News Releases and Statements

A La Jolla, Calif., bakery, The French Gourmet, Inc., along with its owner and manager, were sentenced in federal court Thursday on charges stemming from a four-year probe by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) that the business hired illegal alien workers. The defendants were fined nearly $400,000.

Edward Schlacht, a manager at a specialty pallet and box manufacturing company in northwest Detroit, was arrested Tuesday by agents with by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) on criminal charges of knowingly accepting false documentation in the course of hiring undocumented workers.

The Lowell Housing Authority has signed the state's first-ever agreement between a local housing authority and ICE to strengthen hiring practices and to combat the unlawful employment of illegal aliens.

"Nearly 400 businesses in the Boston-area have partnered with ICE by joining the agency's employment compliance program IMAGE, or ""ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers."" During fiscal year (FY) 2011, ICE reached 359 businesses in the Boston area with presentations about IMAGE."

The owners of Aquila Farms, LLC, were sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to pay fines totaling $234,000 for hiring illegal aliens and aiding and abetting each other to do so. The convictions of Johannes Martinus Verhaar and Anthonia Marjanne Verhaar were the result of an investigation by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations.

A Georgia couple accused of harboring illegal aliens for commercial advantage and then laundering the proceeds was arrested Friday following an investigation by ICE's HSI, the FBI, the IRS' Criminal Investigations Division and the Columbia County Sheriff's Office.

A Knoxville general contractor partnering with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has become the first Tennessee business to join the ICE IMAGE program, which is aimed at reducing fraud and the hiring of illegal workers.

U.S. ICE announced today seven major employers in the U.S., including Best Western International, Chick-fil-A, Inc., Hyatt, Kelly Services, Lexmark, Smoothie King and Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America, have agreed to partner with ICE by joining the agency's IMAGE employment compliance program.

A Mississippi couple was arraigned in federal court Thursday on a multi-count indictment charging them and their company, Love Irrigation, Inc., with conspiracy, harboring illegal aliens and encouraging illegal aliens to reside in the United States.

The president of a Sierra Vista, Ariz., drywall and stucco company, Ivan T. Hardt, pleaded guilty Friday to federal criminal charges resulting from a probe by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) that revealed he hired unauthorized alien workers.

Song U. Chon, a downtown El Paso hotel owner, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison Oct. 21 for conspiracy to smuggle, transport and/or harbor illegal aliens, money laundering and tax fraud. The sentencing followed an investigation U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is taking its worksite enforcement message to the American Payroll Association (APA) as part of a campaign to encourage employer compliance with laws intended to guarantee a compliant and legal workforce. In a presentation to the quarterly membership meeting of the Greater Boston Chapter of...

U.S. ICE Director John Morton presented a check for $2.16 million to New York State Police Superintendent Joseph A. D'Amico on Oct. 23, 2011. This money was forfeited by IFCO Systems North America in settlement of its corporate criminal liability for conduct associated with the hiring and employment of illegal alien workers at IFCO pallet plants...

J & J Industrial Supply pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to hiring more than 10 illegal aliens in a 12-month period. The guilty plea resulted from an investigation conducted by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) with assistance from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department.

The owner and manager of the La Jolla, Calif., bakery The French Gourmet, Inc., pleaded guilty Thursday to a longtime practice of hiring illegal aliens following a four-year probe by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Michel Malecot and Richard Kauffmann pleaded guilty to the felony offense of hiring at least 10 illegal aliens...

The president of a San Diego-area car wash and its business manager are facing federal charges following a seven-month investigation into the company's hiring practices by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

A native and citizen of Mexico, who was convicted of harboring illegal aliens for commercial advantage, was sentenced to 12 months in prison. The sentence is the result of an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

A series of arrests and search warrants at several restaurants and residences in Maine has resulted in charges against 10 individuals who were taken into custody by special agents with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

A Virginia painting company, Thesis Painting, is partnering with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) IMAGE program, or ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers, to reduce fraud and the hiring of illegal workers.

An electrical contracting corporation with field offices throughout the country, including San Diego, is partnering with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to reduce fraud and the hiring of illegal workers.

J. Guadalupe Hernandez, the owner of El Jimador Mexican Restaurant in upstate New York, has been charged with harboring three illegal aliens in the basement of his business. ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents found the three men living in the basement during the execution of a search warrant at the restaurant in March 2011.

One of the first document hosting services companies to embrace electronic document imaging is partnering with ICE to strengthen its hiring practices and help ensure it employs a legal workforce.

Five senior managers of the former IFCO Systems, N.A., a Houston-based corporation, pleaded guilty to hiring and employing unauthorized aliens at IFCO plants nationwide between January 2003 and April 2006.

The former owner of a Massachusetts-based asbestos abatement training school was sentenced to more than seven years in a federal prison Tuesday in a case investigated jointly with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

A Bay Area couple who own a chain of local Mexican restaurants pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal immigration and tax fraud charges after a multi-agency probe revealed the chain underreported its payroll taxes and employed dozens of aliens who were not authorized to work in the United States.