Thread: Durham carpenters face prison time for using illegal workers

They should have taken everything from these guys, and they need to have their citizenship REVOKED!


Durham carpenters face prison time for using illegal workers

From staff reports




The owners of Durham carpentry business will spend time in federal prison for harboring illegal immigrant workers.

A federal judge sentenced Juan Antonio Lopez-Ponce and Jose Alfredo Lopez-Ponce on Monday. The Lopez brothers were accused of hiring smugglers to bring workers into the country illegally to work in their framing business, J&A Framers Inc., and pleaded guilty in April to charges of conspiring to harbor illegal aliens.

The brothers themselves came to the United States illegally in the 1980s, but gained permanent residency status after each married American citizens. They formed J&A Framing in the mid-1990s and by the mid-2000s were running a profitable business working for large home building companies, according to federal prosecutors.


With labor accounting for 80 percent or more of the company's business, the brothers employed mostly illegal aliens from Mexico, sometimes paying them less than minimum wage, according to prosecutors.

U.S. District Judge Louise Flanagan sentenced Juan Antonio Lopez to 37 months in prison, followed by 2 years of supervised release, and a $45,000 fine. Flanagan sentenced Jose Lopez to 26 months in prison, followed by 2 years of supervised release, and a $25,000 fine.


Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/11/03/ ... z1cgGHPcg6

It's about time we saw this kind of punishment for these lawbreakers!!!

And I'm sure that construction and carpentry are NOT jobs that Americans won't do!!

There is a sane judge somewhere in America??

God bless him.....

Do you think they will actually pay these fines?

It sounds like these two were given amnesty around the time of the "86 amnesty. I am with nomas on this one, they lose their citizenship and be deported.

It sounds like these two were given amnesty around the time of the "86 amnesty. I am with nomas on this one, they lose their citizenship and be deported.

From the article they are not citizens, just resident aliens. They can lose resident status and be deported according to the law. One condition of residency , while awaiting naturalization , is not violating the law. They both have commited felonies and are deportable.

Looks like they got their citizenship status.

NC brothers sentenced for housing illegal workers

The Associated Press
Thursday, November 3, 2011

NEW BERN, N.C. (AP) — Two North Carolina brothers who profited by having illegal immigrant workers from their native Mexico smuggled in to work in their construction company for below minimum wage will spend years in prison.

Federal prosecutors said Thursday the brothers owned J&A Framers Carpentry, which during the housing boom heavily employed illegal immigrants among its more than 70 workers.

A federal judge in New Bern this week sentenced the naturalized U.S. citizens from Durham, who pleaded guilty to conspiring to harbor illegal aliens. Juan Antonio Lopez-Ponce was sentenced to 37 months in prison. Jose Alfredo Lopez-Ponce will serve 26 months.

Prosecutors say the brothers paid smuggling rings to get illegal Mexican workers into the U.S., underpaid them, charged them rent to live in housing the brothers owned, and falsified income tax records

http://www.reflector.com/ap/staten/nc-b ... ers-756211