New Arrests At Cobb Courthouse Construction Site (WSB-GA)

New Arrests At Cobb Courthouse Construction Site
WSB-TV
Posted: 6:10 am EDT August 6, 2010

COBB COUNTY, Ga. -- Two men helping to construct a new Cobb County courthouse were arrested Thursday, the second time this week the sheriff’s office jailed workers at the site.

The sheriff’s office said it started background checks on more than 700 workers at the construction site after a watchdog group contacted them about possible undocumented workers hired for the job.

New Arrests At Cobb Courthouse Construction Site

Deputies arrested Lambert Williams, 31, for failure to pay child support, and Ray Lee Roberts, 29, for violating probation.

The group “Jobs For Georgians” said concern about illegal immigrants at the work site prompted their complaint. “We got a ton of calls through Jobs for Georgians saying this project is going on, we want to know why we can't get on it,” said John Ciancia.

Sheriff Neil Warren told Channel 2 Action News he has a responsibility to make sure the site is safe and secure, and his office had completed more than half of the 717 background checks.

Ciancia told Channel 2’s Sean Callebs his group has talked to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and checks at the Cobb site could become a statewide model for taking on illegal immigration, and to find people running from the law.

“I am satisfied with the sheriff taking on, and doing the checks. I know they are at the gates now, and they are doing a second round of checks. I think its paying off,” said Ciancia

“It's not just undocumented, it's checking everybody. I think it needs to be done all over the state of Georgia. I think we need more of this,” Ciancia told Callebs.

The sheriff said it made sense to run the background checks before construction of a new catwalk that connects the new construction to the existing judicial center.