Friday, February 23, 2007

FL. Contractors busted, along with 200 illegals

Below, I have copied an article retrieved from tucsoncitizen.com. I find it interesting and inspirational, in a way. Of course it would be ideal to bust 200 illegal aliens; it would be a definite start. However, let us not ignore the seriousness of our situation in Tucson. Even if we could get rid of 200 illegals tomorrow, we would still have 200,427 the next day. (Those figures are not meant to represent actual numbers. I just threw “200,427” out there. It may be a little over exaggerated, maybe not.)




Feds bust 200 workers in illegal-immigrant sweep

MIKE MADDENGannett News Service

The management of a firm that cleaned restaurants such as the ESPN Zone, Dave & Busters and Hard Rock Cafe was charged Thursday with failing to pay $18 million in payroll taxes for their mostly illegal immigrant work force.
Authorities also arrested nearly 200 workers employed by the firm, Rosenbaum-Cunningham International Inc., as the workers started or finished their cleaning shifts at 63 locations in 17 states and Washington, including one in Phoenix.
The company's managers, based in Florida, allegedly paid workers in cash for at least four years and kept the money they should have been paying the government in income taxes, Social Security, Medicare and other taxes.
A call to the company's office in West Palm Beach, Fla., was not returned.
The bust was the eighth major Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in the last year.
Federal agents first began investigating RCI after an illegal immigrant tipped them off to a document fraud ring linked to middle managers at the firm. An indictment released Thursday charges that company officials bought fake "green cards" to certify that their employees were legally allowed to work in the United States after one of their clients asked for proof that the workers were legal.
Investigators then looked into the company's books, which allegedly showed RCI's clients had paid the company more than $54.3 million between 2001 and 2005. But the company hadn't paid any employment taxes.
Clients included other national chains such as Fox Sports Grill, Planet Hollywood, House of Blues, Yard House and the China Grill. Authorities said the chains cooperated with investigators and have not been charged with any crimes.
A separate Department of Labor investigation in 2005 discovered RCI owed its Michigan workers more than $90,000 in overtime. Thursday's indictment says the company made good on the back pay but kept the money it should have paid in taxes.
The workers arrested in the raids are from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Haiti, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said. Most will be deported.
In Phoenix, a 20-year-old Mexican was arrested in the parking lot of Jillian's at the Desert Ridge Marketplace, said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
If convicted of the 23 counts against them, the managers - Richard M. Rosenbaum, 60, of Longwood, Fla., Edward Scott Cunningham, 43, of West Palm Beach, and Christina A. Flocken, 59, of Longwood - face up to 20 years in federal prison and restitution of $18 million to the government.

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