Norcross man gets prison time for hiring illegals.

[napi21]

http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2011/04/22/man-gets-prison-for-hiring-illegals.html?ed=2011-04-22&s=article_du&ana=e_du_pap

A Norcross, Ga., employment agency owner and driver was sentenced Friday to one year and four months in federal prison for recruiting and employing illegal workers in metro Atlanta Chinese restaurants

(snip)

According to U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates, the charges and other information presented in court, Chen and a co-defendant owned and operated an employment agency named “New Fuzhou” in Chamblee, Ga., while another owned and operated a similar agency, “Zhong Mei Employment Agency,” in the same Chamblee shopping center.

(snip)

Employers called the agencies and requested workers for various jobs, usually in the kitchens of Chinese restaurants. The agencies charged the illegals a commission and transportation fee to place them in the job and drive them there, and in some cases charged the restaurant owners, who deducted the fees from their illegal workers’ pay.


Well, at least 2 "operaors" have been sentenced to Fed. prisn for hiring illegals. I really believe if more ot this were done, most illegal problems we have would be gone.

[kenny blankenship]

1. This is actually pretty funny.

I'd like to ask Sally Yates if she thinks this prosecution represents a "big bust" in the illegal alien labor rackets in ATL. Or whether she thought this particular criminal defendant was representative of the problem of illegal labor in her jurisdiction. It's not that Mr. Chen's crime should be overlooked, but let's just say when I saw the headline Norcross Man Gets Time For Hiring Illegals, I imagined the white face of every housing contractor I've known and not a Chinese face. I'll stipulate that Mr. Pili Chen is guilty as sin and deserves every day in jail that he got. I'm not saying he should be let off because of his Chinese-ness or minority status. The issue is rather that as far as I can see this type of crime is typically committed by someone else in this town. Typically it's white guys hiring Mexican and Central American illegal aliens to work in the gold mines of ATL real estate. It shouldn't be too hard to bust some of these typical offenders: just send an umarked car to observe just about any construction site in the metro area. In a month's time you should have around 50 good cases against employers hiring illegal labor to bring to Federal court - cases that involve the typical offender, and cases whose prosecution would send a message to offenders who most need to hear it. Busting more Mr. Chens around Atlanta won't do a thing to curb the overall hiring of illegal labor. As far as I know, real estate construction/repair and landscaping is the big source of demand for illegal labor here. Unless Ms. Yates prosecutes housing contractors too, the message won't be heard and the prosecution of Mr. Chen is mere eyewash. But that would mean arresting nice white upstanding members of the Atlanta community, so I guess it gets "more complicated".

[think4yourself]

2. This is how you do it!

I live in Atlanta and kenny is right. It is SO obvious what goes on. The entire city is being built and/or maintained by cheap, mostly Latino labor.
The entire solution to the illegal immigration issue is simple:

If you are found employing illegals, you pay a $100 K fine for EACH illegal employee. AND jail time.

That's it.
I do not at all fault these laborers. They have families.
The entire problem falls at the feet of those greedy bastards that won't pay American workers a fair wage.

:banghead:

[WatsonT]

3. Good, although he sounds like small fry

hit the biggest employers first so everyone knows you're serious.

[pintobean]

4. good n/t

[Cleita]

5. It's a start but I won't begin cheering until the CEOs of a few big

corporations who hire illegals get thrown in the clinker.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. I've been saying as much for years now.

[Moosepoop]

7. Glad he got prison time, but wondering why only 16 months?

Despite the headline, this wasn't the average case of just "hiring illegals" -- it was a conspiracy case involving bringing illegal workers into the country, advertising them in Asian language newspapers and on the internet, and placing them with employers (mainly Chinese restaurants) in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Mississippi and Georgia. Mr. Chen would drive the workers to these destinations (in order to keep them hidden from the outside world), where they were then exploited by the employers, working long hours at substandard pay (cash only) and substandard living conditions and basically the victims of human trafficking.

The conspiracy charge that Mr. Chen faced carried a possible ten year prison sentence and $250,000 fine, so while I'm glad that he was convicted and given prison time, I'm puzzled as to why his sentence was so minimal.

Again, this wasn't just hiring local undocumented workers, it was essentially trafficking in them.

The above info is from the DOJ press release from the indictments last June:

http://www.justice.gov/usao/gan/press/2010/06-04-10.pdf