U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently conducted three separate investigations that resulted in criminal charges against businesses the agency accuses of employing illegal aliens in Kentucky, Ohio, and Arkansas.
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Download NowLast week, Asha Ventures LLC and Narayan LLC in Kentucky pleaded guilty to criminal charges of harboring illegal aliens and money laundering in connection with what ICE agents call an illegal employment scheme at hotels.
In Ohio, ICE agents arrested the owner of Bee's Buffet in Fairfield on felony charges of harboring illegal aliens.
In Springdale, Arkansas, ICE agents arrested the manager and a crew leader of Arevalo Framing Associates on criminal charges. Alejandro Arevalo, the manager of Arevalo Framing, was charged with harboring illegal aliens and re-entry after deportation. His crew leader, Rodrigo Arevalo, was charged with re-entry after deportation.
"ICE is taking an increasingly tough stance against egregious corporate violators that knowingly employ illegal aliens," says ICE Assistant Secretary Julie L. Myers. "Bringing criminal charges against these unscrupulous employers and targeting their ill-gotten gains is a tactic we are adopting nationwide. This is a wholesale departure from the past system of sanctioning corporate violators with minor fines, which were rarely paid in a timely manner or at all."
This fiscal year, ICE has arrested 445 individuals on criminal charges in worksite investigations and apprehended another 2,700 of their workers on immigration violations. During all of fiscal year 2005, ICE arrested 176 individuals on criminal charges and another 1,116 illegal alien workers in these cases.