Undocumented workers who lose a job, a livelihood, because they can’t produce the proper papers can be in a desperate situation.
These men — and women — are streaming into this country because they need jobs and are willing to work. Many times they are being aided by an underground network that is funded by employers willing to pay to bring in Hispanics or other foreigners.
But they are not guaranteed jobs. They are not guaranteed freedom. They run the risk of being deported and they run the risk of being asked to leave a job site if they are indeed in this country illegally.
With law enforcement officials cracking down on those who employ these undocumented workers, the heat is being turned up.
In this environment, police say violence erupted Friday. Shots were fired at a Hamilton Twp. construction site in Warren County and the owner of a construction company was beaten. Police say it was in retaliation for the firing of an undocumented worker.
Police responded to a “shots fired” call around 1 p.m., in which the male caller told them “Mexicans were shooting at him.”
Two men were injured, according to police, after the man who earlier had been fired from a construction company allegedly returned with about eight other men armed with handguns and baseball bats.
Police said they believed the suspects were living in the city of Hamilton and one arrest was made in the city on Monday when Jose Ramon Ocasio-Nunez, 21, was apprehended at a residence in the 200 block of East Avenue.
According to police, on Friday the suspects rammed the construction foreman’s truck with their vehicle, jumped out and damaged the truck with baseball bats, then rushed the foreman. They fired 10 to 12 shots in the direction of the foreman and another employee, James Parsons Jr., who was coming to the foreman’s aid.
Parsons was struck multiple times with a baseball bat, police said, adding that the suspects fled in a white SUV.
Parsons was taken to the hospital with multiple injuries. The foreman was treated at the scene for minor injuries.
Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones, who has mounted an aggressive campaign to rid the county of illegal immigrants, said it appeared the employer was doing what the law required in terms of hiring documented workers.
“However, it doesn’t really matter whether the suspects are legal immigrants or not — it’s against the law to attack another person. That’s a crime that should not be taken lightly,” Jones said.
He’s right about that. But this incident does show that the pressure is building.