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27 Illegal Immigrants Nabbed in Animas


Written by Bruce Daniels - ABQnewsSeeker
Monday, 12 February 2007
Two supervisors also arrested at rose-growing plant in southwestern New Mexico.

It's going to be an unhappy Valentine's Day at what has been called the nation's largest rose producer -- located deep in the desert of southwestern New Mexico.

Federal agents took 27 suspected illegal immigrants into custody last Thursday at the Burgett Geothermal Greenhouses Inc. plant in Animas and at the same time arrested two supervisors, according to a report by The Associated Press broadcast over the weekend on KOAT-TV .

The 27 illegal immigrants -- all men, ranging in age from 19 to 72 -- lived in dilapidated mobile homes located on the 32-acre site where the plant is located, the AP reported.

The two supevisors arrested at the plant, which grows roses and supplies them to flower retailers and wholesalers, were Martin Lazaro Neave, 40, of Lordsburg, and Nancy Hernandez, 31, of Cotton City, N.M., the AP said.

Neave was charged with conspiracy to employ illegal aliens, unlawfully employing illegal aliens and knowingly hiring undocumented workers, while Hernandez was charged with conspiracy to employ illegal aliens, according to the AP report.

According to a December 2003 Albuquerque Journal story on the operation, Burgett Geothermal Greenhouses began in 1977 and has become the nation's largest rose producer, shipping about 25 million flowers a year to markets in Albuquerque, Houston and Las Vegas, Nev.

In 2003, there were about 800,000 rosebushes at the geothermal greenhouse, while the next largest producer had some 200,000 to 300,000 rosebushes, plant officials told the Journal.

In a longer version of the AP arrest story that appeared on Tucson's KVOA-TV Web site, authorities said the immigrants apparently were not allowed to leave the plant site so they wouldn't be detected by local law enforcement agencies.

Of the 27 workers arrested, 14 were returned to Mexico, one was awaiting deportation as of the weekend, and 12 remained in custody, the AP reported. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, those 12 have agreed to testify against Neave and Hernandez, according to the AP report.

Most of the illegal immigrants were from the Mexican states of Veracruz, Sonora, Chihuahua and Guanajuato, the AP said.

Court documents allege that the greenhouse supervisors helped the illegal workers obtain false documents through a contract in Phoenix, the AP reported.