FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          CR
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1997                        (202) 616-2765
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888
                                 
        NOTE TO REPORTERS FOLLOWING THE MIGUEL FLORES CASE

     Two associates of convicted migrant crew leader Miguel Flores,
who helped enslave migrant workers, were sentenced today in South
Carolina. A judge in the U.S. District Court in Charleston ordered
Andres Ixcoy, 45, to serve 24 months in prison.  Ixcoy, who was
employed by Flores as a driver, admitted to illegally transporting
loads of workers from Arizona to South Carolina in overcrowded and
unsafe vehicles.  The court also sentenced Willie Driggers, 44, to
three years probation, 300 hours of community service and six
months of home detention for his work as Flores' mechanic. 
Driggers was responsible for altering vans to accommodate Ixcoy's
transportation of the workers. Both men cooperated with the
government's investigation. 

     Last week, Cruz Cortez, Flores' former wife who worked as his
bookkeeper, pled guilty in U.S. District Court in San Antonio,
Texas, to one count of conspiracy, one count of harboring illegal
aliens and one count of keeping false books in order to conceal
Flores' illegal activities. Cortez also cooperated with the
government's investigation.

     Flores and a high-level associate, Sebastian Gomez, are
scheduled to be sentenced November 6. They have pled guilty to six
counts of involuntary servitude and extortion, one count of
conspiracy, numerous violations of immigration statutes as well as
violations of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker
Protection Act. 

     No sentencing date has been set for Cortez.

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