Dartmouth became the site of a U.S. border control policy breach earlier this week when officers from the Department of Safety and Security found a half-dozen illegal immigrants during a routine sweep of the campus.
Shortly before 9 a.m. this Tuesday, Safety and Security encountered "noise and rowdiness" while patrolling A-Lot, according to Adam Keller, executive vice president for finance and administration at the College. Safety and Security alerted Hanover Police of the disturbance, which was caused by six workers from a College construction site at the corner of East Wheelock Street and Park Street.
The workers reported to the construction site without the requisite safety gear, Hanover Police Chief Nicholas Giaccone told The Dartmouth. Giaccone added that none had eye protection and only a few had helmets.
The six workers had been given A-Lot parking passes and were sent to park their two vehicles and await instruction from their supervisor, sub-contractor Maurice Fortin of MauFortin Drywall.
Fortin was unavailable for comment.
Giaccone said that while the men were at A-Lot awaiting Fortin, Safety and Security encountered them causing a disturbance and notified the police department. Once the police arrived, it was discovered that the workers did not have proper identification.
Fortin arrived on the scene and quickly left, saying he would bring the workers' identification papers back to the police. He failed to return to A-Lot.
Giaccone said that Fortin is not a concern of the Hanover Police but that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency would investigate him for employing illegal workers.
Keller claimed that the College is not liable for the six workers, as they did not work for Dartmouth directly. The status of the workers "is the responsibility of the sub-contractor," Keller said.
He quickly added that the hiring of illegal immigrants is against College policy and "obviously not something we support."
Hanover Police detained the six at the police station, where U.S. border control officials subsequently took custody of the men. Giaccone said that the Hanover Police encounter illegal aliens once every two or three months, usually during routine traffic stops or in restaurants.
Giaccone added that the undocumented individuals Hanover Police typically deal with tend to be highly-mobile workers. Giaccone said he has not found illegal immigrants to be a significant problem in Hanover and does not want to get involved in the trespassing cases some of his counterparts are pursuing in the neighboring towns of New Ipswitch and Hudson.
New Ipswitch Police Chief Garrett Chamberlain, in consultation with a local attorney, brought charges of trespassing against Mexican immigrant Jose Ramirez earlier this month. The charges were considered an unprecedented interpretation of the law according to New Hampshire Assistant Attorney General Robert Carey.
Chamberlain reportedly grew frustrated after border control failed to take action regarding detained aliens in New Ipswitch last summer.
Police Chief Richard Gendron of Hudson has since emulated Chamberlain and is trying two Mexican immigrants this month. The Mexican consulate has hired an attorney for Ramirez for fear of the national precedent these cases may set.
Giaccone noted that the New Hampshire trespassing law was articulated many years ago and that he does not want to get involved with the current trespassing cases because he is uncertain of the legality of applying current law to cases involving illegal aliens.
