Thread: Immigration agents raid Westbrook restaurant

Posted: 12:00 PM
Updated: 5:36 PM

Immigration agents raid Westbrook restaurant

By Leslie Bridgers lbridgers@pressherald.com
Staff Writer

WESTBROOK — Immigration agents have descended on a local Mexican restaurant.

Agents with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, part of the Department of Homeland Security, were seen coming and going from the the Fajita Grill on Main Street this morning. A customer was turned away at the door shortly before noon.

Men with jackets reading "Federal Agent" were in the business and had arrived in unmarked cars with Massachusetts license plates. An ICE van was parked outside.

A neighbor said the agents swarmed the business at 10:30 a.m. and there was a helicopter hovering overhead.

Telephone calls to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement public affairs office in Washington were not immediately returned. There was no answer at the restaurant.

The restaurant has been a popular eatery and bar on Main Street for a few years.

http://www.pressherald.com/news/Immigra ... urant.html

Posted: 12:00 AM
Updated: 10:58 PM

Eateries raided; owners charged

Authorities say a Mexican restaurant in Westbrook and two others employed illegal immigrants for years.

By Leslie Bridgers Staff Writer


WESTBROOK - Armed federal agents descended Wednesday on a popular Mexican restaurant that has employed illegal immigrants since it opened in 2006, court documents say.



Guillermo Fuentes, 35, owner of the Fajita Grill on Main Street, was arrested and charged with conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens and employment of illegal aliens. His brother, Hector Fuentes, who owns Cancun Mexican restaurants in Biddeford and Waterville, was arrested on the same charges.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's investigation into the Fajita Grill was prompted by a tip from Westbrook police Capt. Tom Roth, court documents say. Roth informed the federal agency that in routine traffic stops in April 2008, Westbrook police officers pulled over Hispanic men who appeared to work at Fajita Grill, claimed to be from Mexico and could not provide any U.S. identification.

During the investigation, a Homeland Security special agent interviewed four illegal immigrants, all of whom had worked for the Fuentes brothers at a Mexican restaurant in Atlanta called El Potrillo.

They said they moved in 2006 with about a dozen other employees to work for the Fuentes brothers at the Fajita Grill, and later at one or both of the Cancun restaurants.

The criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court, dated Tuesday, says that from 2006 to 2009 in Maine and elsewhere, the Fuentes brothers conspired to conceal, harbor and shield immigrants who entered and stayed in the U.S. illegally. It also says that from at least 2006 to 2011, the brothers engaged in a pattern of hiring those immigrants, knowing they were not authorized for employment.

The complaint, signed by James Bell, a Homeland Security special agent, says he spoke with four immigrants who worked at the Fuentes restaurants and were paid in cash.

One of them said he was employed at the Fajita Grill as a bus person, worked about 60 hours a week and was paid about $320 in cash. Another reportedly came to the U.S. illegally in 2005 from Mexico and was paid only with tips, earning $450 to $500 a week.

Three of the people interviewed reportedly told Bell that when they arrived in Maine, they and seven or eight other illegal workers temporarily lived rent-free in the basement of the Fajita Grill.

"The workers slept on cardboard and blankets and used buckets of water to bathe," the complaint says. "Guillermo and Hector Fuentes lived in the basement with the workers for about 1½ months following the opening of the restaurant."

Westbrook Code Enforcement Officer Richard Gouzie reportedly inspected the Fajita Grill and saw evidence -- including a mattress, a television, a couch and a bathroom -- that someone was living in the basement.

Gouzie asked Guillermo Fuentes if anyone was living there. "Fuentes informed Gouzie that some of the Fajita Grill workers utilized the basement in order to 'rest,'" the complaint says.

The four people interviewed have received deferred action status as a result of their cooperation with authorities, which allows them to live and work in the U.S. for the duration of their cooperation, according to the complaint. One of them also received parole-in-place, which allows the person to apply to become a lawful permanent resident. The U.S. Attorney's Office does not plan to prosecute the other three, the complaint says.

A witness to the raid in Westbrook, who declined to be identified, said a helicopter flew overhead as a swarm of federal agents entered the Fajita Grill about 10:30 a.m..

In the following hours, agents continued to enter and exit the building at 857 Main St., while people who planned to eat lunch there looked confused as they yanked on the locked doors and peered into the dark restaurant.

Soon after it opened, Fajita Grill became a hotspot in Westbrook, known for its fast service, lively wait staff and super-sized margaritas.

Conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both. Engaging in a pattern or practice of hiring unauthorized aliens for employment is punishable by up to six months in prison or a fine of up to $3,000 for each unauthorized immigrant.

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Sounds like these brothers own and operate restaurants across the US, each and every one associated with them needs to be raided. They are moving illegals across state lines, so human trafficing charges need to be laid. Bank accounts need to be frozen, property seized .

The underground railroad for illegals, Mexican Restaurants.

I have seen them sleeping outside on cots in a chain link fenced area around a small building that is behind the Mexican restaurant in my little town. But, the guy that owns the place courts the city officials and the cops with free meals and discounts.

Men Charged With Harboring Illegal Immigrants Make Bail
Hector and Guillermo Fuentes Owns Several Restaurants
wmtw.com
POSTED: 11:21 am EDT September 22, 2011
UPDATED: 12:04 am EDT September 23, 2011

PORTLAND, Maine -- A federal judge approved bond for a restaurant owner accused of harboring and hiring illegal immigrants.

Hector Fuentes made the $100,000 bail Thursday afternoon. Fuentes owns the Cancun Mexican Restaurants in Waterville and Biddeford. A judge ordered Fuentes, who is a Mexican citizen, to surrender his passport and limit his travel to within Maine.

Guillermo Fuentes was also released.

Hector barred from having any communication with his brother unless it is about business and only through their lawyers.

Court documents say the investigation began after the Department of Homeland Security received a tip from Westbrook police Capt. Tom Roth after police had contact with people without documentation who said they worked at the Fajita Grill.

The court records also say Hector Fuentes, who came to the United States from Mexico 18 years ago, had been using a false Social Security card, the same one his brother was using for another illegal immigrant.

Guillermo Fuentes owns the Fajita Grill on Main Street in Westbrook. Court records state at least eight illegal immigrants had been living rent-free in the basement of the restaurant upon arrival in Maine five years ago. The workers slept on cardboard and blankets and used buckets of water to clean themselves, the records indicate.

If convicted of harboring illegal immigrants, the Fuentes brothers could face up to 10 years in prison.

Read more: http://www.wmtw.com/news/29266698/detai ... z1YmWRbbhi