100 Nepali workers 'missing' in Alabama

[Probin]

100 Nepali workers 'missing' in Alabama

More than 100 Nepalis working at a north Alabama DVD factory in West Virginia have been missing from the past two days, news reports said.

"The embassy is trying to find out what happened to them (Nepalis workers), whether they have actually run away or were forced out due to some reasons," deputy chief of the Nepali mission in Washington DC Kali Prasad Pokharel told Kantipur by phone, adding, "we also found out about the missing Nepalis workers through reports that appeared in news media. The embassy has not been notified of the incident till now."

The Associated Press had reported on Tuesday that the Nepalis workers vanished from a pair of apartment buildings and can't be located. The news agency had quoted Lauren Bethune, a spokeswoman for the Alabama Department of Homeland Security, as saying that immigration agents were trying to determine what happened to the Nepali workers, among hundreds brought to the United States to work at a DVD factory operated by Cinram Inc.

"We do not in anyway consider it a security threat, but we do think it is important," she told AP.

However, the spokesman for a company that recruited the workers for Cinram said a contact in Nepal believes many of them have returned home.

Mary and Tim Snopl told local WAAY-TV station that first reported about the missing Nepalis workers that they rented apartments in two buildings last fall to about 240 workers from Nepal. But Mary Snopl said scores of the workers are now missing, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of furniture, televisions and kitchenware.

"I don't know if they are living in Huntsville or somewhere else, I just know they aren't working with us and they aren't working at Cinram," she said. nepalnews.com ag Jan 31 08

[Probin]

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAAY) -- The Department of Homeland Security is looking for more than 100 workers from Huntsville's Cinram plant who have turned up missing. The group of workers from Nepal simply disappeared without any warning, creating a potential security risk.

Before leaving, some of the Nepalese allegedly stole furniture and television sets from their furnished apartments. Cinram spokeswoman Lyne Fisher says the missing workers do not pose a security threat.

"Some of them may have wanted to stop in some of the major attractions you'd want to see if you were visiting the U.S., for example, New York City or something like that."

The Nepalese workers were recruited by officials at Blair staffing agency. A Blair spokesperson referred us to the company president who told us he wasn't ready to talk on camera.

The question of who, if anyone, is responsible for the workers remains unclear. Fisher placed the blame on the workers.

"The onus is on the individuals themselves," Fisher said. "They work with Homeland Security, their local government, and with these staffing agencies. All those folks work together with the individual to ensure they return home."

Joan Harris has practiced immigration law for years, and also said the responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of those workers.

"If they're going to, for instance, take off one day after they get off work, the employer would have no way knowing this," Harris said. "So how can they be held responsible for this

Harris said if the missing workers are located elsewhere in the U.S., they would be penalized if they violated the terms of their visas. About 240 workers from Nepal came to Huntsville on the H2B visa program. That system allows foreign workers to stay in the country as long they remain employed at the business that brought them to the U.S.

Harris says there is no system in place to hold workplaces accountable for workers who go missing because it's unreasonable to hold employers responsible for the actions of their employees.

"There's nothing we can do about (finding the workers)," she said. "That's up to the immigration service and the federal government."

Opponents of foreign worker programs say situations like the one at Cinram create a major security risk, but Harris said from her experience, she's found that's probably not true.

Officials at Cinram and Blair Staffing Agency said they believe most of these workers got homesick and went back to Nepal. That has not been verified by the tracking system that Homeland Security officials use.

Landlords at the apartment complex where the Nepalese workers had lived said they had scattered to New York, Florida, and other places across the country. Homeland Security officials said the investigation is ongoing.

Meanwhile, local leaders are sounding off about the incident.

"Cinram first and foremost is responsible," said Madison County Commissioner Mo Brooks. "Cinram insisted there were long background checks and were vouching to the citizens of Madison County that they had this program under control, when apparently they did not."

Fellow commissioner Jerry Craig had another perspective.

"Seems like they're taking advantage of an opportunity to run off to me," Craig said Tuesday. "Having 100 people not be found is bad, but to lose the entire plant for not having enough workers would be bad also."