A sweep covering five states netted almost 300 arrests of illegal aliens on charges of identity theft, document fraud, and being in the country illegally.

The raids were part of a long-term investigation, officials said. Plants were raided in Mount Pleasant, Texas, Batesville, Ark., Live Oak, Fla., Chattanooga, Tenn. and Moorefield, W.Va., authorities said.

Atkinson said the company went to ICE agents with information about identity theft at the Arkansas plant. The company uses a federal database to check identity documents of new employees, but that wouldn't stop a person from using a real, but stolen ID, he said.

In Buffalo, N.Y., federal law enforcement officials announced the arrest of a local businessman and 10 associates accused of employing illegal Mexican immigrants in seven restaurants in four states.

The restaurants' owner, Simon Banda, who also uses the name Jorge Delarco, of Depew, N.Y., is charged with conspiring to harbor illegal immigrants. Banda appeared in court without a lawyer Wednesday and was given until Friday to hire one. Magistrate Judge Hugh Scott ordered him detained until then, based on the government's assertion that Banda is a Mexican citizen who is in the United States illegally.

Six of Banda's restaurant managers, including two of his brothers, also made initial appearances. Javier Banda of Depew was released on $5,000 bail. Honorio Banda was held because he is allegedly in the country illegally.

One other manager was released on bail, another was held because of outstanding warrants and the others were detained because of their illegal status.

Posted by: Stashiu3 at 22:13:58 | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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1 I'm not sure how typical these cases are.  Los Hermanos Banda [the Banda brothers has a vaguely blasphemous ring in this context] were themselves here illegally, which is not true of most employers; nor am I am I sure that the Pilgrim's Pride poultry people are that typical, or more exactly the fact that the employer went to ICE first.  I think the one that was most typical is the one you didn't highlight--the employment agency in Atlanta.

Posted by: kishnevi at 20 April 2008@22:36:28 (v/iXZ)

2 Stories like the Atlanta agency are certainly the ones we hear about most of the time.  I think it's because it reinforces the idea that "everybody is in on it anyway" so trying to stop it is futile.  That's why I was surprised to see the other two examples and started me wondering if they're not actually more typical than the Atlanta case, just not reported as frequently.

Posted by: Stashiu3 at 20 April 2008@22:47:01 (Q5ggV)

3 Heh-how could they round these folks up without DNA samples?

Posted by: JBHood at 21 April 2008@10:25:33 (UFNnW)

4 JBHood, Naughty!

Posted by: Machinist at 21 April 2008@10:59:27 (yFIK0)

5 OT, but I want to make sure you saw this, I don't know if you read Hot Air.

Posted by: Veeshir at 21 April 2008@12:42:15 (ThMnZ)

6 Thanks Veeshir,  I do read Hot Air but haven't gotten to it yet today, so this was new to me.  Good stuff.

Posted by: Stashiu3 at 21 April 2008@13:06:25 (Q5ggV)

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