(Bloomberg) – Immigration raids at a partially owned luxury Puerto Rico hotel by billionaire investor John Paulson led the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to arrest dozens of construction workers in the Dominican Republic.
Agent Rebecca Gonzalez-Ramos told reporters on Thursday in San Juan that about 53 workers were working at La Concha Resort in San Juan, but were not hotel employees. She refused to name the construction company where the team worked.
Paulson Puerto Rico, a local company in Paulson, said the arrested person was hired by an external contractor “currently engaged in certain construction projects.”
“Although we have no direct relationship with the incident, we are fully cooperating with the authorities and reaffirming our commitment to all applicable laws and regulations,” said Damian Pagan, Director of Hotel Safety, in an emailed statement. “We have directed our contractors to take steps to ensure that all workers they use at work have legal status.”
Paulson is a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, with several high-profile properties in Puerto Rico, including La Concha in the heart of the San Juan tourist area. His company is also building a luxury residential tower called the Vanderbilt Residence, just a few blocks from the hotel.
Puerto Rico is a federal federal of the United States and has long relied on manual labor in its neighboring Dominican Republic, especially in the construction and agricultural sectors. Business, family and cultural tie goes deep in between.
But Puerto Rico has been enforcing orders from the Trump administration to combat illegal immigration. Gonzalez-Ramos said about 364 people have been arrested so far this year.
She said the vast majority of the detainees were from the Dominican Republic, but agents also arrested Haitians, Venezuelans, Mexicans and Brazilians.
Gonzalez-Ramos was asked how many undocumented immigrants might be on the island with 3.2 million people.
“This is the number we determined,” she said. “It’s a complex question.”
– Assistance by Katherine Burton.
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