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CEO finds 7 illegal immigrants at job site
Byline: By Nancy Cambria
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

The crackdown After learning that an illegal immigrant was discovered at the site on Monday, the CEO of Gundaker went and checked IDs himself.
The problem Racial profiling is a concern, says the leader of a Latino labor council.
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A crackdown at the O'Fallon Lakes construction site by one of its developers resulted Tuesday in the arrest of seven illegal immigrants -- just days after the state treasurer blasted the project's developers for employing illegal workers.
Police went to the site off Veterans Memorial Parkway on Tuesday afternoon after receiving a call that people were on the site seeking worker identification.
Police expected to come to the aid of federal agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, O'Fallon Capt. Kyle Kelley said. What they found instead were nine employees in hard hats from Gundaker Commercial Group checking identification papers.
"If they're not legal, then I don't want them on my building site," said Mike Hejna, president and CEO of Gundaker. "In terms of civil rights, I may be in murky water, but at this point, I don't care. I'm not going to be a part of a project this is going to have legal problems with the employment of illegal aliens."
The local issue mirrors national concerns about illegal immigrants and the country's immigration policies.
While responding to the site, an O'Fallon officer pulled over a van on Bryan Road for speeding and discovered seven passengers who were later determined to be in the country illegally by the immigration agency, Kelley said.
On Thursday, state Treasurer Sarah Steelman, who chairs the Missouri Housing Development Corp., criticized companies involved in the project -- Gundaker Commercial Group, NRP Contractors of Cleveland and Related Capital of New York -- after the arrest of five illegal immigrants en route to their project's work site on March 10. Hejna said he decided to personally begin checking residence status and identification papers of all employees at the site after learning of another arrest at the project Monday. In that case, police responded to a fight and discovered one of the participants was an illegal immigrant.
Kelley said police are concerned that similar confrontations may erupt at the site as a way to force investigations on other suspected illegal workers.
"Something needs to be addressed or taken care of before it escalates further," Kelley said.
Steelman said Tuesday that she is frustrated with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which would not confirm to her whether the project was under investigation.
"When there are these statements in an official police report and one of the offenders says he is working and living in the country illegally ... what other evidence do you need?" Steelman said.
Carl Rusnok, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the agency cannot comment on investigations, but said "it is routine to make inquiries regarding a work situation in which illegal aliens have been found."
The Missouri Housing Development Corp. approved $1.4 million in federal and state tax credits to the developers, who are building 266 affordable apartments. The credits are in addition to $14.6 million in tax-exempt bonds issued by the county Industrial Development Authority; Related Capital is the primary holder of the bonds and the lead developer; NRP is the contractor and has been using several out-of-state subcontractors on the site. Gundaker is a minority shareholder in the project that will manage the completed apartments.
The housing agency will meet via teleconference today. Steelman said the group will take action to ensure illegal workers are never used on any project using taxpayer money.
Rick Bailey, a principal with NRP, said he was unaware of the additional arrests and declined to comment further.
The situation has sparked concern among the Latino-American community in the metro area.
"We've got enough manpower and industry in the union here to go and get those jobs. If they want Hispanics to work in those projects they should be paid equal through the union," said Francisco Martinez, a representative of the state chapter of the Union Labor Council for Latin American Advancement. Martinez says he also worries about possible racial profiling in O'Fallon.
"We're concerned they may see this as an issue where we're all put into one category," Martinez said.
Stephen Legomsky, an international law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, said employers and law enforcement can run into trouble if it appears investigations about residence status target a certain ethnic group.
"You cannot rely solely on ethnicity as a basis for asking questions," he said. "Even if the work force is predominantly perceived as Latino and they start asking questions of everyone. I think it's something they could be called out on."
February 22, 2006
Copyright: 2006
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