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Daytona Jamaican workers stranded - Peter Ntankeh, who recruits Jamaicans for jobs at local hotels, brought dozens of people over in 2006.Now, many of those workers are unemployed and their work visas have expired. Daytona Beach News-Journal (FL) - January 28, 2007 Author/Byline: SETH ROBBINS - STAFF WRITER Edition: Final Section: Section A Page: 01A DAYTONA BEACH - For a week, Tarika Campbell went to sleep hungry. Her head rested on the floor near a dozen other Jamaican workers stuffed into a small two-bedroom apartment. Unable to afford food, Campbell hid in the hotel rooms she cleaned. There, as the waves rolled ashore outside, she drank cups of tea - her only nourishment. Falling asleep, she thought of her 3-year-old daughter, Jamila, in Kingston, and cried. "I have nothing," she said, in her apartment off Nova Road where the Jamaican workers gathered to discuss their troubles, miles from the city's beachside tourist hub. "I can't send money to pay her school fee. If she did not have a father, she would die of hunger." Campbell, 24, had spent her mother's funeral money to come here and clean hotel rooms along Daytona Beach's oceanfront for $7 per hour, so she might send money back to her family in Kingston. Seven months later, she has saved little, working less

than the 40-hour work week and year of employment promised by her contractor, Peter Ntankeh. She is not alone. "It's all over Daytona," said Diego Handel, a Daytona Beach lawyer and expert on immigration law. "These contractors take full advantage, and it's exploitation to the max because these are very vulnerable people." The hotels - which need a constant supply of cheap labor in an area with low unemployment - do not provide for the workers' welfare and often are not vigilant in checking for immigration violations, Handel and the other immigration experts say. "We police it (illegals) more than any other place," said Harold Lueken, executive vice president for Ocean Waters, the largest hotel operator in Daytona Beach. Even so, between September and early January, a group of Jamaicans worked illegally in hotels run by Ocean Waters. They began their jobs with valid work visas. But the man who brought them here, Ntankeh - a West African native with limited knowledge of immigration law - failed to update the visas, even though the Jamaican workers gave him $250 each to procure extensions. Ocean Waters management did not know the workers' visas had expired - relying on Ntankeh to keep track - and the men and women fell into the crevices of Florida's underground economy. Afraid of immigration authorities, the workers took erratic hours offered by Ntankeh and the hotels, sometimes only earning $80 a week cleaning rooms where guests paid hundreds of dollars a night to stay. Now, some don't even have that. Ocean Waters dismissed all of Ntankeh's employees after being questioned by The Daytona Beach News-Journal and learning from Ntankeh himself that the workers he was providing the hotelier were illegal, according to Lueken. "We rely on the contractors to police this," Lueken said. "If we hear of any issues, then we address them." Ntankeh says the U.S. government is processing the visa extensions, and he has done everything possible to get them. He denies all the allegations his workers make against him.

But that does not help the Jamaicans who fear deportation at any moment. "To him, we are like slaves," Campbell said. "If you're working and can't even buy food, then you are a slave." Still, the Jamaicans say they do not want to return to jobs in their home country that pay just a few dollars a day, and they fear being barred from the United States for overstaying. So, they stay hidden. And the most any visitor will hear from them is a gentle rapping at their door asking: "Housekeeping." DEMAND FOR DIRTY JOBS Campbell and her Jamaican friends are part of a growing wave of foreign workers who in recent years have become the backbone of Florida's service industry, according to immigration attorneys. The hotels are a magnet for poor people from countries in Eastern Europe and the Caribbean. They work long hours in dirty jobs for little pay - the ones many Americans don't want. But this also makes immigrants easy targets for exploitation by the contractors who provide the jobs, and as in the case of the Jamaicans in Daytona Beach, also guarantee a place to stay, food and proper documentation. "In reality, it is the contractors' responsibility to ensure all the documents are correct," said a federal official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She asked to remain anonymous because the agency may conduct an investigation into Ntankeh and his business Tanka Resorts Management. "The employees work for the contractor." A Miami Republican, state Rep. Juan C. Zapata, recently filed a bill that would fine or withdraw certain privileges from businesses found toknowingly employ undocumented workers. He could not put an exact number on how many businesses use illegal workers, but anecdotal evidence told him that the practice is widespread in the agricultural, construction and hospitality industries, he said. He added the new bill would not allow the companies to claim ignorance when using a subcontractor. HANDYMAN TURNED RECRUITER In 2005, Ntankeh shuttled workers to beachside hotels, part of a small courier service he owned. Based upon this relationship, Ocean Waters resorts offered him a contract to use foreign nationals he recruited in their 21 Daytona-area hotels. Before contracting with Ocean Waters starting in the fall of 2005, Ntankeh washed

cars and did odd jobs as a handyman along with running the courier service. "I used to think he was a good man," said O'Neil Roper, who helped Ntankeh recruit workers in Jamaica. "He is not a good man." In September, Ntankeh set up shop in a licensed recruiting agency in Jamaica. Christine Kelly, one of the company's owners, let him use her office after he said he would award some of his jobs to Kelly's applicants. Kelly, however, discovered Ntankeh had asked his applicants to transfer money to him in the United States. This was illegal, said a Jamaican Labour Ministry official, because he was not a Jamaican citizen and did not have a license. Kelly removed him from her office and called the authorities. Soon, police and other government officials knocked at Ntankeh's hotel room in Jamaica where he continued to recruit workers. Investigators could not prove he accepted money from applicants. But the Labour Ministry still closed his business and forced him to leave the country, according to news reports. A Jamaican Ministry of Labour official who asked not to be identified said, "The jobs may be legal, but this man does not have a license. . . . We are in a battle here." News outlets around Jamaica carried reports about the closing of Ntankeh's business. Still, he recruited Jamaicans from a Daytona Beach office. "He had those jobs (to provide workers)," Kelly said, by phone from her office in Jamaica. "But he was totally disorganized and was misleading the people." BROKEN PROMISES The Jamaicans came here in three separate groups, the first arriving in February 2006, the next in April and the last in June. Ntankeh brought over at least 80 people, and many said they did not receive much of what he promised for his $1,200 fee, which is more than a quarter of an average Jamaican's annual salary of $4,200. The workers' contract stated lodging and food would be provided for the first three weeks they were here, said Vijay K. Sharma, Ntankeh's former operations manager. "When they came," he said, "he didn't have any place for them to stay. They were waiting for food seven or eight hours. And, they were sleeping on the (local office's) carpet." In the contract, Ntankeh also promised them 40 hours of work each week.

Sharma said Ntankeh sent workers to clean the hotels, but the managers rushed the workers through the job. When they finished, they were told to leave, earning money only for the few hours they worked. "We slaves because if the hotels call and say they want someone to work for one or three days, that's the time he (Ntankeh) calls you and comes to get us to work," said Narda Musseden, one of Ntankeh's Jamaican employees. "We supposed to work a full 40 hours every week." The Ocean Waters contract with Ntankeh, however, never promised a certain number of jobs to Ntankeh or hours for his workers, Lueken said. Hoteliers employ foreign workers from a subcontractor exactly for this flexibility, he said. The workers complained to Sharma about their hours and pay, saying they could not afford the $160-a-month rent they were paying for their Daytona Beach apartments. Because of their constant pleas, he eventually found the Jamaicans with valid visas work at a local maker of car electronics. Still, he said, Ntankeh failed to pay his workers on time, bounced checks and mishandled funds. "He don't know how to manage his business," Sharma said. "He don't know how to control his checks. The money was never there." EXTENSIONS THAT NEVER CAME Ntankeh said his money woes stemmed from workers shifting over to other contractors. In early September, with about 30 workers remaining and their visas about to expire, Ntankeh sent a memo offering to procure an extension on their temporary work visa for $250. The workers handed him their money and passports. Then they waited for an extension that never came. When their visas expired at the end of September, the employees working at the local electronics manufacturer lost their jobs. But Ocean Waters hotels continued to employ Ntankeh's illegal workers. Ocean Waters confirmed the workers' visas when they began to do business with Ntankeh, Lueken said. But they relied on him to maintain those papers. None has received an extension, and the hotel dismissed the workers this month when Ntankeh sent a letter to Ocean Waters about the expired visas. "You never know who you are getting into business with," Lueken said. "We are anal about complying with the law - over the top."

Ntankeh insists the extensions will come, conceding he should have applied for them earlier. He has refused to provide the workers proof he even applied for visa extensions. Ntankeh showed receipts to The News-Journal, but U.S. officials would not confirm if he had applied. He told the Jamaicans to stay home and wait. "I understand they are upset. There is nothing I can do," he said. "I'm the one who brought them here; why would I steal from them? Two hundred dollars is nothing. If I'm going to steal money, I steal good money." WASTED TRIP The Jamaicans say they have been cheated, and when they go home will owe hundreds of dollars to money lenders who helped them with the initial $1,200. They cannot wait for Ntankeh's extensions because they have bills to pay here and many still can't afford the plane ticket back to Jamaica. "They accomplished nothing," said Roper, of Daytona Beach. "They can't go back Home. Most are still (too deep) in debt." If they return now, they won't face a three-year ban from the United States for staying six months past the expiration of their visas. But many say they will still be penalized when they go to the U.S. Embassy to interview for a new visa. Ira Kurzban, a Miami-based attorney and expert on immigration law, said it's safer for immigrants to use attorneys because they're policed by The Florida Bar. When it comes to contractors like Ntankeh, he said, "it's very difficult to get any control over what they do and who they are." WHO IS RESPONSIBLE? Daytona Beach attorney Handel, who studied under Kurzban, added employers such as Ocean Waters cannot simply rely on third-party contractors. They also have a responsibility to know if their employees are working legally. "They need to do some due diligence," he said. "Immigration requires it." At the Plaza Resort and Spa, Lueken held a file containing background information on Ntankeh's business and papers Ntankeh had sent Ocean Waters detailing his workers. On one sheet was a list of names, birth dates and visa numbers, and it clearly stated when the workers' visas started and expired - Sept. 30, 2006. But Lueken said the file might be incomplete.

"This file no one has opened in probably, whatever," he added. "You do a deal with someone and you are relying on the person you are contracting with to be honest." SHADY DEALINGS After learning of Ntankeh's checkered past and the accusations made by the Jamaican workers, Lueken said he will investigate their business with him and may be willing to help the Jamaicans if he discovers Ntankeh used the Ocean Waters name in any questionable dealings with the workers. "Everything you are telling me is news to me and our company," he said. "We are going to look into it, and if everything is substantiated, then this guy is gone. And, furthermore, if we find out he has violated any law, we will bring that to the authorities." The Jamaicans who Ntankeh brought to Daytona Beach now are either scrounging for work or taking chances on other contractors willing to hire them illegally. "There are a lot of these cases going around," Handel said. "Usually, these things work out by the employees getting deported and then there is no one left to complain." Peter Ntankeh Tarika Campbell of Jamaica paid employment contractor Peter Ntankeh $1,200 last year after signing a contract for 40 hours a week at $7 per hour cleaning hotels in Daytona Beach. Here's a summary of the work she actually got: BEST CHECK: At the height of the summer in July, her two-week pay stub shows she worked 73 hours. WORK WANES: In September her biweekly hours fell to about 48. WORST CHECK: After her visa expired, Campbell worked less than 24 hours during a two-week period in October, after taxes taking home only $148. Query Leads to Quandary In November, Daytona Beach News-Journal reporter Seth Robbins received a tip that about 30 Jamaican workers with expired work visas who had been cleaning rooms for the area's largest hotelier were scrambling for jobs locally after the man who recruited them couldn't get them the full-time hours he'd promised. Here's what happened after Robbins started asking questions: RECRUITER RUNS TO HIS EMPLOYER: Peter Ntankeh, whose company is one of many that contract with Ocean Waters Resorts, which runs 21 Daytona Beach-area hotels,

sends a letter about the Jamaican workers he was providing whose visas had expired months earlier. JOBS DISAPPEAR: Soon after Ntankeh's letter reaches Ocean Waters, the recruiter's employees are dismissed. HOTELIER TO INVESTIGATE: Ocean Waters Vice President Harold Lueken said, "We have not found any wrongdoing, but we will continue to thoroughly investigate the matter. If we find any wrongdoing, we will immediately notify the authorities and we will go out of our way to help anyone who might have been harmed." RECRUITER UNDER THE MICROSCOPE: Leuken says if the Ocean Waters name was used in any kind of wrongdoing with Ntankeh, the companies would sever ties immediately. WHAT'S NEXT: The Jamaicans recruited by Ntankeh remain illegally in the Daytona Beach area. Many continue to work at local hotels. Caption: 4 Photos ane N-J Graphic Photo 1: Peter Ntankeh Photo 2: Tarika Campbell Photo 3: As rain falls, American and Jamaican workers for Peter Ntankeh wait for their checks recently outside his office on Mason Avenue in Daytona Beach. Some Jamaicans who came to Daytona Beach on work visas say Ntankeh, who recruited them, did not hold up his end of the bargain after charging them $1,200, as well as failing to renew their visas after paying him another $250. News-Journal/ JESSICA WEBB SIBLEY Photo 4: Peter Ntankeh, in his Mason Avenue office, recruits Jamaicans to work for Ocean Water resorts in their 21 Daytona Beach-area hotels. Before contracting with Ocean Waters starting in the fall of 2005, Ntankeh washed cars and did odd jobs as a handyman along with running his courier service. News-Journal/ JUSTIN YURKANIN N-J graphic showing the Odyseey from Jamaica to Daytona Beach Dateline: DAYTONA BEACH Record Number: 409817001 Copyright, 2007, The News-Journal Corporation

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