redhanded on Thursday doing construction work at a local primary school. Their lawyer has called for a deeper probe of the employer, as the men were told they did not need work permits.

Twenty eight-year-old Eric Fenton and 30-year-old Glenford Williams, were both charged with engaging in gainful employment and unlawfully remaining on the Island without the permission of the Minister of Immigration.

The men admitted the charges in Magistrates' Court yesterday morning before Senior Magistrate, William Francis. Crown counsel Larry Mussenden told the court that senior Immigration officers went to Francis Patton school after being tipped off that the two men were working there.

At the Hamilton Parish school, they found Fenton and Williams in soiled clothing in a room with caulking guns in their hands as they were fixing window frames.

The Immigration officials spoke with them and confirmed their names and that they had overstayed their allowed time in Bermuda.

Thirty minutes later, Police arrived at the scene and arrested the two men.

Fenton first arrived in Bermuda on May 7, 1999 and was given a departure date of June 3 which was later extended to June 17. Williams arrived on the Island on November 15 last year, and should have left by November 26.

Duty counsel Kim Wilson contended both men had been misguided by their employer who had told them that they did not need a work permit, to be employed here. She also called on the Immigration officers to investigate the employer and his business further.

The employer was not named in court.

The two men were sentenced to a month in prison and deportation. Under the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act they faced fines of $5,000 and three months in prison.

The deportation arrangements are expected to be complete sometime next week, at which time the men will be taken from prison and escorted to Jamaica.

IMMIGRATION IMM