Thread: PA-Three plead guilty to immigration fraud

Posted on Wed, Dec. 30, 2009


Three plead guilty to immigration fraud
By Michael Matza



A West Chester couple and their office manager pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Philadelphia to fraudulently obtaining hundreds of temporary-worker visas for illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central and South America.
Michael Glah, 48, his wife, Theresa Klish, 50, and Mary Gillin, 60, acknowledged under questioning by U.S. District Judge Berle Schiller that between 2003 and 2008 they used names drawn randomly from a Mexican telephone book on falsified visa applications. They then submitted forged documents to the U.S. Department of Labor and coached immigrants to lie to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in order to obtain work permits under the nation's H-2B visa program, which grants 66,000 such permits a year nationwide.

According to the plea agreement read in court by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Brenner, Glah's company, the now-defunct International Personnel Resources, stockpiled visas under fraudulent names. Then, taking advantage of the provision in the law that allows substitutions whenever the original visa grantee becomes unavailable, they distributed them to otherwise ineligible immigrants.

In this way, an illegal immigrant who once worked for a local company but slipped back to Mexico, for example, could come back to work locally with a visa that seemed legitimate.

Glah also pleaded guilty to transporting three illegal aliens into the United States. They were identified in court only by their initials.

Brenner, speaking briefly during a recess, would not say how investigators learned of the scheme.

The ruse was designed to provide local landscaping companies, construction firms, country clubs, and other clients a steady stream of seasonal workers.

The defendants were released on bail pending sentencing on March 29 for Gillin and Glah and April 5 for Klish. They could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison and fined more than $500,000.


Contact staff writer Michael Matza mmatza@phillynews.com.



http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20 ... fraud.html

The ruse was designed to provide local landscaping companies, construction firms, country clubs, and other clients a steady stream of seasonal workers.

ONLY!

You left something out:

"The ruse was designed to provide local landscaping companies, construction firms, country clubs, and other clients a steady stream of seasonal workers. The resulting illegal aliens worked for one third the wages that American college students and American highs school kids used to do these same jobs for. In effect, the scheme worked to displace American workers with cheap illegal alien labor.

Originally Posted by jonhaloi

You left something out:

"The ruse was designed to provide local landscaping companies, construction firms, country clubs, and other clients a steady stream of seasonal workers. The resulting illegal aliens worked for one third the wages that American college students and American highs school kids used to do these same jobs for. In effect, the scheme worked to displace American workers with cheap illegal alien labor.

You should post that in the comment section at the source link.

4 Admit Gaming US Visa System for Seasonal Workers
4 Pa. defendants admit gaming US visa system to hire out hundreds of seasonal workers
By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press Writer
PHILADELPHIA December 30, 2009 (AP)
The Associated Press

Four employees at a Pennsylvania staffing company have admitted they scammed the visa system to bring hundreds of seasonal workers into the U.S. for clients.

International Personnel Resources applied for temporary work visas under phony names culled from a Mexican phonebook, and its employees used the stockpiled documents to place workers from Mexico and Central America in landscaping and other jobs, authorities said.

At times, the company sent undocumented workers home, supplied them with visas and coached them to tell immigration officials they had never been in the country illegally, prosecutors said.

Former office manager Emily V. Ford, 29, of West Chester, pleaded guilty Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Brenner said.

Company owner and President Michael T. Glah, 48, and his wife, Vice President Theresa M. Klish, 50, both of West Chester, and office manager Mary H. Gillin, 60, of Downingtown, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Philadelphia federal court to charges in the 11-count information.

All four are set for sentencing on March 29. Glah faces a mandatory five-year prison term. The others face prison terms under federal guidelines, Brenner said.

Glah's lawyer, Robert J. Donatoni, called his client remorseful.

"There will come a time when they will articulate why this happened," Donatoni said. "Obviously, there will be no justification for it."

The other defense lawyers did not immediately return messages left by The Associated Press.

H-2B visas are designed for companies that cannot find Americans willing to fill their jobs.

The West Chester-based company accumulated hundreds of H-2B visas for arriving workers from 2003 to 2008.

The defendants took advantage of a provision in the law that lets employers substitute new names if the original applicant becomes unavailable. Given the cap of 66,000 visas annually for such workers, their scheme left fewer available for companies trying to use the system lawfully, prosecutors said.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9449485