May 31, 2007

11 poultry plant employees charged with immigration violations

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Eleven employees of a southwest Missouri poultry-processing plant were charged with immigration violations in federal court yesterday in separate cases. U.S. Attorney John F. Wood, Western District of Missouri, made the announcement today.

Arrested during the May 22 execution of search warrants at George's Processing Inc., in Butterfield, Mo., were: German Puentes-Mendoza, 25, Elziar Oswaldo Vasquez-Estrada, 19, Gabriel Lopez-Alvarado, 38, Carmen De Leon-Guzman, 28, Luis Geyman Fernando-Diaz, 33, Bernabe Lopez-Alcon, 35, Delfino Lopez-Gomez, 33, and Henry Anibal Oxlaj-Ixmay, 23, all citizens of Guatamala, and Armando Valdez-Ayala, 26, Oliver Sosa-Martinez, 23, and Maria Hinojosa-Pedroza, 25, all citizens of Mexico.

Puentes-Mendoza, Vasquez-Estrada, Lopez-Alvarado and De Leon-Guzman were each charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Springfield with falsely claiming to be citizens of the United States in order to gain employment. According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Puentes-Mendoza was ordered removed from the United States but, after being denied an appeal on July 22, 2004, failed to appear for removal as ordered. According to affidavits filed in support of the criminal complaints, Vasquez-Estrada and De Leon-Guzman were ordered removed from the United States in absentia (Vasquez-Estrada on April 4, 2006, and De Leon-Guzman on Aug. 3, 2000) but failed to depart as ordered. According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Lopez-Alvarado was granted voluntary departure from the United States until April 13, 2005, with an alternate order of deportation should he fail to depart as required.

Each of the remaining seven defendants was charged separately in criminal complaints filed in U.S. District Court in Springfield with reentering the United States after having been deported. According to affidavits filed in support of those criminal complaints, Fernando-Diaz was deported on June 24, 2005; Lopez-Alcon was deported on Oct. 28, 2005; Lopez-Gomez was deported on Feb. 3, 2005; Oxlaj-Ixmay was deported on Jan. 4, 2007; Valdez-Ayala was deported on Dec. 3 and Dec. 31, 2004; Sosa-Martinez was deported on May 27 and June 3, 2005, and on April 7, 2006; and Hinojosa-Pedroza was deported on Nov. 29, 2000.

These cases are being prosecuted by Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael S. Oliver and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Richard E. Monroe and Gary Milligan. They were investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Social Security Administration – Office of Inspector General – Office of Investigations, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Wood cautioned that the charges contained in these complaints are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

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