Thread: Roofer pleads guilty to harboring illegal aliens

I.C.E. News Release

August 31, 2011
Cedar Rapids, IA

Iowa roofing business owner pleads guilty to harboring illegal aliens

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - The owner of an eastern Iowa roofing company pleaded guilty in federal court on Monday to harboring and conspiring to harbor illegal aliens. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) led the investigation.

Samira Zuniga, 33, a U.S. citizen from Iowa City, Iowa, pleaded guilty to harboring and transporting an alien and conspiring with others to harbor, transport and encourage illegal aliens to reside in the United States.

According to court documents, Zuniga's company, Xtreme Construction, performed residential roofing work for another construction company in eastern Iowa. On April 26, nine illegal alien employees were arrested by ICE HSI in Hiawatha, Iowa, while working on a residential roofing job. Evidence presented at an earlier bond hearing showed that shortly after those arrests Zuniga had withdrawn several thousand dollars in cash from personal and business accounts and fled to Mexico with her husband, a Mexican citizen, and their two children. Zuniga was arrested on June 20 after she returned to the United States. At the time of her arrest, she and others were loading items into a cargo trailer to be taken back to Mexico. Zuniga's husband and children remained in Mexico.

"This plea represents an outstanding example of the HSI worksite enforcement strategy which focuses on employers who knowingly hire illegal workers," said Mike Feinberg, special agent in charge of ICE HSI in Bloomington, Minn. "We will use all of our resources to target criminal enterprises that break the law, exploit workers, and gain an unfair advantage over businesses which operate within the law."

Sentencing before U.S. District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade will take place after a presentence report is prepared. Pending her appearance for sentencing, Zuniga will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service in light of an earlier court finding that she poses a flight risk.

Zuniga faces a possible maximum sentence of 15 years' imprisonment, a $500,000 fine, $200 in special assessments, and six years of supervised release following imprisonment.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

ICE is a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities. For more information, visit www.ICE.gov. To report suspicious activity, call 1-866-347-2423.

U.S. Dept of Homeland Security

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1108/1 ... rapids.htm

"See something! Say something!"
http://www.irs.gov/localcontacts/index.html
http://www.irs.gov/compliance/article/0 ... 71,00.html

"On April 26, nine illegal alien employees were arrested by ICE HSI in Hiawatha, Iowa, while working on a residential roofing job."

Right. And with Obama's new policy they will probably be getting work permits. So they are working here, taking jobs from US citizens, and then we get to pay more money to put whats her name in prison. What a great policy!!

Anything you want to tell us about Steve?

W

Actually I had some of my cohorts send this article to roofing companies here who use illegals and feel they are above the law this may make them think twice! And I plead it down to "Just yelling at illegals!"

I heard an ad today on the radio and they said, they have been in business for 30 years and have fully trained and experienced roofers that they didn't meet this morning in a grocery store parking lot. LOL

I'd hire them!

Dixie