Louisiana News
Thirty-one legal immigrants lose jobs on defense project
The Associated Press
4/4/03 8:59 AM
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Northrop Grumman Corp. has laid off 31 Hispanics and Middle Eastern workers from its Avondale shipyard because of regulations governing defense projects.
Avondale and its sister plants in Pascagoula and Gulfport, Miss., are building portions of 12 amphibious assault ships for the Navy.
With the first ship almost ready for launch and more coming along, it soon will not be possible to effectively prevent workers from other countries from seeing restricted materials, said George Yount, Avondale's vice president of operations.
Yount said that if certain foreign workers see restricted materials, the company can be fined $500,000 for each incident. The laid-off workers, who were legal immigrants, included men and women.
"It was like cutting my finger off," said Yount in reference to the layoffs.
Eight of the laid off workers are natives of Honduras who left after Hurricane Mitch devastated their homeland in 1998. They have "temporary protected status," a special immigration designation granted to residents of Honduras and Nicaragua so they could work in the U.S. and send money home to help rebuild their countries, officials said.
Part of the concern behind the rules is that a foreign-born worker could pass information on the framework of the amphibious ship and the thickness of its walls to an unfriendly government, making the ship more vulnerable to an attack, Yount said.
Yount briefly considered erecting a fence across Avondale's property to keep the workers from seeing sensitive documents, but that idea proved unworkable, he said.
Yount said he told the workers they could return if they get their immigration status adjusted to something acceptable for working around sensitive documents. One person already has done so, he said.
Under the regulations, foreign-born workers who are involved in such projects must be either naturalized citizens, permanent or temporary residents, refugees, or those seeking asylum, Yount said. [I think they must mean people granted asylum, not merely "seeking asylum"]
A State Department official said the rules that govern defense contractors, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, flow from the Arms Export Control Act of 1968.
The State Department has not stepped up enforcement of the directives since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks or because of the war with Iraq, the spokeswoman said. Instead, the agency always has been diligent in checking for compliance, she said.
Thirty-one legal immigrants lose jobs on defense project
The Associated Press
4/4/03 8:59 AM
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Northrop Grumman Corp. has laid off 31 Hispanics and Middle Eastern workers from its Avondale shipyard because of regulations governing defense projects.
Avondale and its sister plants in Pascagoula and Gulfport, Miss., are building portions of 12 amphibious assault ships for the Navy.
With the first ship almost ready for launch and more coming along, it soon will not be possible to effectively prevent workers from other countries from seeing restricted materials, said George Yount, Avondale's vice president of operations.
Yount said that if certain foreign workers see restricted materials, the company can be fined $500,000 for each incident. The laid-off workers, who were legal immigrants, included men and women.
"It was like cutting my finger off," said Yount in reference to the layoffs.
Eight of the laid off workers are natives of Honduras who left after Hurricane Mitch devastated their homeland in 1998. They have "temporary protected status," a special immigration designation granted to residents of Honduras and Nicaragua so they could work in the U.S. and send money home to help rebuild their countries, officials said.
Part of the concern behind the rules is that a foreign-born worker could pass information on the framework of the amphibious ship and the thickness of its walls to an unfriendly government, making the ship more vulnerable to an attack, Yount said.
Yount briefly considered erecting a fence across Avondale's property to keep the workers from seeing sensitive documents, but that idea proved unworkable, he said.
Yount said he told the workers they could return if they get their immigration status adjusted to something acceptable for working around sensitive documents. One person already has done so, he said.
Under the regulations, foreign-born workers who are involved in such projects must be either naturalized citizens, permanent or temporary residents, refugees, or those seeking asylum, Yount said. [I think they must mean people granted asylum, not merely "seeking asylum"]
A State Department official said the rules that govern defense contractors, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, flow from the Arms Export Control Act of 1968.
The State Department has not stepped up enforcement of the directives since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks or because of the war with Iraq, the spokeswoman said. Instead, the agency always has been diligent in checking for compliance, she said.