Latino workers across the East End tell News 12 their employers are withholding their pay and facing threats of being deported when they ask their employers about unpaid wages.

News 12 spoke with three women who worked as housekeepers on the East End for around three to four weeks. They agreed to speak to News 12 about their experiences as long as their identities are concealed. 

They asked that we refer to them as Lucia, Andrea and Valentina. 

The three women say they are owed a combined $10,000 in wages by their former employer.

Lucia says her former boss would constantly tell her different reasons as to why couldn’t pay her. 

"My boss is really sweet and always treated me well. So you would never imagine that there was going to be this level of deception," she said. "I said, 'Oh my God. They scammed me."

Andrea says she was finally given a check with her pay, but realized there was a bigger issue when she tried to cash it.

"I went to the bank to figure out what was wrong and they told me that the check was fraudulent and the account didn't have funds,” said Andrea. “I said, 'How could that be?'"

Andrea is still waiting for over $4,000 in wages. 

Many looked to OLA of Eastern Long Island for help. The nonprofit says it has seen at least 80 cases of this across the East End, including the towns of Southampton and East Hampton.

OLA Legal Advocate Erika Padilla says most of the victims are Hispanic, work in construction or housekeeping jobs, may not speak English fluently, and says many are threatened to not speak to police.

"When the person comes and asks for the money or [tells their employer], 'I'm going to go to the police,' then [the employer] says, 'Well, I'm going to send ICE to your house,'" said Padilla.

OLA has enlisted the help of the New York State Department of Labor and Southampton police for help.

Southampton Police Chief James Kiernan says he believes there are more victims out there.

"Maybe you're not documented and who's going to believe you? And these are the reports that we're getting," he said. "It doesn't matter who they are or what you think about them, you made an agreement to pay them for work that they did for you. You have to pay them."

Padilla says many of the immigrants still pay taxes on their income in the hopes that by doing so, it would help them as they try to become citizens.

"Their dream is like, ‘I'm working, so one day I want to have documents.’ And they have in their mind that if, ‘I pay my taxes, I want to show that I'm a good person,’" she said. 

Valentina says she is owed over $10,000 from her former employer. She just hopes by speaking out, others will come forward to stop this from happening again.

"It seems like an exploitation because they look for people like us to keep it going,” she said. 

If you believe you’ve been a victim of wage theft, contact Southampton Police and OLA. 

Si crees que esto te ha pasado a ti, llama a la policía de Southampton y a la OLA.