Immigration News Briefs
Vol. 10, No. 10 - April 22, 2007
1. Bridge Projects Raided in South
2. Janitors Arrested at Illinois Meat Plant
3. North Dakota Dairy Farm Raided
4. Colorado: Raid at Potato Farm
5. Iowa: Concrete Factory Raided
6. San Diego: Party Rental Co. Raided
Immigration News Briefs is a weekly supplement to Weekly News Update on
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*1. BRIDGE PROJECTS RAIDED IN SOUTH
On Mar. 29, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested 77
immigrants--76 men and one woman--in a raid targeting bridge construction
sites in Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee and Arkansas. The raid
culminated a five-month ICE investigation into alleged criminal misconduct
on the part of Tarrasco Steel, a company based in Greenville, Mississippi,
launched after the Social Security Administration's Office of the
Inspector
General confirmed that the majority of the company's employees were using
unauthorized social security numbers. ICE has accused Tarrasco Steel owner
Jose S. Gonzalez of falsifying and altering information on I-9 Employee
Eligibility Forms.
In its investigation into Tarrasco Steel, ICE also found that the Massman
Construction Company had employed unauthorized immigrant workers in New
Orleans. That company is now under investigation as well.
ICE special agents executed federal search warrants on the Tarrasco Steel
business office complex in Greenville, and arrested 36 workers at a
Greenville construction site for the Mississippi-Arkansas bridge. Another
seven workers were arrested at a construction site for the US-90 bridge in
Gulfport, Mississippi. It was not clear where the remaining 34 workers
were
arrested, but at least three other construction projects were affected by
the raids: the reconstruction of the Huey P. Long bridge in Jefferson
Parish, Louisiana; the I-40 Seismic retro fit in Memphis, Tennessee; and
the Louisiana 1 bridge in Leeville, Louisiana. ICE billed the raid as
focusing on "critical infrastructure protection." [ICE News Release
3/29/07; WJTV 3/30/07]
ICE said it will seek criminal prosecution of up to 10 immigrants who used
counterfeit or fraudulent social security information. The rest will be
charged with being in violation of US immigration laws, and will remain in
ICE custody awaiting the outcome of their cases.
Michael A. Holt, special agent-in-charge of the ICE Office of
Investigations in New Orleans, thanked a number of federal, state and
local
agencies for their "outstanding cooperation" in the operation: the US
Coast
Guard, the US Department of Labor and US Customs and Border Protection
(CBP); in Mississippi, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI),
Mississippi Highway Patrol; Mississippi Department of Transportation, the
Harrison County Sheriff's Office and the Biloxi Police Department; in
Louisiana, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office; the Jefferson Parish
Levee Police, the Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office and the Greater
Lafourche Harbor Police; in Arkansas, the Lake Village Police Department
and the Chicot County Sheriff's Department; and in Tennessee, the Memphis
Police Department and the Memphis Police Department's Harbor Patrol. [ICE
News Release 3/29/07]
*2. JANITORS ARRESTED AT ILLINOIS MEAT PLANT
On Apr. 4, ICE special agents executed a criminal search warrant and 27
criminal arrest warrants at Quality Service Integrity Inc. (QSI), a
cleaning service operating within the Cargill Meat Solutions Plant in
Beardstown, Illinois, under contract by Cargill. Neither Cargill Meat
Solutions nor its employees have been charged with any crime. The
court-authorized warrants allowed ICE agents to search for evidence and to
apprehend any unauthorized immigrant workers encountered at the facility.
In the operation, ICE detained 49 immigrant workers on immigration
violations and arrested two managers and 11 employees on criminal charges
of aggravated identity theft. The other 14 employees named in the criminal
arrest warrants, who are also charged with aggravated identity theft, were
not apprehended. The investigation began in January and is ongoing, said
ICE.
QSI Beardstown plant manager Gerardo Dominguez-Chacon and QSI personnel
administrator Maria del Pilar Marroquin de Ramirez are charged with
aggravated identity theft and aiding and abetting aggravated identity
theft
in connection with alleged hiring of unauthorized immigrants. In the
criminal complaint, filed March 30 and unsealed by the court following the
Apr. 4 arrests, ICE claims that from Dec. 18 through Mar. 22,
Dominguez-Chacon and Marroquin de Ramirez knowingly hired illegal aliens
to
work at QSI, and that Dominguez-Chacon provided assumed identities to
several new employees and provided others with information about how to
obtain false documents. Dominguez-Chacon was arrested at his home in
Beardstown; all the other arrested workers were picked up during
third-shift hours at the plant. The 13 people with criminal warrants were
scheduled to appear in federal court in Springfield, Illinois, on April 5.
Ten of the workers arrested for administrative violations were released on
humanitarian grounds on Apr. 4 because they have minor children at home;
another person was released who requires kidney dialysis, according to ICE
assistant field office director Chris McDaniels. The remaining arrestees
were to be processed at an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, and likely
detained in Chicago area jails pending the outcome of their cases. [ICE
News Release 4/4/07; State Journal-Register (Springfield) 4/5/07] Of the
total 62 people arrested, 54 are thought to be from Mexico, five from
Guatemala, two from El Salvador and one from Argentina.
About 10 officers with the Beardstown Police Department were involved in
the raid, said police chief Tom Schlueter, although Schlueter was the only
one from the department who entered the plant. Beardstown mayor Bob
Walters
responded to the raid by urging Illinois senators Dick Durbin and Barack
Obama, to "quit giving us lip service and come up with [an immigration]
bill that we can all live with." "Quit bickering in Washington, D.C.,"
added Walters. "Get off Wall Street and get on Main Street and see what's
really going on in this world." [SJ-R 4/5/07]
*3. NORTH DAKOTA DAIRY FARM RAIDED
On Apr. 10, ICE agents backed by state and local law enforcement officers
arrested 13 of the 20 employees at Sandhills Dairy in Towner, North
Dakota,
accusing them of being in the US illegally. [Dakota Farmer 4/12/07] Mike
Zimmerman, one of the principals of Sandhills Dairy, said agents searched
every building on his ranch, and even put his son in handcuffs as he came
out of a shower. Zimmerman said the agents threw at least one worker to
the
ground. [KXMB-TV (Bismarck) 4/11/07] In an appearance on KFGO Radio's
"News
and Views" show and in interviews with the Minot Daily News and the Dakota
Farmer, Zimmerman also said officers kicked in doors to buildings and
homes
on the farm; damaged furniture; forced his daughter from her home into the
snow in her pajamas and with an ill child in her arms; and held a gun to
the head of one of his long-time friends and demanded that he produce a
birth certificate. In a press conference on Apr. 11 at the federal
building
in Fargo, US Attorney Drew Wrigley denied Zimmerman's accusations. [DF
4/12/07]
Two of the arrested employees appeared in court in Minot on Apr. 13 to
face
criminal charges for "knowingly possessing and using fake identification
cards." Investigations are continuing on the other 11 employees, including
one woman who was released for humanitarian reasons to care for a child.
[Dairy Herd Management Magazine 4/16/07; KXMC-TV (Minot) 4/13/07]
The dairy milks about 700 cows three times a day and also raises its own
calves; Zimmerman said if the company can't replace the workforce it will
likely be forced to sell the animals. The dairy received state and federal
aid in the past as part of economic development efforts. Sandhills was
operating on Apr. 11 with the labor of family members and volunteers. [DF
4/12/07]
*4. COLORADO: RAID AT POTATO FARM
On Apr. 17, ICE agents raided the Worley & McCullough Inc. potato farm and
processing plant in Monte Vista, Colorado. After interviewing about 70
workers, ICE arrested 19 workers on administrative immigration violations
and three other employees, including the general manager and a company
foreman, on charges of obtaining and possessing false identifications and
aggravated identify theft. Two of the three arrested on criminal charges
are US citizens; the third is a legal permanent resident. ICE agents also
seized employee personnel files, four computers, a computer hard drive
from
the company surveillance camera, and various correspondence relating to
hiring, recruiting, and identity documents.
Of the 19 workers arrested administratively, three were from Guatemala and
16 were from Mexico, according to ICE. They included eight women, 10 men
and a boy under the age of 18. The juvenile was handed over to the custody
of Mexican authorities on Apr. 18. Two women were conditionally released
for humanitarian reasons, said ICE spokesperson Carl Rusnok. The other
detainees were transferred to an ICE contract detention facility in
Denver.
Rusnok said a tip led ICE to launch an investigation into hiring practices
at the farm. During the 11-month investigation, an ICE special agent
posing
as an unauthorized immigrant paid one of the employees now facing criminal
charges to provide him with false identification documents so he could get
a job at Worley & McCullough. The six-count criminal indictment dating
from
November 2006 was unsealed late on Apr. 18, according to ICE.
[Denver Post 4/18/07; Rocky Mountain News (Denver) 4/20/07; ICE News
Release 4/19/07]
The Mexican consul and advocates from Denver traveled to the San Luis
Valley late on Apr. 17 to address the crisis, and immigrant rights
supporters held vigils in Alamosa and Denver. "There have been immigration
raids all over the state and we knew it was just a matter of time before
they came here," said Flora Archuleta, executive director of the San Luis
Valley Immigrant Resource Center. "We tried to prepare the best we could
but you are never really prepared." [DP 4/18/07]
Colorado's farm industry expressed concern about the raid. "We have a
chronic labor shortage here," complained Jim Ehrlich, executive director
of
the Colorado Potato Executive Committee in Monte Vista. "Legal immigrants
are even afraid to come to the state because they feel Colorado has jumped
out in front of the rest of the nation and targeted them...
Spanish-speaking radio in other states [sends out the message] that you
shouldn't come to Colorado." [RMN 4/20/07]
*5. IOWA: CONCRETE FACTORY RAIDED
On Apr. 19, ICE agents raided the Iowa Prestressed Concrete factory in
West
Burlington, Iowa, to serve warrants on 17 workers accused of visa fraud
and
falsifying a Social Security number. Another worker not named in the
warrants was also arrested. One of the 18 workers facing charges was
arrested at a West Burlington residence; the rest were arrested at the
plant. The detainees were loaded into a bus and brought to Davenport for
court appearances. An additional five workers were apparently also picked
up at the plant; they are not charged with a crime but face deportation
hearings in Cedar Rapids. Federal officials did not charge Iowa
Prestressed
Concrete with any violations, noting that the company "cooperated fully
with the arrests." [Associated Press 4/20/07; The Hawk Eye (Burlington,
IA)
4/21/07]
*6. SAN DIEGO: PARTY RENTAL CO. RAIDED
On Apr. 19, ICE agents raided the San Diego offices of Classic Party
Rentals Inc. and arrested nine workers on immigration violations. The five
women and four men were to be returned to Mexico, said ICE spokesperson
Lauren Mack. The company performs work at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar
in San Diego, where immigration authorities recently began reviewing
contractors' employee records as part of a crackdown on high-security
workplaces. An audit of Classic Party Rentals found 30 of the company's
105
San Diego employees were not authorized to work in the US. The workers
gave
the company fake legal resident cards when they applied for jobs, Mack
said. Authorities do not plan to pursue charges against the company.
Since 2003, immigration authorities in San Diego have targeted companies
that work on military bases, airport tarmacs and other high-security
workplaces. A recent audit of 93 contractors at Camp Pendleton Marine base
resulted in 168 arrests. [AP 4/20/07]
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