THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 2, 1996 TAG: 9603020245
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ AND LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 127 lines
When Norfolk police picked up three drunken roofers last month, they thought their identification papers looked suspicious. So they called in immigration officials.
Sure enough, the alien cards were fraudulent. Police let the roofers go, but not without finding out where they lived and worked.
The roofers never knew that their drinking spree led to this week's raid of illegal workers on a Navy housing construction site, the largest raid in Hampton Roads in more than a decade.
For weeks, federal agents waited undercover at Ben Moreell Navy housing, right past the sign at Terminal Boulevard that welcomes visitors to Norfolk Naval Base.
Delayed by snowstorms, rainstorms and some frigid weather, they watched, waited and planned their operation.
Monday, they made their move, arresting dozens of construction workers from Mexico and Central America. The numbers shocked even veteran agents.
``We thought we'd get four or five (illegal workers),'' said the INS officer in charge, Bill Bittner. ``Instead, we got 37. It kind of ruined my day and my night. It's the biggest one-time shot I've been involved with in 13 years. I didn't expect it.''
By Tuesday, 23 men - all Mexicans - had been deported, flown back to Brownsville, Texas, on the Mexico border and escorted across. In all, 25 were from Mexico, two from Nicaragua, five from El Salvador, four from Guatemala and one from Honduras, Bittner said. Eight remained in Virginia Beach City Jail on Friday awaiting deportation. They will be moved to Arlington early next week. The remaining six workers bonded out.
All but one were men, ranging in age from 18 to 76. Most, in their 20s and 30s, came from upstate Virginia or Maryland, working for the smaller construction companies subbing out to the main contractor that is building Navy housing.
Some had been in Norfolk for days, others for weeks or months. They were living in motels in Ocean View, probably with other illegal friends and family members. Their wages ranged from $7 an hour to $20 an hour, Bittner said.
Monday, immigration agents, Norfolk police and Navy base police - about 30 in all - in cars, on bicycles and on foot formed a perimeter around the construction site where dozens of townhouses are quickly going up.
The raid began in an orderly fashion; then things got a bit out of hand. ``I'm sure we didn't get them all,'' Bittner said. ``We had people running after we were on site for a while. . . . It's like a movie, you can't control it all.''
Dave Dickerson, special agent with Naval Criminal Investigative Service, who assisted in the raid, said he agrees with Bittner: A few must have gotten away.
``A couple put up sheets of drywall and hid behind them. Five were hiding in a van,'' Dickerson said. ``One, a roofer, I just called him down from the roof. As he came down the ladder, he yelled out in English, `We're going home, boys.' Four others came down and they walked with me. They've probably been through the mill before. There were no tears. Just, `OK. I understand.' ''
On Friday, conversation at the site still circled around the raid. Chris Rivera and Patrick Jones, electrical workers from Driskill Electric Co., were grounding a transformer on the construction site Monday when the commotion began.
At least six police squad cars blocked all exits out of the complex, and some of the workers began to scatter, they said. After the illegal workers were rounded up, work returned to normal, said Rivera, 18.
Illegal workers remaining at the jail Friday recalled the raid. ``This guy walked up to me and asked me where I was from,'' said Juan Jo, 26. ``I said `Guatemala,' and he said, `Come with me.' I thought it was a company guy, not Immigration.''
Juan Carlos Flores, 25, said: ``I was grabbed first. They asked for my papers later.''
Sheriff's Deputy Frank DeJesus found himself on instant translation duty on Monday as dozens of Spanish-speaking workers had to be processed. ``We had some on the floor, some on mattresses,'' DeJesus said. ``We kept them all together for our security and for their own sense of security.''
Friday, illegal workers said they hate being held in a jail like criminals. ``We're hard workers,'' one said, ``not thieves and criminals.'' Also, most of the men reported all were owed wages by the companies for work they did last week. Bittner at INS said they would provide help to ensure the men were paid what they were owed.
Navy officials - who refused to allow news representatives on the construction site Friday - were unable to say how many workers were employed there. One worker estimated there could have been as many as 200. Others estimated the total was lower, saying illegal workers made up just less than half of the total crew.
``It's not as crowded as it was,'' said Jones. ``You definitely can see a difference.''
Workers wondered what the ultimate result of the investigation would be.
``Can you believe the government indirectly hired illegal aliens?'' Jones said. ``Somebody is going to get screwed.''
Bittner, of INS, said the investigation will continue into the companies involved. Some of the illegal workers say their employers had to have known they were not legitimate. Bittner said at least one company seemed genuinely surprised that worker documentation was not legitimate.
``We're finding more and more aliens with fraudulent documents,'' Bittner said. ``They present them to the companies. If you're looking for a good drywaller and a guy shows you good documentation, that's all you're required to do. . . . One company representative came down yesterday and wanted to bring forms to show they were legal. They were all fraudulent.''
The workers were employed by at least four federal contractors at the Norfolk Naval Base - M&M Drywall, ModuTech, Santos Construction and Tricon Construction.
The arrests come just a week after President Clinton signed an executive order making it illegal for federal agencies to contract with companies that hire illegal immigrants. Companies that knowingly hire illegal immigrants could face up to $2,000 in fines for each violation.
In 1995, 424 illegal workers were picked up by the INS in Hampton Roads. Of those, 40 percent were Hispanic, Bittner said. ILLUSTRATION: MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot
The workers were arrested where townhouses are going up at the Ben
Moreell Navy housing complex in Norfolk.
Color photo by HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot
Juan Jo, right, said: ``This guy walked up to me and asked me where
I was from. I said `Guatemala,' and he said, `Come with me.' I
thought it was a company guy, not Immigration.'' With him Friday at
the Virginia Beach jail, unable to make bail, are, from left,
Cristian Alvarado, Juan Carlos Flores and Roberto Monroy.
KEYWORDS: ILLEGAL ALIENS U.S. NAVY by CNB