A case of human smuggling that began with two men walking away from a restaurant in Grand Forks, North Dakota, has led authorities to thousands of illegal immigrant workers slaving in Asian restaurants across the Midwest, a prosecutor says.
"This whole case started with two Mexican guys who walked away from the restaurant in Grand Forks -- or were fired -- and were found walking along a road outside Grand Forks in a thunderstorm,'' Assistant US Attorney Nick Chase said.
That was in August 2004. The two Mexican men told Immigration and Customs agents they had been working more than 70 hours a week for less than US$2 an hour at the Buffet House, a Chinese restaurant in Grand Forks. They had been living with eight other restaurant employees in a small apartment a block from the restaurant.
US federal officials said they uncovered a human smuggling racket, which from 2000 to early last year had shipped 6,000 illegal immigrants to restaurants in North Dakota, Minnesota and other states.
Ya Cao, of McKinney, Texas, was sentenced on Wednesday in Fargo to 21 months in prison for her role in the scheme. She was the last of eight people who ran the pipeline smuggling humans into virtual slavery, Chase said.
All the workers were Hispanic illegal immigrants, he said.
In sentencing Cao, US District Judge Ralph Erickson said the scheme was an especially "destructive conspiracy" that amounted to modern-day "slave labor" and treated the illegal immigrant workers "like animals."
Shan Wei Yu, also of McKinney, was sentenced by Erickson in December to nine years in prison.
Lee Finstad, a Grand Forks attorney who defended Cao, sought a lesser sentence, saying she had a clean record and had cooperated with authorities.
Yu, through his company, Great Texas Employment Agency, took advantage of Cao after she came to the US to seek political asylum, Finstad said.
Finstad asked Erickson to delay the start of Cao's sentence because her husband and son recently received permission to leave China for the US.
Erickson said Cao could report on Aug. 1 to a prison close to where her family decides to live.
Six of the illegal immigrant employees found working in the Buffet House in Grand Forks were deported once their illegal status was determined. Several cooperated in the investigation.
Owners Yun Di Lu and Hong Peng were sentenced last year in Grand Forks to four months in prison; Peng was deported to China, Lu still is seeking asylum in the US. The restaurant was closed but reopened months ago under new ownership.
Authorities said restaurant owners paid US$450 to get a cheap employee who was run up through the pipeline, probably from Texas or California.
Cellphone calls connected Yu's employment agency to Asian restaurants around the Midwest.
Restaurant owners deducted the US$450, as well as rent money for crowded apartments and meal money, from the paychecks of the illegal employees, authorities said. The owners did not deduct federal income tax or Social Security payments from the pay of the overworked illegal immigrant workers.
The case involved restaurants in Grand Forks, Devils Lake, Fargo, Bismarck and Minot, as well as Aberdeen, South Dakota, the Minneapolis area and Duluth, and in several other Midwest states.
"It appeared it was really kind of an assessment of supply and demand at its most sinister level," Chase said. "The head of this conspiracy basically realized there was a big market in restaurants he knew of that needed illegal workers because they were cheap."
KINGPIN: Marset allegedly laundered the proceeds of his drug enterprise by purchasing and sponsoring professional soccer teams and even put himself in the starting lineups Notorious Latin American narco trafficker Sebastian Marset, who eluded police for years, was handed over to US authorities after his arrest on Friday in Bolivia. Marset, a Uruguayan national who was on the US most-wanted list, was passed to agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration at Santa Cruz airport in Bolivia, then put on a US airplane, Bolivian state television showed. “The arrest and deportation were carried out pursuant to a court order issued by the US justice system,” Bolivian Minister of Government Marco Antonio Oviedo told reporters. The alleged kingpin was arrested in an upscale neighborhood of Santa
FAKE NEWS? ‘When the government demands the press become a state mouthpiece under the threat of punishment, something has gone very wrong,’ a civic group said The top US broadcast regulator on Saturday threatened media outlets over negative coverage of the Middle East war, after US President Donald Trump slammed critical headlines from the “Fake News Media.” The US president since his first term has derided mainstream media as “fake news” and has sued major outlets over what he sees as unfair coverage. Brendan Carr, head of the US Federal Communications Commission — which oversees the nation’s radio, television and Internet media — said broadcasters risked losing their licenses over news coverage. “The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will
SCANDAL: Other images discovered earlier show Andrew bent over a female and lying across the laps of a number of women, while Mandelson is pictured in his underpants A photograph of former British prince Andrew and veteran politician Peter Mandelson sitting in bathrobes alongside late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was unearthed on Friday in previously published documents. The image is believed to be the first known photograph of the two men with Epstein. They are currently engulfed in scandal in the UK over their ties to their mutual friend. The undated photograph, first reported by ITV News, shows King Charles III’s disgraced brother and former British ambassador to the US sitting barefoot outside on a wooden deck. They appear to have mugs with a US flag on them
NASA on Thursday said that the long-delayed launch of Artemis 2, the first crewed flyby mission to the moon in more than 50 years, could come as soon as April 1. “We are on track for a launch as early as April 1, and we are working toward that date,” Lori Glaze, a senior NASA official, told a news conference, after technical difficulties delayed a launch originally expected last month. “It’s a test flight, and it is not without risk, but our team and our hardware are ready,” she said. “Just keep in mind we still have work” to do. The US space
RSS