Thread: IA: Former rep sentenced on harboring aliens charge

Former rep sentenced on harboring aliens charge
By AMY LORENTZEN

DES MOINES, Iowa - A former union representative convicted of harboring illegal immigrants working at a Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in Marshalltown has been sentenced to a year and one day in prison.

Braulio Pereyra-Gabino, 59, of Marshalltown, was also ordered to pay a $2,000 fine and $100 to the Crime Victim Fund. He was sentenced on Friday.

In May, Pereyra-Gabino was convicted by a federal jury of harboring illegal aliens. He had faced up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on that charge. He was aquitted of other charges including false representation of a Social Security number and aggravated identity theft.

According to court records, Pereyra-Gabino was working as vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 1149 when he was arrested by federal immigration officials in July 2007. A union official said Friday that Pereyra-Gabino no longer served as a union representative.

Prosecutors contended during the trial that Pereyra-Gabino told undocumented workers how to escape detection and protect their fake identities used to get jobs at the Marshalltown plant.

A telephone message seeking comment from Pereyra-Gabino's attorney Keith Rigg wasn't immediately returned.

Federal officials have said the charges resulted, in part, because of union orientation speeches that Pereyra-Gabino gave to all new Swift employees of Hispanic descent. They said he told illegal workers to do things such as hide their identification in their boots and not tell anyone else which workers did or did not have legal authorization to work in the U.S.

During his trial, a prosecution witness testified that Pereyra-Gabino knew she was an illegal immigrant but told her how to obtain documents to work at the Swift plant. She taped the conversation with him as she cooperated with the federal investigation.

Rigg argued during the trial that Pereyra-Gabino may have said things during those orientation speeches that the jury may not like, but that those words were protected by his right to free speech and that no crime occurred.

Pereyra-Gabino was also accused of filling out a job application at Swift in December 2005 for his nephew, and providing the company with a Social Security number issued to another man, Mohammed Carrasquillo. Prosecutors called Carrasquillo, who testified that he never filed an application at Swift or worked there.

A handwriting expert testified that the application was likely filled out by Pereyra-Gabino.
http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2008 ... etg0o1.txt

Can someone explain this to me:

He was aquitted of other charges including false representation of a Social Security number and aggravated identity theft.

When this happened:

Pereyra-Gabino was also accused of filling out a job application at Swift in December 2005 for his nephew, and providing the company with a Social Security number issued to another man, Mohammed Carrasquillo. Prosecutors called Carrasquillo, who testified that he never filed an application at Swift or worked there.

Gogo, there is no explanation for it except the political forces of the day that have decreed that anything goes, as long as you have given enough contributions to our campaigns.

So, when will the feds go after the reps of the 500,000 IA's who are union members? I suppose it has to be especially grievous acts--like actually encouraging document fraud?

Please see this story:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/l ... ta19m.html

Originally Posted by Captainron

So, when will the feds go after the reps of the 500,000 IA's who are union members? I suppose it has to be especially grievous acts--like actually encouraging document fraud?

Please see this story:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/l ... ta19m.html

At the same time, Matta and the carpenters union have been criticized for aggressively recruiting and going to the defense of nonunion Latino workers, many of them undocumented.

In the case of Artistic Drywall of Everett, Matta persuaded Latino workers to come forward to testify that they weren't paid prevailing wages on a Seattle job and were denied overtime.

The company denied any wrongdoing but settled the case for $495,000, said labor attorney David Mark, who helped litigate the case. The average worker will receive $3,000, Mark said, though some will get up to $12,000.

"Jimmy has done a great job of being involved in the Latino construction community and giving them the experience of American unionism for all the right reasons," Mark said.

So you wanted cheap labor, NOT SO CHEAP IS IT. AND now they will get the rights of an American worker because of your actions. Then they will be squealing when more illegals come in and work cheaper than they do.