The Justice Department has indicted Fred Parrish, the president of a textile company in the small town of Trenton, Georgia, on grounds of conspiring to transport and harbor illegal aliens, more commonly referred to as "alien smuggling." Parrish's plant produces T-shirts and the firm is alleged to have used dozens of illegal Mexican workers that were smuggled into the US. His company, Atlantic Finishing Inc., was indicted separately as well as two employees of the company and four others.

While the INS has recently been more vigorous in cracking down on alien smuggling, this is the first case where a company has been indicted for conspiring to illegally bring in illegal Mexican workers. Parrish is accused of paying the smugglers to get his workers into the US.

Parrish, if convicted, faces up to ten years in prison and a fine of $250,000. The company faces fines of up to $500,000.

American employees of the company were quick to come to the defense of their boss. Parrish enjoys a reputation for treating his employees well which might explain why the INS did not learn of the alleged alien smuggling from disgruntled employees, as is often the case with employers accused of employing illegal workers. Border Patrol officials only learned of the alleged smuggling after pulling over a van crammed with eleven illegal workers.

Some workers told reporters that they did not say anything to immigration officials about the illegal workers because they feared that if the Mexican workers were not available, the plant would have to shut down due to a worker shortage.

The case illustrates the desperation that many textile company owners in the southern US face in finding workers. Garment plant owners throughout the south are facing severe worker shortages that have actually forced many companies out of business and others, ironically, to move operations to Mexico and other developing countries.

Unfortunately, current immigration programs do not provide any easy remedies. The closest fitting visa category is the H-2B visa. The visa allows employers to hire unskilled foreign workers if they can demonstrate the workers are filling a temporary position and the worker has non-immigrant intent. Proving the position is temporary is the difficult part, but some employers may be able to demonstrate this if they can show they have seasonal work or they have specific contracts that have generated a need for extra workers. Companies need to advertise to demonstrate no US workers are being turned away, but this is generally not a problem since most of the affected plants would gladly hire workers that replied to an ad.

In a related story, the ring-leader of a Chinese alien smuggling ring in the northeastern US was convicted in Boston and sentenced to seven years imprisonment. Hui Lin was found to have made arrangements in the United States for a fishing vessel to depart Boston to meet a ship from China carrying illegal aliens, offload the illegal aliens and bring them back to Boston.