Raids included people's homes
BRYAN DENSON
Arrests - Agents got a list of nearly 500 people, most of whom they say are here illegally
Thursday, June 14, 2007
A federal immigration official said Wednesday that five of the 167 workers swept up in this week's raid on a North Portland food-processing company were taken into custody in their homes.
But those arrests do not foreshadow random neighborhood sweeps to uncover undocumented workers, said Lorie Dankers, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The government on Wednesday also arraigned two managers of American Staffing Resources, the employment company targeted Tuesday by federal immigration agents.
As ICE agents interviewed American Staffing's workers at the Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. plant Tuesday, other agents drove to Woodburn and two Portland apartment complexes. They arrested five people suspected of living illegally in the United States, Dankers said.
Agents took three people into custody at one of the complexes, she said. The agents had gone looking for three of the staffing company's workers, finding only two. But they arrested a third suspected illegal immigrant who happened to be at the apartment. Two other people were arrested that day, one in Woodburn and another in Portland, Dankers said.
None of the five people detained was charged with any crimes but two had criminal histories, she said.
As part of a six-month investigation, ICE agents obtained a list of nearly 500 workers employed by the staffing company, the vast majority of whom were allegedly living illegally in the United States and using phony identification.
Dankers said ICE would attempt to track down other undocumented workers on their list but agents weren't combing Portland's neighborhoods looking for them.
"If any of those individuals come to our attention," she said, "then we will take appropriate action."
Two managers of American Staffing Resources pleaded not guilty Wednesday to playing roles in an alleged scheme to help undocumented workers obtain phony identification.
The two -- Margarita Amezcua-Salvador and Jose Dejesus Buenrostro -- were arraigned in separate appearances before U.S. Magistrate Donald C. Ashmanskas in Portland. He set trial for Aug. 14.
Amezcua-Salvador was indicted last week for possession of a fraudulent Alien Registration Card, two counts of aggravated identity theft, and selling a Social Security card.
Ashmanskas ordered her held for trial, describing her as a flight risk.
A federal prosecutor said Amezcua-Salvador was living in the United States illegally, as were her husband and two children; her husband also was detained by immigration authorities.
The government has accused Amezcua-Salvador of putting phony identification papers in the hands of a government informant.
According to an affidavit used to justify Tuesday's searches, Amezcua-Salvador coached the informant on how to obtain fake identification as he sought work at the Fresh Del Monte plant.
The government alleges she eventually sold him four counterfeit IDs: a pair of permanent resident alien cards and two Social Security cards, each costing $40.
Buenrostro, a legal U.S. resident who grew up in Los Angeles, was indicted last week on one count of inducing and encouraging illegal immigrants to reside in the United States.
According to the affidavit, an informant for ICE went to Buenrostro saying he was living illegally in the United States and needed identification to go to work.
"Buenrostro assured him that having a false Social Security number is not a problem with being employed at Fresh Del Monte Produce," according to the affidavit, "but he just doesn't want to hear about it."
The government's affidavit accuses Buenrostro of helping undocumented workers adjust to life in the United States and covering up his company's "hiring practices."
Bryan Denson: 503-294-7614; bryandenson@news.oregonian.com
Posted by rowan at June 14, 2007 12:00 PM