VTMBH Article: Body
<i>We didnt think we would survive. Now that we are at last in Israel, we are calling on all Israelis who remain in the United States to leave everything and return home at once. Since Sept. 11, the United States has changed completely. It is no longer the land of the free.</i>
Such was the advice of seven workers from Our Van moving company who were arrested in New Jersey on Sept. 11 and held for nearly a month and a half as suspects in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
The workers described their treatment during their detention as harsh. The owner of their company disappeared soon after his own release on Sept. 12 and hasnt been seen since.
As far as I know, he has not even paid the workers who were arrested, one said. I am sure he did not want to be connected to this complicated situation.
Despite the large number of arrests since the terrorist attacks, hundreds and perhaps thousands -- of young Israelis continue to work illegally in the United States and hope for the best. Many have tried to prevent their friends from being incarcerated.
We just want to help out young people like us, one of the Israelis who were arrested said last week. Dont come to America -- and if you are already here, go back to Israel immediately. This is not the same country.
Since the dramatic events of Sept. 11, American immigration authorities have intensified their enforcement of laws against illegal workers. But what measures have companies taken to protect their employees? Maariv posed this question to the owners of several companies who employ large numbers of Israelis.
G -- a foreman for a moving company who asked not to reveal his name said: We dont send them to work in high risk areas where there are not a lot of Israelis or places where there are few foreigners, so that they wont stick out too much. Its been a while since we sent people to North Carolina or Virginia -- places where people pay attention to race. Today we dont take workers there.
S -- a dispatcher for a major moving company added: We try to arrange it so that we have legal workers mixed in with illegal ones. We would never send out a group without at least one guy who had papers.
Y -- a dispatcher for a different company -- said: Israelis look like Latinos, so we try to make a team of both Israelis and Americans.
S added: Workers are not coming from Israel any more. We got a lot of calls from parents pressuring and begging their kids to come home, and they generally managed to persuade them.
It is clear that many Israeli companies -- travel agencies, Israeli TV, high-tech industries, taxi and car services, and others -- are growing more careful about illegal workers.
We do not want to be connected with all of this, an owner of a taxi company said earlier this week. I worked hard for many years in order to get permission to work and a green card, and I wont allow myself to endanger the business with illegal workers.
That sentiment holds true for high-brow business owners as well. One executive of a high-tech company said: We want to employ Americans. It is forbidden for us to employ workers without working papers and that includes Israelis.
Indeed, many Israeli business owners who used to employ undocumented workers are starting to turn them away. The owner of an Israeli restaurant in Greenwich Village said: In the past, all of our waiters were Israelis. Now they are leaving because they are scared that immigration agents are out looking for them. For me, it is not easy. The fines for employing illegal workers are high and its just not worth it for me to endanger the business -- especially now that there are so many unemployed workers with papers.
Yet, a manager at another restaurant not far away contended that she still hires undocumented Israelis and will continue to do so in the future. We told them that it is their responsibility, she said. We cannot organize papers, nor can we save them from arrest. Whoever takes this danger upon themselves, its their problem.
Yet, Maariv found a number of young Israelis who were still prepared to do any type of work under any sort of condition. A reporter showed them the following quote from one of the mothers whose son was arrested after Sept. 11: Our kids also said that it would not happen to them, and look what happened. If it happened to them -- serious kids who finished their army service on their way to or after university -- it can happen to anyone.
They replied as follows:
Dani, a moving company worker: This is a waste of time. You have not succeeded in scaring us. In New York, it just cant happen; its not the same situation. Those workers from Our Van were arrested because they were suspected of a terror attack, not because they worked with a moving company.
Yael, a waitress: I have not heard that they are searching Israeli restaurants. If they search all the restaurants, it will never end. I am doubtful that this will happen.
Tami, a sales clerk: What can I tell you -- it is in Gods hands. If I need to be arrested, arrest me. The probability of that is very low. New York is not a mall in the middle of nowhere. Half the people here dont even speak English, so how much do I stand out?
Moshe, another worker in a moving company: Scared or not, this is the situation.
Such was the advice of seven workers from Our Van moving company who were arrested in New Jersey on Sept. 11 and held for nearly a month and a half as suspects in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
The workers described their treatment during their detention as harsh. The owner of their company disappeared soon after his own release on Sept. 12 and hasnt been seen since.
As far as I know, he has not even paid the workers who were arrested, one said. I am sure he did not want to be connected to this complicated situation.
Despite the large number of arrests since the terrorist attacks, hundreds and perhaps thousands -- of young Israelis continue to work illegally in the United States and hope for the best. Many have tried to prevent their friends from being incarcerated.
We just want to help out young people like us, one of the Israelis who were arrested said last week. Dont come to America -- and if you are already here, go back to Israel immediately. This is not the same country.
Since the dramatic events of Sept. 11, American immigration authorities have intensified their enforcement of laws against illegal workers. But what measures have companies taken to protect their employees? Maariv posed this question to the owners of several companies who employ large numbers of Israelis.
G -- a foreman for a moving company who asked not to reveal his name said: We dont send them to work in high risk areas where there are not a lot of Israelis or places where there are few foreigners, so that they wont stick out too much. Its been a while since we sent people to North Carolina or Virginia -- places where people pay attention to race. Today we dont take workers there.
S -- a dispatcher for a major moving company added: We try to arrange it so that we have legal workers mixed in with illegal ones. We would never send out a group without at least one guy who had papers.
Y -- a dispatcher for a different company -- said: Israelis look like Latinos, so we try to make a team of both Israelis and Americans.
S added: Workers are not coming from Israel any more. We got a lot of calls from parents pressuring and begging their kids to come home, and they generally managed to persuade them.
It is clear that many Israeli companies -- travel agencies, Israeli TV, high-tech industries, taxi and car services, and others -- are growing more careful about illegal workers.
We do not want to be connected with all of this, an owner of a taxi company said earlier this week. I worked hard for many years in order to get permission to work and a green card, and I wont allow myself to endanger the business with illegal workers.
That sentiment holds true for high-brow business owners as well. One executive of a high-tech company said: We want to employ Americans. It is forbidden for us to employ workers without working papers and that includes Israelis.
Indeed, many Israeli business owners who used to employ undocumented workers are starting to turn them away. The owner of an Israeli restaurant in Greenwich Village said: In the past, all of our waiters were Israelis. Now they are leaving because they are scared that immigration agents are out looking for them. For me, it is not easy. The fines for employing illegal workers are high and its just not worth it for me to endanger the business -- especially now that there are so many unemployed workers with papers.
Yet, a manager at another restaurant not far away contended that she still hires undocumented Israelis and will continue to do so in the future. We told them that it is their responsibility, she said. We cannot organize papers, nor can we save them from arrest. Whoever takes this danger upon themselves, its their problem.
Yet, Maariv found a number of young Israelis who were still prepared to do any type of work under any sort of condition. A reporter showed them the following quote from one of the mothers whose son was arrested after Sept. 11: Our kids also said that it would not happen to them, and look what happened. If it happened to them -- serious kids who finished their army service on their way to or after university -- it can happen to anyone.
They replied as follows:
Dani, a moving company worker: This is a waste of time. You have not succeeded in scaring us. In New York, it just cant happen; its not the same situation. Those workers from Our Van were arrested because they were suspected of a terror attack, not because they worked with a moving company.
Yael, a waitress: I have not heard that they are searching Israeli restaurants. If they search all the restaurants, it will never end. I am doubtful that this will happen.
Tami, a sales clerk: What can I tell you -- it is in Gods hands. If I need to be arrested, arrest me. The probability of that is very low. New York is not a mall in the middle of nowhere. Half the people here dont even speak English, so how much do I stand out?
Moshe, another worker in a moving company: Scared or not, this is the situation.