HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The Guam Police Department and Homeland Security are seeking assistance in finding three foreign national H-2B workers who have been reported missing.
On Tuesday, GPD spokesperson Officer Berlyn Savella said in a press release that the department and Homeland Security investigators “are seeking the help of the community in locating three foreign nationals, H-2B workers from the Philippines, that are employed with a large construction company on island.”
The three workers are Robbie Salalila, Albert Laxamana and Erran Magtoto, Savella said, adding that the investigation is currently trying to determine whether the absence “is voluntary or if they may be in a potentially dangerous situation.”
“We are deeply concerned about their safety and well-being,” she added, reminding the community that harboring immigrants who may have violated visa terms is a crime and should not be condoned.
Police ask that anyone with information as to the whereabouts of the three individuals contact GPD Dispatch at 671-475-8615~7.
‘Absconded’
On Thursday, the administrator of the Guam Department of Labor Alien Labor Processing and Certification Division, Greg Massey, told The Guam Daily Post the department does not consider the three workers missing.
“They’re what we call absconders … they absconded from employment,” Massey said of Salalila, Laxamana and Magtoto, who were employed by Black Construction.
Massey explained there weren’t any signs of the three being missing, such as their belongings still being at their workforce housing.
While consequences for the allegedly absconded workers are determined by U.S. Immigration, Massey said DOL is more concerned with other companies hiring the absconded workers.
“We just want to make sure that employers realize that they cannot employ people illegally. … Keep in mind that if people do employ these absconded construction workers illegally, that there are penalties. (The) first offense is $1,000 per worker, second offense is $2,000 per worker and a possible 30-day suspension of their license and then a third offense would be a mandatory revocation of their license,” Massey told the Post.
“The only reasons for these guys to abscond would be because there’s jobs out there for them, so our goal is to dry up that job market for the illegals and that way make sure everybody’s doing it legally,” Massey added.
Greg Massey
