Police officers and Customs agents frisk Chinese nationals suspected of illegal entry into Guam and apprehended Oct. 6 near the Pago Bay bridge.
HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Six Chinese nationals who were believed to have arrived on Guam by boat from Saipan were found illegally working for construction businesses, according to a local labor official.
Earlier this year, Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero established a multiagency task force in response to reported increases of unlawful entry into Guam by boat.
Since then, nine Chinese nationals have been charged with entering Guam illegally by boat while others were aboard, some of whom are currently negotiating plea deals in the Superior Court of Guam.
Greg Massey, of the Guam Department of Labor, told The Guam Daily Post on Tuesday that between August and November, six of those who arrived by boat were found to have been working in the construction field without authorization.
“The major takeaways that we got were those workers, at least all the workers we’ve encountered so far, have come to Guam and they told us that they’ve come to Guam to work,” said Massey, who is the administrator of GDOL’s Alien Labor Processing and Certification Division.
The encounters have come as a result of inspections the department has been doing twice a week, and hiring an employee with Chinese language skills.
Massey explained further the workers have been utilizing the Chinese instant messaging app WeChat to find work on Guam.
“A typical example would be a guy would go on WeChat, saying, ‘Hey, I’m available for work. Does anyone have work? I do construction.’ Then you have another guy saying, ‘Yeah, I’m working construction, too, and we need a couple guys for this week,'” Massey said before explaining there doesn’t appear to be any form of human trafficking or “central scheme” to bring people over.
“It’s typically going to be guys that are working for licensed contractors that are sourcing the workers on the side,” Massey added.
As a result, four companies, Yz Construction Corp., Dragon Rock Construction, Doyx Home Inc. and Latter Builders, were issued $1,000 license sanction fees for first-time violations.
With the encounters, Massey and GDOL want to put the message out that companies will receive penalties for hiring illegal workers. That includes not only paying license sanction fees, but also a revocation of the contractor’s license.
“We are doing inspections and we are issuing notices of violation to those employers that don’t do the right thing. So, if you know you’re going to hire an illegal worker, don’t do it,” Massey said.
Plea deals
Zhicong Huang, who faces charges related to piloting a boat from Saipan with Chinese nationals on board, appeared Tuesday morning in the Superior Court of Guam.
During Huang’s hearing, his attorney, Edward Han, told Presiding Judge Alberto C. Lamorena III he agreed with the Office of the Attorney General on a resolution for his client’s case, and was waiting for it to be sent in writing. The prosecution said the document will be sent before the end of the week.
The plea deal is in line with Assistant Attorney General Sean Brown revealing Monday that “consistent plea agreements” are being sent to defendants facing charges similar to Huang’s.
According to court documents, nine people were arrested and charged in connection to arriving on Guam by boat without proper clearance from the Guam Customs and Quarantine Agency.