Thread: Azteca founder arrested by immigration officials

Azteca founder arrested by immigration officials

John Schultz, QUAD-CITY TIMES FILE PHOTO

The Azteca Express at 1902 N. Division St., Davenport, is among restaurants that are part of the business founded by Gustavo Villalpando-Bolanos. He has been detained by federal immigration officials and is awaiting deportation.

45 minutes ago • By Barb Ickes

A Davenport businessman is being detained in Wisconsin as he awaits deportation to Mexico, according to federal immigration officials.

Gustavo Villalpando-Bolanos, 50, is founder and owner of several local Azteca restaurants. His brother and two children also are part of the family business. They declined to comment on Villalpando's arrest, but his daughter, Sonia Isaura Villalpando, said her father's businesses employ at least 100 people.

He was arrested in Rock Island on March 4 as part of a nationwide operation by ICE, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The agency took 2,059 immigrants into custody during an operation dubbed Cross Check, which began March 1. Nearly half of those arrested had previous felony convictions, including voluntary manslaughter, child pornography, robbery, kidnapping and rape, agency officials said.

Villalpando has a nearly 20-year-old conviction from California related to transporting and smuggling other illegal immigrants into the U.S. He also was accused of collecting smuggling fees in an operation that centered on an apartment in Long Beach.

"Mr. Villalpando-Bolanos has a criminal history that includes multiple convictions for smuggling and harboring illegal aliens, which are federal felonies," said Shawn Neudauer, a spokesman for ICE. "He has also been previously deported. Mr. Villalpando-Bolanos will be held in ICE custody pending his removal from the United States."

Nora Dvorak, who has worked in refugee resettlement for the Diocese of Davenport and is an advocate for immigrants, said she knows of Villalpando and his restaurants.

"I will tell you: If you've been previously deported and come back, you've got a big problem," she said Tuesday. "This concerns me. Locally, we don't have any true immigration attorneys on the Iowa side. They (immigrants) really need to have someone who can walk them through — someone qualified — not that it will make a difference in this man's case."

She credited Villalpando for his local success.

"He's been a great guy for the Davenport area," Dvorak said. "He's really straightened out his act, if he needed to."

But Neudauer said the existence of a restaurant chain indicates very little.

"He went to the Quad-Cities and became a respectable businessman, but a lot of criminals do that," he said Tuesday. "A lot of criminals build what appear to be respectable businesses."

Despite his federal record, Villalpando has had only minor, traffic-related contact with local authorities, court records show.

Davenport Police Capt. Dale Sievert said his department was not asked to take part in any federal investigation into Villalpando. Rock Island Police officials were not available Tuesday to say whether they took part in the arrest.

Sievert said his department's policy is for officers to refrain from asking questions about citizenship. All people have the right to access police services, he said, regardless of immigration status.

On Monday, a federal official said the arrests of Villalpando and hundreds of others will make communities safer.

“This nationwide operation led to the apprehension of more than 2,000 convicted criminal aliens who pose the greatest risk to our public safety,” Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said. “Today, communities around the country are safer because of the great work of the men and women of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”

http://qctimes.com/news/local/crime-...1474b6ffd.html

Nora Dvorak, who has worked in refugee resettlement for the Diocese of Davenport and is an advocate for immigrants, said she knows of Villalpando and his restaurants.

"I will tell you: If you've been previously deported and come back, you've got a big problem," she said Tuesday. "This concerns me. Locally, we don't have any true immigration attorneys on the Iowa side. They (immigrants) really need to have someone who can walk them through — someone qualified — not that it will make a difference in this man's case."

She credited Villalpando for his local success.

"He's been a great guy for the Davenport area," Dvorak said. "He's really straightened out his act, if he needed to."

So in otherwords, he dumps a big contribution now and then into the local Diocese, and you love that money. You have no appreciation for our laws, no disgust with human smuggling, no opposition to illegal immigration, which steals jobs, deflates wages and salaries and robs Americans of their education, benefits, health care and futures.

Makes you wonder why the Quad-City Times newspaper would be contacting the local "Diocese" for a comment on this man. Oh wait, Azteca is probably an advertiser in their newspaper.

Gustavo Villalpando-Bolanos, 50, is founder and owner of several local Azteca restaurants. His brother and two children also are part of the family business. They declined to comment on Villalpando's arrest, but his daughter, Sonia Isaura Villalpando, said her father's businesses employ at least 100 people.

I wonder what percentage of the employees were illegals as he seems to know how to smuggle them. seems to like to import slave labor. Another illegal using illegals?

A large number of the Mexican restaurants that sprang up all over the country in the late 90's and early 2000's seem to be the way stations for the Mexican smuggling underground.

"Mr. Villalpando-Bolanos has a criminal history that includes multiple convictions for smuggling and harboring illegal aliens, which are federal felonies," said Shawn Neudauer, a spokesman for ICE. "He has also been previously deported. Mr. Villalpando-Bolanos will be held in ICE custody pending his removal from the United States."

Originally Posted by Judy

So in otherwords, he dumps a big contribution now and then into the local Diocese, and you love that money. You have no appreciation for our laws, no disgust with human smuggling, no opposition to illegal immigration, which steals jobs, deflates wages and salaries and robs Americans of their education, benefits, health care and futures.

The first rule of political analysis is, Follow the money. Nothing works every time, but this is always a good place to start.

And let's be surprised when someone from a organization affiliated with a church turns out to be every bit as corrupt as any money grubbing politico.
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Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade


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Originally Posted by vistalad

The first rule of political analysis is, Follow the money. Nothing works every time, but this is always a good place to start.

And let's be surprised when someone from a organization affiliated with a church turns out to be every bit as corrupt as any money grubbing politico.
**************************************
Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade


*****************************

Exactly. Follow the money ... and it will eventually lead to the foreign drug cartels behind this whole travesty of illegal immigration into the United States. It's why churches are acting the way they are, the reason politicians are behaving as they are, the reason 501 C 3 tax frauds do what they do, and even the motivation behind the silly businesses who support illegal immigration, including the "poor" farmers. When you see actions as bizarre and contradictory to reason and logic as what we see from these "groups", you know there's something rotten in Denmark. This is corruption and how it operates. This is what creates our Period of Ironies and Opposites, and I think it will continue until we shut it down by domesticating the illegal drug trade through legalization, regulation and taxation through the FairTax, with a portion of the taxes only paid by drug users allocated to fund better public education about the risks of using drugs and free rehab on demand without stigma for those who want or need it.