SSDD
Posted on 08/06/2007 3:30:50 PM PDT by SeafoodGumbo
The owner of Tarrasco Steel, a company that supplied workers on the Biloxi Bay Bridge, was arrested and charged with hiring illegal immigrants on projects in three states. Some had improper welding certification.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Jose S. Gonzalez, 32, at his office in Greenville Thursday, according to a news release. Tarrasco Steel was hired as a subcontractor for rebar installation services to major bridge projects in Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee. The federal government considers those bridges as critical infrastructure, and they were part of routine inspections of facilities that if damaged could pose a threat to national security and public safety.
"There is a serious public safety concern when illegal aliens, who are not authorized to work in the country legally, and who do not possess valid welding certifications, are employed in the construction of bridges in our communities," said Michael A. Holt, special agent in charge of the Customs Office of Investigations in New Orleans, in a news release.
On inspections of several construction sites March 29, representatives of several federal agencies confirmed the majority of Tarrasco Steel employees were using bogus Social Security numbers, and 77 immigrants were arrested. Twenty-six of them worked for Tarrasco Steel. Some of them worked on the Biloxi bridge, the Huey P. Long bridge in New Orleans, and a project on Interstate 40 in Memphis, among others, the news release said.
In April, nine Tarrasco employees caught in the March 29 operations were charged with fraudulent use of immigration documents and Social Security account numbers. Investigators served a search warrant at the Tarrasco office in Greenville and they got copies of payroll records. They allege Gonzalez falsified information on the I-9 Employee Eligibility forms. Investigators learned that several workers had inappropriate welding certifications.
Several South Mississippi law enforcement agencies participated in the investigation, including the Harrison County Sheriff's Department, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and the Biloxi Police Department.
Gonzalez was indicted on July 29 and $457,368 has been seized from Tarrasco accounts, the news release said.
This would no doubt be a wide spread practice if the government would look into it....but they are only doing the work Americans dont want...
Jorge Arbusto is deeply saddened.
You have to come up with minority subs from somewhere to fullful the set-aside/quota/’goal’ if you want the contract.
Glad they caught these guys, but...
You don't need a welding certificate to install rebar. There is usually no welding involved. Also very easy to tell if the work was done properly.
Finally, want to bet the states involved promoted this firm to get minority procurement credits?
Reaping what we sow.
Note to self: Stay the hell off Biloxi Bay Bridge.........
Another government lie. It looks like the illegals are doing the jobs that Americans would do and better.
It really makes me angry when our government lies to us about illegals being underpaid. I just read about an illegal here doing sheet rock for money than I earn. I am not sure if he is paying taxes; however he is receiving benefits.
What is going through GW’s mind that he would take jobs, money, food and shelter away from real Americans. People that voted for him?
If the Biloxi Bay Bridge is Hwy 90, its not even close to
being done. I just got back from vacation and had to go
around up to I-10 and then back down the next exit west.
HA HA HA, long story, had to tell it.....LOL
Mississippi Ping,,,,,,,,
Good! That’s the way we go anyway!.......
I have to drive over the Huey P. Long bridge sometimes. I’ll be thinking about this the next time I’m on there.
Who was doing the repairs on the collapsed bridge in Minneapolis?
There are certain locales where you do need a welding cert to install re-bar. In Kalifornia, on bridge work, it gets all messed up but I had one contract where we did have to have certs on the welders - never could find out who actually required it, but it cost the taxpayers extra.
BTTT!
There are a huge number of different welding certificates and most are hard to get since the welding is difficult. It is one thing to hire welders with proper certification and another to hire uncertified welders who might have excellent welding skills. Big problem for the construction company since it involves bonding and that is big money.
Williams Bros in Houston has hired illegals in Houston forever.
1979 was the gateway year.
Drive in Houston and you will see what I mean.
When the Harris County courthouse being built,
it was raided by La Migra in 97.
The concrete sub lost over 50% of their workforce.
25% of those were back to work within two weeks.
I can understand this guy being prosecuted. He has the right to his day in court. However, on what basis can "our" government just go in and seize nearly 1/2 a mil out of a company's bank account? Its not like he's been proven guilty yet in a court of law. These "government seizures" seem to be getting out of hand in my mind.
Why would anyone be remotely surprised by this? The fact that they are is amazing. Facts are out there if one chooses to avail themselves of them.
Otherwise don’t gripe and just live with the wave of the future.
That happened out here in the early ‘80’s. The Washington Public Power Supply System was going balls to the walls on constructing nuclear power plants. (http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5482)
Several West Coast companies the biggest being Familian, was caught doing the exact same thing faking certs on imported steel, pipe and valves and altering the look of the material to resemble domestic material. A couple of V.P.’s of Familian served time.
A small shop in Seattle Tsubota Steel & Pipe was caught painting, restamping product sold to the WPPSS contract buyers imported product Tsubota’s V.P. deemed having equivalent qualities as domestic steel and valves costing two thirds more. Tsubota would provide samples of material ordered by WPPSS to independent testing labs for certification and substitute the delivered order with counterfeit material. This was CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL FOR NUCLEAR REACTORS.
It was a widespread problem. Every other supplier in the area had either done something similar or had been asked to by a WPPSS contract buyer. People went to jail, long time companies failed, WPPSS became the largest muni-bond default in American history and nuclear power never became a reality in the Pacific Northwest. We actually had a female nuclear scientist as Governor at the time who would have been remembered as a visionary had the nuke plants came on line. However, she was a democrat and like anything else socialist government does, it quickly achieved FUBAR status.
Issue bid to rebuild bridged and let Tarrasco steel and the prime contractor pay for the rebuild. Then action off all their assets as a fine.
There are all those old stories about construction projects where ribar is moved after an inspection in order to save costs.
Since he was falsifying the welding papers, I would say he was pocketing the difference of what he had listed as salary and not paying taxes on his stolen money. Therefore I would bet it was an IRS seizure and it would be legal.
Ah the good ol’ days... I was a steamfitter welder at plants 1,2, & 4 and we used to complain about the crappy welds on the prefabbed pipe all of the time. Of course our welds had to be perfect (100% x-ray) right next to a weld that had porosity, wires sticking through it, and blow holes, (basically name the defect and it was right there) and the QC/QA would do nothing about it.
As far as welding rebar, the Ironheads were certified CAD welders to splice rebar together. Basically a special coupling that is placed over the ends of both pieces and electrically charged to weld the two together. Lots of big sparks when they did that...
I wonder what it takes to get a welding certificate. And I wonder how many bridges were built in this country with non-certificate-wielding welders. And I wonder how many of those bridges collapsed.
I think the only welding the mexicans are doing is on some false work. That’s all tore down before any traffic crosses.
See Post #24...
Cad welding is done with gunpowder.
Electricians also use the pots for ground cable.
“Ironhead till I’m dead!”
Cadwelding is done only when the engineer requires it!
Not done very much anymore.
I can remember when Americans tyed rebar.
Black, White, Lumbi Indians fron NC were big into it!
Splicing rebar with gunpowder? When was this? 50 years ago?
To my knowledge, there is no rebar splicing done that way in the field. It is tied with tie wire. The theory is that the bond to the concrete creates a coupling between the two rebar ends. The ends have to be overlapped a certain minimal distance as specified in the bridge code.
Now, on a building with column and beam intersections, maybe there is an application, but I really don’t think this is done anymore on bridges.
I took a 2 year tech program at Columbia Basin College in Pasco, WA. 1 year plate welding, 1 year pipe welding. After that I went down to the union hall and they sent me out on the job. There you go through the weld test lab and get all of your certifications....
Hey, like I said I was steamfitter. we had all of the conditions and gravy work compared to you guys...Never quite figured out the mentallity of your average Ironhead...Not that that is bad thing just alot harder work and working conditions...
Have you ever worked heavy construction?
I worked in a lab that tested experimental bridge designs. We built full scale sections of bridges and then broke them with huge hydraulic jacks to see how strong they were. Concrete only though, no steel. Concrete bridge girders and concrete decks. I had to know some construction, some engineering, and how to run the computers that ran the hydraulics and sensors.
I worked in the engineering office of a company that built parking garages too. But not anymore.
“There are a huge number of different welding certificates and most are hard to get since the welding is difficult. It is one thing to hire welders with proper certification and another to hire uncertified welders who might have excellent welding skills. Big problem for the construction company since it involves bonding and that is big money.”
I was at the local welding supply shop the other day and got to talking with the sales clerk. He said the illegals were undercutting the American welders here in Longmont, Co. The contractors are hiring them knowing full well they are illegal.
I worked 15 years in the trade and finally got out and got my Civil Engineering degree, and now I am PE. I didn’t want to end up a broke down old construction worker...Not a lot of need for steamfitters on bridges but did work on a lot of reactors, refineries, and pulp mills across this country...
...lots of neat welding here....
These guys did a nice job repairing my scrunched untra-rare Termignoni Farne’ big tube exhaust for my Ducati 888.
I get major wood lookin’ at those Ti frames!
Whew!
Overall good comment but the operating nuclear power reactor 11 miles from me might beg to differ.
I can see why!!! I wonder if they would make some for my ‘05 Springer???
You live in Richland???
I’m currently in the boiler repair/installation trade. Small stuff mostly. Possibly will get out soon and maybe take a semi technical position in a power plant or maybe on a maintenance crew of some place that has lots of boilers. I also have a BSCE. Don’t use it though. Got the FE but not the PE. I’ve found I can’t stand blue prints or calcs or office politics. I gotta be in the field somehow. I’m currently doing both estimating and repair work and have the responsibility of keeping the companies ‘R’ stamp up to date and all repairs legit. THat’s about as much calcs as I can stand.
I even went to grad school, but couldn’t stand it. That’s how I got the gig at the bridge testing lab.
I think it was illegal Native Americans.
But this is not the way the system was originally designed to work. Welding procedures were invented by each individual entrepreneur, and he then paid to have it approved. He basically taught his own guys how to weld.
gee, is making good rebar welds important for bridge supports? /sarc
Let's all repeat the mantra: They're ALL only doing what Americans would NEVER want to do! /s
Hehe. It took me about ten seconds to figure that bumper sticker out.
The FAA had a couple of field techs who loved it when they got a thermite job at one of the sites.
In b-school, one of cases in a manufacturing class was about weld problems on thermal couples for GE aircraft engines.
Bottom line, provided by a classmate that worked at that particular plant when the Harvard type blew through to write the case, the union welders bid on work, and rework paid extra, ergo, it was to the welder's benefit to screw up the initial weld to get higher pay to fix it.
Many of those arrested worked for the Greenville-based Tarrasco Steel, a statement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said, and were employed on construction of a new U.S. 82 bridge over the Mississippi River between Greenville and Lake Village, Ark.
Tarrasco, owned by Jose S. Gonzalez, has been under ICE investigation following allegations of criminal misconduct. Tarrasco Steel provides steel re-bar and employees for construction jobs.
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