Alien Labor: workers believed to have secretly left workforce housing

Robbie Batac Salalila, Albert Valencia Laxamana, and Ernan Mendoza Magtoto --these three men are H-2B workers and foreign nationals from the Philippines who were employed at Black Construction.

On Monday, their employer reported that they were apparently no-shows at their jobs. The firm is offering a $1,000 reward with the hopes of finding them.

Guam Police Department and Homeland Security investigators reported the three as missing early Tuesday morning. 

Local and federal authorities saying they are looking into whether the workers' sudden disappearance is “voluntary or if they may be in a potentially dangerous situation.”

But, Greg Massey, administrator for the Department of Labor Alien Labor Processing & Certification Division, told KUAM the men aren’t exactly missing.

"They're actually absconders," he said. "They are workers that left the workforce housing. There's many reasons why people might abscond from employment, it could be that they didn't want to go home at the end of their immigration status. Maybe they have gotten married and are pending the paperwork, or they just want to go work somewhere else, unfortunately, under the H-2B program, you have to have approvals to do that otherwise, you know, it's not legal employment." 

There's no word yet of when or where the trio were last seen.

"These guys are typically-they're not going to leave the company and not work," he said. "They don't qualify for any public assistance. They're basically on the run, so they're out there working illegally in order to keep their livelihood."

And over at the Black Construction Offices in Harmon, multiple requests for comment made in person and over the phone went unanswered as of late Tuesday afternoon.

While authorities search for more answers, Massey heeds employers about the consequences of anyone caught illegally hiring H-2B workers.

"We do regular weekly inspections out at job sites so if we encountered these workers on a job site, then we would refer them to immigration, we would also take action on the employer, there are licensed sanctions that we would impose. First offense is $1,000 per worker. So if there's like three workers, for instance, and that employer potentially could have a $3,000 fine. Second offense is $2,000 per worker, and then their defense would be mandatory revocation of their contractor's license."

For now - the community is asked if you spot any of the three to call police immediately.