Twenty-six undocumented workers from the Azores being
held in a Massachusetts jail as witnesses in an immigrant smuggling case
will be deported.

The detainees were among 31 people arrested when the Immigration and
Naturalization Service raided Morgado Paving in Hampton Falls, N.H., last
month.

But rather than deporting the men, federal prosecutors asked that the
illegal workers be held as material witnesses in the case against the company.

Deportation proceedings began after the owner of the company, Antonio
Morgado, pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in Concord, N.H., to a
charge of smuggling aliens.

According to authorities, the men were lured from the Azores - a Portuguese
archipelago in the mid-Atlantic - with promises of pay and benefits, which
they never received.

The men, who were being held at the Bristol County House of Correction,
last week received a visit from the Azores regional government president,
Carlos Cesar, who assured them he was working to ensure their return.

Officials said the men would probably be held for about one more week.

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