Twelve workers allegedly in the United States as illegal immigrant construction workers were detained and flown to O‘ahu last week by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a bureau of the Department of Homeland Security. Ten Mexicans, one El Salvadoran
Twelve workers allegedly in the United States as illegal immigrant construction workers were detained and flown to O‘ahu last week by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a bureau of the Department of Homeland Security.
Ten Mexicans, one El Salvadoran and one Guatemalan were arrested for working illegally for an off-island contractor performing renovations at the Kauai Coconut Beach Resort in Waipouli.
Federal authorities, in cooperation with Kaua‘i Police Department vice officers, moved in on the Coconut Beach Resort, where the group was living, in the early morning hours of Dec. 7.
“It was a joint operation. It went very smoothly,” said KPD Chief K.C. Lum. According to Wesley Perreira of the KPD Vice Narcotics Section, the illegals were here working for A and W Builders of California, one of the contractors charged with renovating the hotel. The resort has reportedly undergone $10 million worth of renovations over the last year.
Leaders of The Presidio Hotel Group of Fairfield, Calif., purchased the resort this year for $27 million. It will soon become the first Courtyard by Marriott franchise in the state. Marriott operates Marriott’s Waiohai Beach Club in Po‘ipu and the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort & Beach Club on Kalapaki Bay.
Neither the resort’s present management, nor officials from A and W Builders, would comment about the incident. The detainings were anything but sensational or unique, according to federal officials. Immigration officials routinely “round up” illegals on Kaua‘i, and many of those include workers from places like Samoa, the Philippines and other Pacific nations.
The last round up had been in the works for months now, and Immigration officials had been eyeballing the group for some time. “Immigration probably got tipped off by someone here,” Perreira said. The group was transported to Honolulu via a C-130 military aircraft.
