More illegal immigrants found at Thumb farm
Friday, June 22, 2007
By TOM GILCHRIST
TIMES WRITER

BAD AXE - Police said federal agents on Thursday hauled away five more alleged illegal immigrants who worked at the same massive dairy farm where agents seized 13 alleged illegal immigrants in May.

Troopers from the Michigan State Police post at Bad Axe claim they discovered the five illegal Mexican workers after a sixth illegal immigrant - 17-year-old Jose Martin Lopez Cruz - drowned after jumping off the Port Austin breakwall into Lake Huron on Wednesday afternoon.

''Those five workers are being deported, and the sixth will be transported back to Mexico in a coffin,'' said Detective Sgt. Mark Krebs, who began investigating the farm of Johannes and Anthonia VerHaar in February.

''I thought the day we went out there, we arrested the only 13 people the VerHaars had who were working illegally,'' Krebs said. ''But I was told by these five immigrants on Wednesday that they came here within the last few weeks to the last couple months to fill the job openings at the VerHaar farm.

''That leads me to believe that because of what we did a few months ago - seizing those 13 workers - the call was made to have these guys come and take their place.''

Huron County Sheriff's Department divers said they recovered Cruz's body at 5:20 p.m. in 12 feet of water. A spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Department said police believe the death was an accident, though county Medical Examiner Dr. Richard Lockard ordered an autopsy on the victim's body.

Krebs said Johannes ''John'' VerHaar and his wife, Anthonia ''Anja'' VerHaar, are not U.S. citizens, but natives of the Netherlands who obtained temporary work visas to enter the United States.

The Times could not reach the VerHaars for comment. In recent weeks, the couple has declined comment about the investigation of their hiring practices, bookkeeping procedures or workers.

According to state police, the VerHaars claimed the 13 workers arrested in May were legal immigrants.

However, 11 of the 13 workers seized in the May 8 raid at the VerHaar farm - along Soper Road near Bad Axe - didn't challenge their deportation and received a free flight back to Mexico, according to Greg Palmore of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

Two of the 13 still remain in ICE custody, awaiting hearings before an immigration judge, Palmore said on Wednesday.

Wednesday's arrest of the five alleged illegal immigrants marked the third arrest of a group of alleged illegal immigrants in Huron County in three months. In mid-March, police arrested 13 suspected illegal Mexican immigrants who had worked on the farm of Brian J. Ingram, along Grindstone Road near Port Austin.

The Times has been unable to confirm how many of Ingram's workers were deported to Mexico.

Palmore said on Thursday that ICE officials had not confirmed that the five men taken into custody on Wednesday worked for the VerHaars.

But Krebs said the men - ages 16, 20, 21, 23 and 33 - told him they would not fight deportation. State police used an interpreter to question the men, who didn't speak English.

''They told me they had no green cards (permitting them to work in the U.S.), they had no Social Security numbers and they didn't want a hearing before an immigration judge,'' Krebs said.

But Krebs said a pay stub possessed by one of the five workers showed - at least on paper - that the VerHaars had withheld Social Security taxes in the man's name.

''It will be up to the VerHaars to explain why these workers ended up on their farm again without any paperwork proving they were here legally,'' Krebs said. ''It's a U.S. immigration violation - a federal crime - to hire illegal workers.''

Krebs said it's the job of federal prosecutors, working with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, to determine whether to bring criminal charges in the case.

Palmore said ICE - the Department of Homeland Security's investigative agency - continues probing the VerHaar farm operation. He declined further comment about the investigation.

''It's a crime if the farm's workers are illegal, but there are ways employers can go about securing the appropriate documents for such individuals to become employed,'' Palmore said.

Krebs said one of the five Mexicans arrested by Trooper Dan Thompson on Wednesday - a 16-year-old - told state police he paid someone 17,000 Mexican pesos - $1,571 American dollars - to smuggle him from Reynosa, Mexico, into the United States.

According to Krebs, the 16-year-old said that once he made it into the U.S., he paid $1,100 American dollars to his ''coyote'' - the person who took him to his job at the VerHaar farm.

Krebs said a 33-year-old Mexican worker arrested following Wednesday's drowning told police he paid $3,000 to the coyote to transport him to his job with the VerHaars.

''They pay substantial amounts of money for the coyote to get them to the VerHaar farm, but they said they couldn't remember the name of the guy who brought them here, or what type of vehicle brought them to Michigan,'' Krebs said.

- Tom Gilchrist covers the Thumb for The Times. He can be reached at (989) 894-9649 or by e-mail at: tgilchrist@bc-times.com.

©2007 Bay City Times
© 2007 Michigan Live. All Rights Reserved.


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