An American woman is facing backlash after a viral video seems to accuse her of reporting the Hispanic workers to ICE, after hiring them to repair her roof. While the woman denies these claims and the evidence around what really transpired is unclear, the situation has fuelled fears that some employers may exploit undocumented workers.
In the video shot by Bryan Polanco, a worker with permanent residency, from the roof of the property in Cambridge, Maryland, federal agents can be seen waiting on the lawn in front of the house for his co-workers to come down from the roof. As he is filming, Polanco says he and his co-workers had come to fix the homeowner’s roof, but she repaid them by calling ICE to have them taken into custody.
“We came to fix this lady’s house, and she’s the one who turned us in. Fixing up her house and still with hatred in her heart,” Polanco says.
“What she did tell me, and I told one of the other guys, is that if immigrants come back again to finish the project, she’s always going to call ICE,” the roofing worker added.
It has been alleged that the homeowner reported the Guatemalan workers to ICE to avoid having to pay them the $10,000 she owed them for fixing the roof. While some sources claim that ICE arrived soon after they started working on the roof, others report that the homeowner waited until they were almost done with the repairs before calling the ICE agents.
The woman, identified as Karen T., insists that neither she nor her father called ICE, but claims that the backlash on social media over her alleged actions has been so great that she now fears for her safety and that of her family.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, said that, if the allegations against the homeowner are true, she could face legal consequences under the Maryland law prohibiting the use of immigration threats to obtain labour or avoid payment.
