16816: (Hermantin) Miami-Herald-Worker claims 'day after day' he was ordered to turn of (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Thu, Sep. 25, 2003

KROME DETENTION CENTER
Worker claims 'day after day' he was ordered to turn off AC
An air-conditioner technician at the West Miami-Dade site has filed a
complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@herald.com

An air-conditioner technician who has filed a discrimination complaint
against his employer says he was ordered to turn off the air at the Krome
immigrant detention center, creating inhuman conditions for Haitian and
Cuban detainees.

Alberto Novoa, 49, of Miami, filed the complaint last week with the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission against AHTNA Technical Services Inc. The
Alaska-based independent contractor provides air-conditioning maintenance
for Krome.

In an affidavit, Novoa alleges that Krome building specialist David Scroggs
ordered him ''day after day'' in April to turn off the air conditioning
inside buildings 14 and 15 at the West Miami-Dade County facility between
the hours of 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 a.m.

''I don't know how someone didn't die in there because of the heat,'' Novoa
said Wednesday in a telephone interview. 'Imagine 110 people in a room.
There are no windows, only a door, locked with no air conditioning. Those
poor Haitians. . . . When they saw me, they said `Please don't do that to
us. You are killing us.' You have no idea how it made me feel.''

When he entered one of the buildings, Novoa said it had a stench of human
feces and body odor.

Novoa said he refused Scroggs' orders on the fourth day, then was verbally
abused by the manager. Scroggs screamed at him and made a derogatory
reference to the fact that he is a Cuban American, Novoa said.

Novoa said he was subsequently punished by being forced to work without an
assistant and was verbally admonished as well as carefully monitored.

''He's receiving the most severe retaliatory actions against him and he
believes because of the time sequence, it's retaliation for complaining
against his own discrimination and reporting what he believes are inhumane
acts,'' said Charles Mantei, one of several attorneys representing Novoa.

Mantei said there were no maintenance reasons for the air conditioning to be
turned off in either building.

Neither Scroggs nor a vice president with AHTNA Technical Services returned
phone calls seeking comment.

Ana Santiago, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, directed comments about the discrimination complaint to the
EEOC.

''Obviously, if there is a complaint about our facility, we will take
appropriate action,'' she said.

EEOC attorney Delner Franklin-Thomas said the agency could neither confirm
nor deny the existence of a complaint.

Novoa's attorneys made a copy of the complaint available to The Herald.

Novoa said on the first day he received the order, he ``felt strange about
turning off the air conditioning. The temperature outside was around 86, 87
degrees during the day.''

''I am going to take this to justice. They used me to commit a crime and
that was wrong. I was obeying orders,'' Novoa said Wednesday. ``Poor people
have been suffering and we have to bring this to an end.''

Candace Jean, an immigration attorney who travels to Krome several times a
week, said while she can't recall her clients complaining about the lack of
air, Novoa's allegations are not far-fetched.

''None of that shocks or surprises me,'' she said.

``In some places it's freezing cold and in others it's hot. There are
extremes in the temperatures. [My clients] have told me that.''

Jean said Krome is very isolated and because of that, it's hard for the
public to know what is going on in the dormitories.

Paul Anderson, a spokesman for Sen. Bob Graham, said the office would review
the complaint and pursue it as a constituent issue.

Novoa's attorneys contacted Graham, who is a contender for the Democratic
nomination for president.

``Sen. Graham has been very involved on issues involving treatment of
Haitian refugees and the treatment at the Krome center.''

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