Thread: Restaurant owner faces immigration charges

Restaurant owner faces immigration charges
Accusations include hiring, tipping off illegal workers

By Monica LaBelle
mlabelle@argusleader.com
Published: March 24, 2007


A Sioux Falls restaurant owner not only hired illegal immigrants, but helped them find housing, paid them in cash and gave them a word of warning after raids of Midwest meatpacking plants, according to court documents filed this week.

A criminal complaint was filed this week in district court against Julio Espino, owner of the Inca Mexican restaurant, and Oscar Cadena, a restaurant manager.

They are accused of harboring illegal aliens and encouraging them to remain in the U.S.

The claims stem from a March raid during which seven alleged illegal immigrants were arrested - many of whom worked at Inca on 41st Street in Sioux Falls, according to federal authorities.

Agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement searched Inca on March 7. They also searched nearby apartment units.

The raid came months after a December raid when more than 1,200 people were arrested at the Swift & Co. meat processing plant in Worthington, Minn.

A local immigration lawyer said such arrests are not uncommon - people just don't notice unless it's a big raid.

"We've had immigration laws on the books, and we have been enforcing them but people have not been looking at these cases unless it's a big sensational case," said Henry Evans, a lawyer who is representing one of the employees who was arrested.

On Thursday afternoon at his restaurant, Espino said he could not comment on the case and deferred to his lawyer, Russ Janklow.

"I wasn't around when all this happened," Espino said.

Janklow did not return phone messages.

After agents searched Inca and the apartment unit, they arrested Mario Alberto Paredes De La Torre, Juan Garcia-Nunez, Isaste Juarez-Castillo, Luis Alberto Gonzalez-Sanchez, Ana Christina Villasenor-Campos, Michael Munoz Alanis and Alberto Luis Villasenor-Campos.

Espino reportedly paid their wages in cash and housed them at apartment buildings at 3313 S. Jefferson Ave. and 3309 S. Elmwood Ave., according to court documents.

The records also say Espino told workers to be careful on the streets after the immigration operation at Swift. He allegedly paid rent for one of the apartments they were staying in as well.

During an investigator's interview with one of the employees, Juarez-Castillo, said "he did not punch a timecard because only the workers with legal papers used timecards," according to the affidavit, which was written by Special Agent Craig Scherer of the Department of Homeland Security.

"Juarez stated he was paid in cash by Espino, and that only the workers with legal papers were paid by check.

"Juarez further stated that after the immigration operation at Swift in Worthington, Espino told the workers to be careful on the streets," the affidavit states.

The incident highlights the difficulties people coming to this country face, said immigrants attending an English language class at Our Lady of Guadalupe church on Sioux Falls' east side.

"They work for money, they work in the right place and do nothing wrong," said Gonzalo Salazar, who was born in Mexico.

Reach reporter Monica LaBelle at 977-3909.


http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... /1001/NEWS

we need to see a whole lot more of this going on.

"They work for money, they work in the right place and do nothing wrong," said Gonzalo Salazar, who was born in Mexico.

They don't pay taxes, they should be working at home and only breaking a few laws.

it is time for americans not to support any business that has a hispanican name. More and more of these appear to support illegals and don't pay taxes. If we don't support them then they loose business and will not be able to stay in business. Of course many of them were started from small business loans from the small business administration we will pay when they default on the loans.

I wouldn't go that far to boycott businesses with a Hispanic name.

I believe there are a couple of lobbyists for the restaurant industry in Washington who are fighting hard FOR amnesty for illegals.

The restaurant industry has argued that many many restaurants would simply go out of business without their ability to hire illegal busboys, dish washers, cooks, etc. They give a sob story of the small family-owned restaurant that would close it's doors if they had to pay real wages to a legal American employee.

I see this all the time when I go out to eat here in Texas. I'd have to say that nearly every restaurant in Dallas has illegal immigrant employees (especially due to the fact that I believe they recently estimated that a third of our population in Dallas/Ft. Worth are illegal immigrants). Which also means that there is practically not a "hospitality" business in town that does not have illegal immigrant workers, as it would practially have to be to support that huge of an amount of illegal workers.

I seem them at just about every business I pass: restaurants, car washes, landscaping, construction, etc., etc. In Dallas it is impossible to escape it, and pretty much impossible to boycott the places that hire them.

It's an epidemic in Dallas!!! (And I live in Farmers Branch to boot!!)

But boycotting Hispanic businesses is not the answer. There are also many Asian illegal immigrants as well. Would you boycott the businesses with an Asian-sounding name as well?

TexasGal

We shouldn't be boycotting anybody based on name.

Boycotts should be based on their hiring practices, imo.

Anybody who knowingly hires illegals, no exceptions, should be prosecuted. I think they deserve jail time, big fines, seizure of ALL assets gained as a result of hiring illegals.

WELCOME TEXASGAL, HOPE YOUR HERE TO HELP ALIPAC TO SAVE OUR NATION FROM ILLEGALS!!!!!

I agree you should not boycott based on someones name, they could be a citizen and we don't want to hurt our citizens businesses.

Yes, I'm in Farmers Branch, where things are beginning to heat up for the May 12th election for two propositions: Prop 2903 for giving FB officers Federal training so they can act as immigration officers (meaning they can arrest illegals when they discover them during routine traffic stops, where currently they can do nothing) and the more infamous Prop that was in the national news, which forces apartments to check the legal status before renting.

Just today SaveFarmersBranch put a sign in my front lawn (I'm on a major street in town), along with many others, saying "Stand Up for the FBI. Vote For 2903. Uphold the Law." I have all Hispanic neighbors, and two doors down is the opposing sign stating "Vote Against Prop 2903. Don't waste the taxpayer's money!" (Sheesh!! It's NOT a waste to uphold Federal law. It's a waste of taxpayers money to spend millions and billions every year on health care, schooling, after-school care, etc. for illegal immigrants and their kids.)

My next door neighbor had the "For" sign up on their lawn, but they must not have understood what the SaveFarmersBranch representative was asking them to do when he came around asking for permission to put up the sign, as they have torn down the sign and have it lying in their front yard. So far I have seen more "For" signs than against. And we'll see how long the "Against" people allow the "For" signs to stay up. I fully expect some of them to be torn down.

But my boyfriend and I will be there voting FOR the two Props on May 12th!!!

FilmGal