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Feds: Wash. company hired undocumented workers
08/18/2009
By MANUEL VALDES / Associated Press
Federal prosecutors filed criminal charges Monday against a Washington state manufacturing company where 28 people were arrested during a February immigration raid.
Bellingham-based Yamato Engines Specialists was charged with conspiring to encourage undocumented immigrants to remain in the United States between 2006 and 2009. Prosecutors also charged two employees with allowing undocumented workers to file false employment forms with the government.
The raid at Yamato was the first since President Barack Obama took office and attracted national attention. Obama had signaled a desire to stop arresting workers in mass immigration raids and instead focus on prosecuting the companies that hired them.
Calls to Yamato Engine and to employee Shirin Dhanani Makalai's lawyer were not immediately returned Monday. A lawyer for employee Shafique Dhanani declined to comment.
The employees were expected to plead guilty on Tuesday.
Of the 28 people arrested in February, 27 were given temporary permission to work in the United States while they help with the investigation. One worker agreed to leave the country, said Lorie Dankers, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Seattle.
At the time of the raid, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said the workers obtained the jobs using fake Social Security numbers and other counterfeit documents.
Makalai and Dhanani are members of the family who owns the company.
In February, Makalai said she did not knowingly hire illegal immigrants. She said the raid came after months of cooperating with ICE on an audit, which included providing employee rosters to federal authorities.
In July, the agency began notifying hundreds of businesses around the country of plans to audit I-9 forms. Makalai has said that her company had cooperated through all audits.
08/18/2009
By MANUEL VALDES / Associated Press
Federal prosecutors filed criminal charges Monday against a Washington state manufacturing company where 28 people were arrested during a February immigration raid.
Bellingham-based Yamato Engines Specialists was charged with conspiring to encourage undocumented immigrants to remain in the United States between 2006 and 2009. Prosecutors also charged two employees with allowing undocumented workers to file false employment forms with the government.
The raid at Yamato was the first since President Barack Obama took office and attracted national attention. Obama had signaled a desire to stop arresting workers in mass immigration raids and instead focus on prosecuting the companies that hired them.
Calls to Yamato Engine and to employee Shirin Dhanani Makalai's lawyer were not immediately returned Monday. A lawyer for employee Shafique Dhanani declined to comment.
The employees were expected to plead guilty on Tuesday.
Of the 28 people arrested in February, 27 were given temporary permission to work in the United States while they help with the investigation. One worker agreed to leave the country, said Lorie Dankers, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Seattle.
At the time of the raid, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said the workers obtained the jobs using fake Social Security numbers and other counterfeit documents.
Makalai and Dhanani are members of the family who owns the company.
In February, Makalai said she did not knowingly hire illegal immigrants. She said the raid came after months of cooperating with ICE on an audit, which included providing employee rosters to federal authorities.
In July, the agency began notifying hundreds of businesses around the country of plans to audit I-9 forms. Makalai has said that her company had cooperated through all audits.