Thread: Restaurateurs charged in immigrant smuggling

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mp ... an/3237365

Restaurateurs charged in immigrant smuggling
Indictment says a family forced workers to take illegally low pay and act as servants
By HARVEY RICE and ZEKE MINAYA
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

A Houston-area restaurateur and some family members forced illegal immigrants to labor for as little as 70 cents an hour, six days a week, and then work as domestic servants on the seventh day, federal authorities charge in an indictment unsealed Wednesday.
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Hin Kai "Papa" Phu and three relatives are accused of conspiring to smuggle the immigrants from Mexico to work at three local Chinese Wok restaurants. They also are charged with paying the workers less than the minimum wage.

Federal agents arrested Phu, 66, Wednesday morning, along with his son, Alan Phu, 41; his wife, Kiu Tai "Mama" Phu, 64; and his son's wife, Lisa Phu, 35.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Smith released them on $50,000 bail each.

If convicted, they face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the conspiracy charge, and 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on charges of harboring and concealing an undocumented immigrant for commercial advantage.

The father and son also face a maximum of 10 years if convicted of inducing a foreign national to enter the country illegally for financial gain, and three to 10 years on other smuggling charges.

About 15 illegal immigrants worked at the three restaurants between 1998 and 2001, said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Don DeGabrielle. Two of them are in Mexico, and U.S. officials are trying to return them to Houston to testify, he said.

The investigation began after a child-labor complaint was filed in August 2001 with the U.S. Department of Labor's wage and hour division, authorities said. A minor complained that he had worked at two of the Chinese Wok restaurants for an average of 60 hours a week for four weeks and was paid $125, about 52 cents an hour.

The federal minimum wage is $5.15 per hour.

The investigation by the Labor Department and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau led to accusations that the Phus paid immigrant smugglers, or "coyotes," to smuggle workers from Mexico.

The smugglers were paid $1,300 to $1,500 per employee, according to the indictment.

The workers lived in a dormitory-style room with bunk beds at the home of Alan and Lisa Phu, who lived next-door to the elder couple, investigators said.

They said the Phus forbade the workers from using the telephone or going anywhere except the dormitory, kitchen and bathroom.

They were restricted to their quarters in their off-duty hours until they paid the smuggling fee, DeGabrielle said.

On the one day each week when they didn't work at the restaurants, they worked as servants to the Phus, investigators said.

The elder couple managed restaurants at 4050 and 5158 Aldine Mail in north Harris County, authorities said, and the younger couple managed a Chinese Wok in League City.

The two restaurants on Aldine Mail were doing brisk business Wednesday afternoon.

Family members working at each eatery, including a man who said he was "Papa" Phu's son, Sam, declined to comment.

But Susie Mackey, who said her mother has been a cook for 12 years at the 4050 Aldine Mail location, said the Phus are good people and she does not believe the accusations.

"They wouldn't have all the businesses that they do if they did that," she said.

Mackey said her mother has never seen evidence of illegal workers at the restaurants.

"My mom came from China, but she is here legally," Mackey said.

DeGabrielle said the Phus contracted with immigrant smugglers to bring them employees who were paid between 70 cents and $2.78 per hour.

Each worker was paid about $400 in cash every two weeks, the indictment says. Kiu Tai Phu is accused of taking back $100 to $300 as payments on the smuggling fees.

The 19-count indictment also accuses the Phus of filing false reports with the Texas Workforce Commission by omitting the illegal immigrants' names.

DeGabrielle said he could not say how common such violations are, but Michael A. Olivas, a professor of immigration law at the University of Houston Law Center, said they are not unusual.

"There are literally dozens and dozens of these cases" throughout the country each month, Olivas said.

He said employers who were found to be using undocumented workers could not be prosecuted before 1986, when the Immigration Reform and Control Act was passed.

The Phus are charged under smuggling laws, not the 1986 act, which Olivas said is seldom used against small businesses.

harvey.rice@chron.com zeke.minaya@chron.com

I know charles- I was going to delete it, but I cant now since you replied to it. Sorry.