
Benjamin Stevenson, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in Florida, said he finds the tactic troubling.
"Why are they sending out six or seven agents to investigate a paper crime, and are they causing them to run in the first place through intimidation?" he asked.
McKeithen has asked Attorney General Bill McCollum for a legal opinion on his tactics. A spokeswoman for McCollum said the office is researching the request.
The sheriff said that more recently, his officers have been making fewer arrests of workers who flee, and are concentrating more on asking employers for the paperwork on their employees. Sheriff's deputies then arrest workers whose documents are found to be fraudulent.
Developer Louis Breland is finishing the first phase of a $750-million beach condo project.
"Subcontractors could not function without immigrant laborers for painting, rebar and steel work. They are the best workers, " he said. "Without them, the cost of construction would be 10 times as much and nothing would get built."
“Without them, the cost of construction would be 10 times as much and nothing would get built.”
They must have one hll of an advertizing campaign to convince people to pay 10 times as much for nothing!
I LOVE FREEPERS!!!!!!!
Boortz said it reminded him of a raid commercial, with all the roaches running away. lol
I’m sorry but this rocks. No wonder the liberals are going out of their minds over it.
INS agents would drive up on a job and workers were jumping from scaffolding, running from homes and heading into the hills as my entire crew stood and watched.
It would be a welcome sight as I haven't seen it in a while.
Me too!:)
It reminds me of a checkpoint thew NYPD had for drunk drivers. A sign would be put up saying “DWI Checkpoint Ahead”. Those cars that made a U turn were then stopped. 99% were drunk..
This approach makes sense, but the illegals will soon learn the tactic through the grapevine and stop running.
Great job! INS used to do this before George Bush took office. Workplace enforcement has been virtually non-existant since then. Now local law enforcement has to step into the void left by the FedGov’s malfeasance and dereliction.
And the best part was that there sometimes would be no checkpoint ahead. :)
Unbelievable bovine excrement! And yes, if US citizens are hired it WILL cost more... So? You want to build cheep & legal? MOVE TO MEXICO!
We have record-low unemployment.
On a net basis, no one was put out of work.
What Constitutional Right? The Right to Peacefully Assemble? The Right to Quickly Disassemble?
And after this statement proving he is one of the ringleaders of hiring illegals and a major cause of why we have 20 million illegals here, why is he not being investigated, charged and above all,,, Shut Down! ??
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