Jacksonville courthouse project rife with illegal worker documents
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 10:02AM Commentary by Kay B. Day
Lone gull at Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. (by Kay B. Day)If you think about it, there’s rich irony in more than a quarter of workers at the county courthouse allegedly filing false identification documents. The county courthouse in Jacksonville—the city that is, according to local lore, the largest in land mass in the mainland United States—has apparently become a hotbed for illegal workers.
There’s additional irony when official data is considered. The U.S. Dept. of Labor noted a 10.7 percent unemployment rate for Jacksonville as of September, 2009.
Construction jobs are jobs American citizens and legal guest workers would definitely like to have.
The company overseeing the project, Turner Construction, has done business in the U.S. for more than a century and has locations in more than a dozen states. Turner recently announced being selected by the U.S. Marine Corps to manage construction of the $109 Million bachelor enlisted quarters at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Turner said it’s been recognized as the nation’s largest builder of green, education, healthcare, sports and correctional facilities.
The Florida Times-Union said more than a dozen of the people arrested worked for a subcontractor, United Forming. UF’s corporate office is in Austell, Ga.
A spokesperson for the Jacksonville office of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection shed light on why the city is a target for illegal workers. By phone, the spokesperson told The US Report, “We’re a very large city...and there are a lot of construction jobs.”
A glance at the CBP Jacksonville web page gives an idea of the large amount of territory a single office must handle: The Jacksonville Border Patrol Station’s operational area covers 13,269 square miles and includes eighteen counties in the northeast area of Florida and two coastal counties in southeast Georgia. In addition to physical size, Jacksonville’s geographic location, with elements such as I-95 and the port, present opportunities like tourism and vulnerability like crime. It is difficult to understand why the federal government does not increase resources for CBP offices across the country. These are the officers on the front of line of national security.
The federal government subsidizes academic poetry and select dance troupes, via the National Endowment for the Arts. Under the administration of President George W. Bush, the feds increased educational spending on the federal level by more than 50 percent. But in October, some senators were so concerned about possibilities for budget cuts related to national security, they sent an official letter urging Department of Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano to maintain the strength of border patrol agents. At the U.S. Senate website, a press release notes Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) asked Napolitano to provide a written response addressing recent border reports and her plans to tackle the concerns regarding border security.
The Florida Times-Union said authorities discovered “about 100 fake documents after looking at the paperwork the city started collecting three weeks ago to crack down on arrests of undocumented workers.”
The president of the North Florida Building and Construction Trades Council told the TU, “[T]he news about the false documents confirms what he already knew, even he was surprised there were 100.”
If those 100 workers with fake credentials took 100 jobs, that could knock 100 U.S. citizens out of jobs they would do. Considering the scope of the contractor and the subcontractor, it’s obvious there is a critical problem with worker documentation in the country. Such a problem also begs the question of national security—could a building be compromised deliberately? Such a problem also points out the vulnerability of entitlement programs—how much federal aid already goes to people in the country without legal documentation?
The Jacksonville courthouse dilemma is but one example that dispels the straw man myth suggesting illegal workers only take jobs that U.S. citizens and legal immigrants or guest workers will not do.
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Reader Comments (10)
Iam a construction worker on this project some of this is false Turner did know about the problem and let it slide by because it would cost money to stop pouring concrete your city of jacksonville knew this was going on as they have field consultants walking on site everyday they all knew this was going on .But the big problem is the concrete work on site its badly installed work ! meaning poured concrete there are beams with big air pockets inside also columns out of place not the correct rebar installed in decks i work there .
Iam scared the decks might come down while working there but i have no other job to go to. And yet turner talks safety all day long . There all about themselfs to look good for what the public sees yet they back stab there own contractors !
Next they hire anyone off the street now to do the work of the mexicans that were run off by INS but yet i still see mexicans everyday on all concrete work they are going too fast and screwing up the structure . When you drive by you see the mayors fathers work looks good but the main structure is not .
This job is all about the mayors fathers work getting done and not any other trade . Turners only conrern is to the precast contractors issue they are treated special but all other contractors are not this job is a joke . I can not wait to get off this job !
We appreciate your input, but there is nothing false in our story as far as we can tell. We stand by what we wrote.--Kay B. Day/editor
Its a fact in construction todays labor is anyone they can get to do it cheap .
Now the work thats done is untrained people example at Duval County Court House we have unpoured beams structual columns not in the correct location , Shall i go on or will you shut me down .
One of the 9 elevators poured in the wrong location rework wasted .
Slabs poured and then chipped up to repour again to make them level or at the correct elevation .
Theres a deck or floor for common folks which is the wrong thickness .
Rebar left out of decks rebar installed incorrectly .
Beams not pour correctly not enough vibrating of poured work.
Lack of supervision on turners part or untrained workers ?
Unsafe work areas untrained workers no communication you cant talk to other workers no one can speak two or three different languages what happens in a emergency no one understands .
And the electrical contractor has small electrical contractors working for them because they do not have the people to man the job Tri City Electric and the county makes them use cheap workers that do resisdential work on a court house job which is commercial job .
Tri city has a supervisor running the job that doesnt speak english and is not a citizen of the usa he has a greencard from the domician or some other country like hatti .
They have the same problem at another court house in another state with the letter G that meaning the same work issues are going on .
So we disagree with your statement.
Please understand iam not making this up were in big trouble but the percast looks good on the outside for the people in jacksonville driving by .
Its a major smoke screen for us not to see thur this !
Turner only cares about one thing pouring concrete and getting it done wrong or right pour it .
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I'm astounded at what you're telling me. But I fail to see any statement in my column that is false.
What exactly are you claiming is false?
From the looks of it, you agree with what I stated about the jobs being jobs Americans would take.
I do hope you both read my post. If you didn't, take a looksee.
And feel free to email me with any information you'd like us to share in a future column.
I feel a need to let america know the true facts in addition to what you have stated that its not just jacksonville florida thats its all over the US and Turner is doing this on every job not just here in one location .thats what i disagree with .
..Its your dollars wasted !
And its a fact that they knew what was going on they knew about the workers who could not speak one word of english and could not read or write in english .
How could they fill out a application for work with out someone helping them yes United was the bad guy but dont forget Turner also knew this and turned there head to get as many workers for structual concrete work cheap and fast ..
.
This is america when we have a safety meeting each monday we spend our tax dollars on time to explain safety in english then we have it in spanish this is not money well spent so it takes twice as long to have one simple meeting .
Its you tax dollars wasted.
Its a free county yes but speak our language so we can work together and understand what each is doing this is a communication problem at duval county and most job sites in this counrty .
Lots of rework lots of wasted tax dollars being spent on a building that we really dont need but built and funded for jobs which are for americans out of work not illegals or greencard holders .
There only here to work for dollars and spend there money back home there not helping america there taken avantage of our government lack of back bone .
The safety factor when no one can talk to the other in a real problem or dangerous situation when it really needs to be taken care of meaning we cant communicate so its a unsafe job .
Most workers that work here that are mexican would rather not report a accident then get help so they dont get the care one needs its better to keep silent then report it as they might be replaced by 20 other mexicans waiting at the gate each day. .
This looks good for Turner and really helps with there insurance cost and bonding of projects less accidents because most workers are not able to fill out a report writen in english.
Are these jobs that American citizens and legal immigrants might want?
Yes actually there are people in america who need to do manual labor and actually work with there hands to make a living trade people like union folks out of work how about all the layoffs in the last year of workers in trade. Companys that are going out of bussiness each day in our counrty .
Our factory workers out of work our auto workers out of work or construction people out of work not everyone can be a store or sales person .
Lets talk about the average workers in america that lost there homes i see us helping other countrys still today but what about us .
And the money wasted on projects what projects i see no future in our economy no future in the way america is going today .
The rich get richer and the poor get poorer thats the old saying its a fact today and in the past .
Iam here to not disagree with you just to point out how we really feel you know the hard working american union worker thats what iam .
How does our tax dollars get spent what does or who does it help not us theres a lot of people in this country who need help but no one cares about us .
Our jobs today are few to pick from 1
I shared your comments with the reporter who broke the story locally about the undocumented workers. I haven't heard back from him and I doubt I will--I don't know him personally.
But I did attempt to get some attention for this.
Do you see American citizens or legal immigrants being turned down for these jobs?
Its not a american worker being turned down were not given the chance to apply .Its the companys who hire mexican workers for cheap wages they dont need to hire they already have the unskilled people .
Untrained but able to just get by to perform work and redue work thats sub standard so we now get a low cost constuction project with mexicans .
Our nation is based on greed !
We will do anything for money in our pockets!
Example they the mexican workers dont pay there fair share of our local taxe dollars .
They live in groups in one house or apartment out of 10 who pays our local taxes.
One man is the leader of the group he gives the others there pay .
They will work unsafe if needed !
And dont have a clue when they get hurt its never reported there afraid of there us status here !
Most dont have insurance on there cars or trucks nice when they have accident !
I say there getting a good deal !
But no one else is
For Duval County court house worker: I will follow up on this. I just found your latest comments. best, KBD