Thread: MISS:9 suspected illegal immigrants plead guilty

Wednesday, Dec. 03, 2008
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9 suspected illegal immigrants plead guilty
By HOLBROOK MOHR - Associated Press Writer

JACKSON, Miss. -- Nine people rounded up in the nation's largest workplace raid on suspected illegal immigrants pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal identity fraud charges and were sentenced to time served.

Nearly 600 workers at Howard Industries' transformer plant in Laurel were detained Aug. 25 when dozens of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided the factory.

The nine people charged with identity fraud were accused of working at the plant under the names and Social Security numbers of other people - information that had been reported stolen in some cases, according to court records.

The nine pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Hattiesburg during separate hearings Wednesday. They were sentenced to time served and face deportation, said Sheila Wilbanks, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office. They agreed to cooperate with authorities.

"They will be turned over to ICE and ICE will handle the administrative procedures of deportation," Wilbanks said.

A federal public defender, John Weber, who represented the workers, did not immediately respond to a message left Wednesday by The Associated Press.

Weber said in the past that the workers faced up to 17 years in prison had they been convicted and sentenced to the maximum on all three of the original charges - aggravated identity theft, use or possession of a fraudulent alien registration card and use of a Social Security number belonging to someone else. The trial was scheduled to begin Dec. 15.

It's not clear how they allegedly obtained the fraudulent identities. However, several people in Laurel who acknowledged being illegal immigrants told The AP after the raid that it was easy to buy fraudulent documents in the area through word of mouth.

Barbara Gonzalez, an ICE spokeswoman, said the investigation continues and "we will go where the evidence leads us."

"Fraudulent documents may be used to obtain financial benefits and entitlements intended for U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents and to obtain unauthorized employment," she said. "Those who are engaged in document fraud should know that we will continue pursuing these types of investigations."

An advocacy group for illegal immigrants condemned the charges.

"The connotations of the charges against them is that somehow they were involved in stealing the identities for nefarious purposes," said Bill Chandler, executive director of the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance. "These folks were getting identification so they could support their families. In my view, supporting your family is not a crime."

Most of the others detained in the raid were sent to a Louisiana detention facility to await hearings and deportation. More than 100 - mostly women with children - were fitted with monitoring devices and ordered to appear in court.

Gonzalez said 413 of the illegal immigrants have been deported and 23 left the country voluntarily.

The operation was the largest single workplace raid in ICE history and targeted one of Mississippi's most successful private business. Howard Industries is the largest employer in Jones County and makes products ranging from computers to medical supplies. The company's corporate headquarters also was raided, but no executives have been charged with crimes.

Howard Industries has repeatedly declined comment. However, the company issued a statement in the past that says it "runs every check allowed to ascertain the immigration status of all applicants for its jobs. It is company policy that it hires only U.S. citizens and legal immigrants."
http://www.sunherald.com/218/story/992399.html

Screw Bill Chandler...maybe one of them will steal his identity and the horse's ass will realize what we have been saying all along. Illegal aliens who stole those identities did more than just use them to feed their families. Many opened lines of credit to obtain homes, cars and benefits as welfare, social security. Americans were billed by the IRS for taxes accumulated by illegal aliens, had property seized by them in addition to other punitive actions levied against them and were denied social security, SSI, medicaid, unemployment insurance and other benefits. One lady was charged with a felony committed by an illegal alien using her social security number. Identity theft victims lost jobs with many spending years to clear up their names at a cost of thousands of dollars. How an idiot like Chandler can justify identity theft and other crimes causing untold pain, suffering and misery to innocent Americans shows what the open borders nazi's have become.


Addition: If Howard Industries supposedly hires only Americans why did they fire 3 of them and replace them with illegal aliens as several Americans who reapplied for employment after the raids told a reporter.

The whole Truth doesn't matter much anymore.

9 illegal immigrants pleaded guilty to using other peoples Social Security numbers and TIME SPENT AND DEPORTATION IS ALL THEY GET?! Americans who are charged with the SAME CRIME receive years and years in prison. What gives? ILLEGAL ALIENS GET A SLAP ON THE WRIST FOR COMMITTING UNDENIABLE FRAUD WITH OUR GOVERNMENT AND THIS IS ALL THEY GET?!

This so called "government" won't charge them with a class C felony because they won't be able to sneak back into the country next week using a different identity. When Obama grants amnesty he will legalize identity theft as he tried to do when he supported S-2611, and with no felony record illegal aliens will be given the keys to the kingdom while Americans are told to get screwed......