July 9, 2008, 11:56PM
Ruling supports charges against Action Rags managers
Four accused of hiring, harboring illegal immigrants


By JAMES PINKERTON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

A federal judge ruled Wednesday there was enough evidence to charge the owner and managers of an eastside rag exporting firm with harboring and hiring undocumented workers, ending a hearing that shed light on defense attorneys' strategy for the case.

U.S. Magistrate Frances Stacy ruled there was evidence to support federal conspiracy charges that Mabarik Kahlon, 45, owner of Action Rags USA, and three managers knew undocumented workers were hired and they had presented false work documents.
During five hours of testimony at the federal courthouse in Houston, defense attorneys questioned the credibility of four paid government informants in the investigation and argued that Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not have enough evidence to tie their clients to criminal wrongdoing.

The charges stem from an ICE raid last month at Action Rags USA's plant at 1225 Port Houston. In all, 166 of the 192 workers at the plant were undocumented. Those workers were detained by ICE, though at least 74 have been released for humanitarian reasons.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Davis said the fact that 85 percent of company workers at the plant were undocumented was sufficient to show a conspiracy existed.

In her ruling, Stacy cited evidence from government informants against Kahlon and other employees.

ICE case agent Calvin Bradford was asked during testimony if the arrests of company employees, just seven days after the June 25 raid, was an effort to blunt mounting public criticism that ICE had arrested relatively few managers and employers during its work site immigration raids nationally.

Bradford testified that his superiors made the decision to make the arrests. When defense attorney Paul Nugent inquired who the superiors were, the judge said the question was irrelevant.

''I think ICE is under political pressure to make arrests of management, and I think they may have rushed this case because of political considerations," said Nugent when contacted after the hearing.

The role of the four informants in the case — including three who were paid a total of $13,200 along with immigration benefits — will be a key part of the case, Nugent said. The three paid informants were illegal immigrants planted at Action Rags USA by ICE agents.

''The paid informants were given cash money and documents allowing them to legally stay and work in the country," Nugent said. "That's a pretty strong incentive for anybody to say what the agents want them to say."

During the hearing, Bradford testified that only one of the four informants was told beforehand they would receive money for their undercover work. The agency has not decided how much it will pay the initial informant who provided the original details of activities at the company.

Nugent represents 34-year-old Valerie Rodriguez, described by government officials as the company's resource manager. He said government informants obtained scant evidence against his client, who he says was only a secretary.

Shaun Clarke, a lawyer defending Kahlon, argued that ICE surveillance reports documented only an hour and 57 minutes in which his client was in the plant. He noted Kahlon owns several vitamin supplement companies, and may not have been actively managing daily operations at Action Rags USA.

Kahlon and Rodriguez were released last week from custody after posting bond.

The judge denied bail for Cirila Barron, 38, one of two illegal immigrants ICE documents describe as company managers at the plant.

The other undocumented worker, Mayra Herrera-Gutierrez, 32, is represented by Joe Salinas. He said he elected to waive the detention and probable cause hearing for his client, who was also denied bail.

''We're saying she, like everyone else there, was an illegal alien and was working as a warehouse supervisor," Salinas said. ''I don't think she's involved to the extent to which she's charged. ... She doesn't have any hiring or firing authority. She just walked around and made sure people were doing their job."

Several members of Herrera-Gutierrez's family attended the hearing and said the single parent had been promoted to supervisor at the plant in recent months.

''We don't want her to be sent to jail," said her sister-in-law, Maria Herrera. ''It is unjust because she was not the person in charge of hiring the workers or picking up the work papers. She was just in the warehouse, telling people what to do."

Prosecutors will forward the case to a federal grand jury, which could return indictments.

james.pinkerton@chron.com


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 80226.html