Undocumented Workers at Courthouse Construction

Pamela Constable reports in the Washington Post:

Federal immigration agents raided the construction site of a new federal courthouse in Richmond on Monday, arresting 33 workers on charges of violating federal immigration laws and being in the United States illegally, officials said yesterday.

Ernestine Fobbs, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, said the 29 men and four women who were arrested were from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru. All were found to lack documents that would allow them to live or work in the United States, Fobbs said.

Officials had received information that illegal immigrants were working at the site, Fobbs said. The investigation is ongoing, and no information was available about the employers, she said. Those arrested were being processed for deportation.

According to radio reports, federal agents and Virginia State Police officers surrounded the work site about 8 a.m. and rounded up about 50 workers while others attempted to hide inside the half-built complex. The reports said that officials were still searching the site hours later and that the remaining workers were required to wear wristbands showing that their IDs had been found valid.  Click here for the rest of the story.

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