Controversial immigration bldg opens

JOHNSTON, R.I. (WPRI) - Local and Federal officials cut the ribbon on a new U.S. Citizenship and Immigration building Wednesday that an illegal immigrant says he helped build.

The state- of-the-art facility was custom built for the federal government and replaces the old structure in Providence. The field office will primarily be used for immigrants to begin the naturalization process.

The building near Johnston town hall on Atwood Avenue is being leased by the government from Atwood Development LLC for $15 million dollars over the next 10 years.

In July, the Target 12 Investigators uncovered a lien filed by a Honduran immigrant who claimed a drywall subcontractor failed to pay him $2,300 for work he did on the building. The worker claims he is in the country illegally and was paid cash under the table.

"I know that I, as Mayor, was not happy," said Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena, who attended Wednesday's ceremony. "There are over 70,000 people out of work who are citizens of the state and they should have crack at the jobs first."

Polisena said despite the controversy, the project is important to Johnston with a new source of tax revenue.

Target 12 met up with USCIS District Director Denis Riordan at the ceremony. He said the building had not been handed over to the government when the worker was on the job.

"We're concerned about anyone who's present in the U.S. without authorization," Riordan said. "I believe the contractor used due diligence. It was not his employee, but an employee they had contracted with a subcontractor. So technically and in fact, that employee was not working or doing work for the government at that time."

The contractor, Calson Corporation, told the Target 12 Investigators it hired drywall subcontractor Joseph Pagliaro of Ocean State Drywall.

At the time, Pagliaro said he didn't hire the worker and said he paid all his workers in full.

The lien was filed on behalf of the illegal immigrant by the Carpenter's Union, a vocal group who has made exploited immigrant workers a top-priority in this job-starved economy.

Reached by phone, a representative of the Carpenter's Union said the worker failed to show up to the court hearing to make a claim against the contractor out of fear he would be detained due to his status.

A clerk at Johnston town hall said the lien is still on the building, but it will be lifted when they get paperwork from the court clearing the contractor.