Thread: 3 sub-contractors charged with employing illegal aliens

[quote]ICE agents make arrests at Aquila Dairy farm
Published: Wednesday, October 6, 2010 11:39 AM EDT
By STACY LANGLEY
Tribune Staff Writer

COLFAX TWP — A morning raid at the Aquila Dairy Farm located along Soper Road ended with the farm owners being taking away by federal agents in handcuffs.

The Michigan State Police from the Bad Axe post assisted the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from Detroit in executing arrest warrants for Johannes M. VerHaar, 49, and his wife, Anthonia M. VerHaar, 47, shortly after 8 a.m.

Det./Sgt. Mark Krebs said the couple is being charged with “encouraging and inducing illegal aliens to reside in the United States, harboring illegal aliens and aiding and abetting such acts.â€

[quote]Police arrest alleged undocumented immigrants said to have worked on Kalamazoo River oil spill cleanup
Published: Wednesday, September 01, 2010, 11:58 PM Updated: Thursday, September 02, 2010, 2:15 PM
Chris Killian | Special to the Kalamazoo...


Oil Spill Fouls Kalamazoo River gallery (22 photos)
WINNIE, Texas — Dozens of former workers on the Kalamazoo River oil spill cleanup were arrested Wednesday in Texas after authorities received a tip that the workers were undocumented immigrants, according to a news report.

Authorities apprehended 59 men who were riding on buses chartered by Phillip Hallmark, head of Hallmark Industrial LLC, in the Southeast Texas town of Winnie, according to Fox 4 in Beaumont, Texas. Hallmark Industrial was subcontracted to do spill cleanup work by Garner Environmental Services, the main contractor used on the oil spill response by Enbridge Inc.

Forty-two of the 59 men arrested were undocumented immigrants, the station reported.
Immigration officials took the men to a holding facility in Houston, according to the station. About 40 men escaped authorities.

Garner severed ties with Hallmark on Monday after a report by the Michigan Messenger, an online news and public policy website, alleged that Hallmark was using hundreds of undocumented workers on the cleanup, paying them in cash and making them work 12 to 14 hours a day.

The Messenger article prompted U.S. Rep. Mark Schauer, D-Battle Creek, to send a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Dept. of Labor calling on both agencies to investigate the undocumented worker allegations.

“Enbridge needs to live up to the commitment it made to our community, be a good neighbor, and start hiring qualified Michigan workers to clean up the spill,â€