Police discovery that an out of state subcontractor’s
carpentry foreman on a Kent, Ohio student housing complex construction project
was operating a meth lab in his motel room led to discovery that 23 of the 25
construction workers in the foreman’s crew were illegal immigrants. Although
building inspectors said the work on the project was up to code, the
subcontractor was remoived from the project, the foreman was jailed, and the 23
undocumented crew members were detained for deportation.
Citing a need to “keep the jobs local,” Laborers Union
Local 894 spokesman Bill Orr pointed out that, though the project was a private
development, use of minimum wage labor
by the subcontractors, rather than union workers, could cost the City of Kent
$30,000.00 of income tax revenues each year the job was staffed by undocumented
workers. “Where’s the due diligence?” asked Kent City Councilman Robin Turner.
