ICE announced two criminal cases against corporate officers accused of crimes involving the unlawful employment of illegal aliens. The cases, one in Buffalo , NY , and the other in Wichita , KS , are the most recent examples of an aggressive new strategy aimed at targeting corporations that profit by employing illegal workers.
In Buffalo , two corporate officers of Skyworks Activities Incorporated, a sub-contractor hired to provide cleaning services at the fair, were charged with transporting illegal aliens for profit. The criminal complaint alleges that 32-year-old America Miranda and her 38-year-old brother Rafael Miranda, knowingly transported illegal aliens to the Buffalo area to work as cleaners at America ’s Fair. The day before, special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 41 illegal aliens after they received a credible tip from a member of the public. All the individuals are currently being processed and will be served with notices to appear in immigration court to answer charges that they are in the country and working illegally. The 41 individuals include 18 women and are from four different countries, Mexico , Guatemala , Peru , and Honduras . Currently all of the aliens are being detained.
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A Wichita business, its owner and two managers were indicted in U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas on 28 counts involving the hiring and employment of illegal aliens including:
- making false statements to the government; misusing Social Security numbers;
- accepting documents they knew were false as evidence employees were allowed to stay or work in the U.S. ; and
- committing aggravated identity theft; and harboring illegal aliens.
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According to The Daily Bulletin ( Ontario , CA ), Grassfire, a nonprofit organization that uses online petitions to affect legislation, has created a special Web link and letter to President Bush for Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean. The two men, both Border Patrol agents, were convicted on numerous counts of violating Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila’s civil rights during a pursuit on February 17, 2005. Grassfire is not the only one giving support to these men; two of the jurors who convicted the agents are also expressing doubts about the verdict, blaming their decision on pressure from other jurors and the prosecution.
Ramos and Compean were convicted of assault with serious bodily injury; assault with a deadly weapon; discharge of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence; and a civil rights violation. Aldrete-Davila, the Mexican national the agents were pursuing, was in possession of more than $1 million worth of marijuana, which he had brought into the United States through a small town in Texas .
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Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently arrested 41 undocumented immigrants that were working at America ’s Fair in Hamburg , NY . The agents determined that the aliens were employed by a cleaning company that is a subcontractor at the fairgrounds.
Thomas DiSimone, investigation agent in ICE’s Buffalo office, said of the arrests: "One of the cornerstones of Homeland Security’s interior enforcement strategy is to aggressively deter illegal employment in this country. ICE does that by arresting illegal workers and by pursuing criminal charges against those who knowingly hire unauthorized workers." DiSimone attributed the arrests to a tip from a member of the public, who notified ICE agents.
The immigrants are currently being processed and will be served with noticed to appear in immigration court on charges of working illegally. The immigrants are from Mexico , Guatemala , Peru , and Honduras . Of the 41 immigrants, 18 are female.
