maniac Posted June 17, 2013 Posted June 17, 2013 Federal authorities seized 14 7-Eleven stores on Long Island and in Virginia early on Monday, charging nine owners and managers with harboring and hiring dozens of illegal immigrants and paying them using sham Social Security numbers, officials said. Michael Nagle for The New York Times Homeland Security officers entered a 7-Eleven in Islip Terrace, N.Y., on Monday. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and federal prosecutors in Brooklyn were also investigating 40 other 7-Eleven franchises in New York City and elsewhere, in one of the largest criminal immigrant employment investigations ever conducted by the Justice and Homeland Security Departments, officials said. The franchises split their profits with the 7-Eleven parent corporation, which handles the store payrolls, and prosecutors were seeking $30 million in forfeiture from the stores and the corporate parent. In addition to seizing 10 7-Eleven stores in New York and 4 in Virginia, the authorities seized 5 houses in New York. The raids come at a time when Washington is embroiled in an intense debate over an overhaul of the nation’s immigration system, including stronger enforcement at the borders and in workplaces. The charges and two indictments were announced at a news conference on Monday by Loretta E. Lynch, the United States attorney in Brooklyn, and James T. Hayes, who is in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s office of investigations in New York City, along with officials from the New York State Police and the Suffolk County Police Department. Through the scheme, officials said, the defendants hired more than 50 illegal immigrants, provided them with more than 20 identities stolen from United States citizens, including children and dead people, put them up at houses owned by the defendants and stole substantial portions of their wages. “From their 7-Eleven stores the defendants dispensed wire fraud and identity theft, along with Slurpees and hot dogs,†Ms. Lynch said. “In bedroom communities across Long Island and Virginia, the defendants not only systematically employed illegal immigrants but concealed their crimes by raiding the cradle and grave to steal the identity of children and even the dead.†Ms. Lynch said the defendants “ruthlessly exploited their immigrant employees,†forcing them to live in unregulated boardinghouses and “creating a modern-day plantation system.†The charges against the owners and managers — eight men and a woman — included wire fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. Many of those charged were of Pakistani descent and it was believed that most, if not all, of the illegal immigrants were also from Pakistan, officials said. In one instance, an employee of one franchise was paid using the Social Security number of a former 7-Eleven employee, a person who had not worked for the store for 10 years and who had been the target of collection efforts by the Internal Revenue Service for much of that time because of the reported payments to the illegal immigrant, officials said. The conduct charged, officials said, had been going on since 2000, during which the defendants generated over $182 million in revenue. Twenty-five of the 40 additional 7-Eleven franchises under scrutiny were to be inspected on Monday as part of the ongoing investigation. Officials said the parent company lacked enough internal controls to prevent the same Social Security numbers from being used to pay more than one store employee, which happened in more than one instance. Scott Matter, a spokesman for the parent company, said it was aware of the arrests and seizures and “has been cooperating with federal authorities during their investigation.†Mr. Matter said the company would have no comment until it learned more about the case. Eight of the nine who had been charged in the indictments were in custody, five of them in New York and three in Virginia, officials said. The last individual was being sought. One of the raids took place around 6 a.m., at a 7-Eleven on Carleton Avenue in Islip Terrace, on Long Island, according to a law enforcement agent at the scene who declined to give his name or reveal the agency he worked for. One person, he said, was taken into custody from the store and two people were taken away from a house across the street. A neighbor who lives near the house said it had been divided into several apartments. “It’s packed in there,†said the neighbor, who asked not to be identified. “There’s been a constant flow of new people coming in.†http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/18/nyregion/us-seizes-14-7-eleven-stores-in-immigration-raids.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0
panther Posted June 17, 2013 Posted June 17, 2013 If the uk police did the same in the uk all the grocery stores, builders, takeaways, chicken shops etc will have to close down :cantstop:
maniac Posted June 17, 2013 Author Posted June 17, 2013 The owners of fourteen 7-11 franchises scattered throughout New York and Virginia were charged today with identity theft, fraud, conspiracy and harboring illegal aliens. The nine defendants are accused of having brought over 50 undocumented workers from Pakistan and the Philippines into the country to work in their stores. The illegal aliens were given social security numbers stolen from over 20 people, including at least one child and several corpses. The accused - eight men and one woman - are also said to have paid these workers a fraction of their due income, forced them to live in properties that were owned by the accused (and pay rent in cash) and work 100-hour weeks. If you're doing the math, that averages out to about 15 hour days, seven days a week. "These defendants ruthlessly exploited their immigrant employees, stealing their wages and requiring them to live in unregulated boarding houses, in effect creating a modern day plantation system," claimed federal prosecutor Loretta E. Lynch. ICE agents are said to be executing warrants at as many as 30 other locations throughout the country accused of similar infractions. For their part, the 7-11 corporation is cooperating eagerly with authorities as they work to ensure that all guilty parties are apprehended and punished accordingly. The investigation, one of the largest ever in the history of the Department of Justice, was sparked when several employees tipped off police and is now expected to branch out to over 40 franchise locations in 7 states. .. http://www.examiner.com/article/fourteen-7-11-franchises-raided-us-immigration-crackdown
maniac Posted June 17, 2013 Author Posted June 17, 2013 Hope this doesn't turn into an Indo Pak thing just because the identified illegal immigrants were Pakistanis....Have come across such Bangladeshis and Indians too. Met this waiter of Bangladeshi origin in Canada once in an Indian Resteraunt who entered illegally to the U.S from Mexico,got caught and then somehow escaped across the border to Canada :cantstop:
FischerTal Posted June 17, 2013 Posted June 17, 2013 thank god....when i read the headline, i thought it would be gujjus.
bhanu Posted June 17, 2013 Posted June 17, 2013 Hope this doesn't turn into an Indo Pak thing just because the identified illegal immigrants were Pakistanis....Have come across such Bangladeshis and Indians too. Met this waiter of Bangladeshi origin in Canada once in an Indian Resteraunt who entered illegally to the U.S from Mexico,got caught and then somehow escaped across the border to Canada :cantstop: I salute that guy for sneaking into usa alive from mexico and then sneaking out from usa :hatsoff:
Desi Cartman Posted June 17, 2013 Posted June 17, 2013 The contractor who helped in renovating our house has some epic stories * His father came to the US to watch Atlanta Olympics in 90s and has not gone back since, he then filed for Asylum. * His uncle came here and overstayed, was arrested but declared that he works for RAW in India and the Indian Govt refused to accept or deny that RAW exists so the authorities in the US cant confirm either way * One of his employee who is illegal and from mexico and has been deported few times, last time he was deported he called his boss and told not to hire his replacement as he would be back in 5 days and yes he was back at work on the 5th day
Crookbond Posted June 17, 2013 Posted June 17, 2013 The contractor who helped in renovating our house has some epic stories * His father came to the US to watch Atlanta Olympics in 90s and has not gone back since, he then filed for Asylum. * His uncle came here and overstayed, was arrested but declared that he works for RAW in India and the Indian Govt refused to accept or deny that RAW exists so the authorities in the US cant confirm either way * One of his employee who is illegal and from mexico and has been deported few times, last time he was deported he called his boss and told not to hire his replacement as he would be back in 5 days and yes he was back at work on the 5th day :WTF:
maniac Posted June 17, 2013 Author Posted June 17, 2013 The contractor who helped in renovating our house has some epic stories * His father came to the US to watch Atlanta Olympics in 90s and has not gone back since, he then filed for Asylum. * His uncle came here and overstayed, was arrested but declared that he works for RAW in India and the Indian Govt refused to accept or deny that RAW exists so the authorities in the US cant confirm either way * One of his employee who is illegal and from mexico and has been deported few times, last time he was deported he called his boss and told not to hire his replacement as he would be back in 5 days and yes he was back at work on the 5th day Seriously :WTF: also so cool that he clearly couldn't have made all of it up, some part of it has to be true :two_thumbs_up:
Desi Cartman Posted June 17, 2013 Posted June 17, 2013 Seriously :WTF: also so cool that you clearly cant make all of it up' date=' some part of it has to be true :two_thumbs_up:[/quote'] oh its very true as I have met all 3 (His father, Uncle and the illegal Mexican). The trick in their opinion is to apply for visa to England, they said if you have visa for england then getting a visitor visa to US is very easy.
Mariyam Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 The contractor who helped in renovating our house has some epic stories * His father came to the US to watch Atlanta Olympics in 90s and has not gone back since, he then filed for Asylum. * His uncle came here and overstayed, was arrested but declared that he works for RAW in India and the Indian Govt refused to accept or deny that RAW exists so the authorities in the US cant confirm either way * One of his employee who is illegal and from mexico and has been deported few times, last time he was deported he called his boss and told not to hire his replacement as he would be back in 5 days and yes he was back at work on the 5th day :cantstop:
The Outsider Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 The contractor who helped in renovating our house has some epic stories * His father came to the US to watch Atlanta Olympics in 90s and has not gone back since, he then filed for Asylum. * His uncle came here and overstayed, was arrested but declared that he works for RAW in India and the Indian Govt refused to accept or deny that RAW exists so the authorities in the US cant confirm either way * One of his employee who is illegal and from mexico and has been deported few times, last time he was deported he called his boss and told not to hire his replacement as he would be back in 5 days and yes he was back at work on the 5th day :hysterical::hysterical: Was he seeking political asylum on that basis? Like he was working for RAW and now they are targeting him?
Desi Cartman Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 :hysterical::hysterical: Was he seeking political asylum on that basis? Like he was working for RAW and now they are targeting him? Actually he still maintains that he was on RAW payroll and was being sent to Pakistan and since he didn't want to do it RAW was after him.
1983-2011 Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 but the claimed RAW agent cant go back to India now though so that probably sucks
Ram Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 Quite honestly, I am surprised it took them so long. These store owners have quite the nerve in the first place to put these illegal aliens in store fronts, where the whole world can see them. I would not fault the workers though - you have to do what you have to put food on your table. The onus lies squarely on the employers. On a related note, there are tons of Indian kids who work part-time in desi owned restaurants, stores and gas station, while doing their studies here. They all must nervous wrecks right now.
Desi Cartman Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 but the claimed RAW agent cant go back to India now though so that probably sucks Not from his point of view i guess
Crookbond Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 Quite honestly, I am surprised it took them so long. These store owners have quite the nerve in the first place to put these illegal aliens in store fronts, where the whole world can see them. I would not fault the workers though - you have to do what you have to put food on your table. The onus lies squarely on the employers. On a related note, there are tons of Indian kids who work part-time in desi owned restaurants, stores and gas station, while doing their studies here. They all must nervous wrecks right now. What does the rule say for a F1-vsia? My understanding is that you can work 20 hours per week on campus.
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