NewsBank Article Listing

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

file:///Users/njuser/Desktop/seth%20website/jamaican%20workers%20stranded.html (8 of 8) [8/22/08 4:35:00 PM]