It was driveways paved with hot asphalt that lured the young man across the Atlantic on his first trip out of Ireland. He arrived March 15, at Kennedy International Airport, promised good work and better pay from a New Jersey paving subcontractor. Instead, the 23 year old Irishman worked 14-hour days for a fraction of his promised wages. Three months later, depressed and destitute, Liam Mason was dead- a suicide, authorities said. His friends and family say Mason's story is one of deceit leading to utter despair, of a callow youth's exploitation.
American activists fear it is just one example of a growing problem, as more such tales emerge.
They slipped through the U.S. immigration with assurances that they were just tourists. Their spirits were high, their wallets soon to grow fast. The man holding their tickets home disappeared and has yet to resurface. Mason managed to flee the Jersey shore for an Irish enclave in the Bronx. But he was broke and feared retribution from his employer.