Federal agents arrested two managerial employees of an Ewa agricultural business yesterday who hired dozens of illegal immigrant workers picked up in a raid last summer, U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo said.

David Kato and Glen Kelley McCaig, employees of the Farms Inc., were named Wednesday in a grand jury indictment that was unsealed after their arrest.

 

  Feds Crack Down On Employers Hiring Illegal Alien Workers

 

  Two managers for one fo the state's most promient farmers were indicted for being part of a criminal cover up to hide and hire alien workers. 

 

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Kubo said the arrest of the two employees is not the end of the case involving the Farms Inc., an agricultural business in Ewa that was the employer of 43 illegal immigrants arrested. The Farms' listed agent, Larry Jefts, could not be reached for comment.

Federal agents arrested the Mexican illegal immigrants on July 20 at an apartment complex on Waipahu Street. Of those, 23 were charged and seven pleaded guilty. Some have been deported and others are cooperating with authorities.

The indictment highlights a pervasive problem of Hawaii businesses knowingly hiring illegal aliens, Kubo said.

He promised to pursue employers of illegal immigrants and said up to a dozen more cases are pending.

“;These illegal aliens and their employers are stealing our jobs and wages from our people and our families,”; he said. “;They should be held accountable.”;

Kato and McCaig, who was a five-year employee of the Farms, are accused of signing false employment verification forms and making false statements to hire the illegal immigrants. The men face 22 counts involving seven illegal immigrants from Mexico.

Kubo said the men were part of a criminal scheme to cover up the illegal immigrants' status and make fake documents appear legitimate. The scheme included traveling to the mainland to recruit illegal workers and picking them up at Honolulu Airport.

According to the indictment, the scheme works by an employer knowingly filling out an employment form using fake documents that appear to be genuine. The documents insulate the employer from prosecution while placing the blunt of the crime on the worker.

An audit of the company found in April that 96 of 102 past and current workers were illegal immigrants using false documents, according to the indictment.

Companies hire illegal immigrants to increase profits through lower wages since illegal immigrants, forced to lie low, cannot complain, Kubo said.

Wayne Wills, Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent in charge, said the charges against Kato and McCaig are a benchmark in the pursuit of destroying illegal immigration “;magnets.”;

A state public defender temporarily stepped in to represent the men after their El Paso, Texas-based lawyers did not show up. U.S. District Magistrate Judge Kevin Chang set the arraignment and plea date for Monday at 10:30 a.m. Bail was set at $10,000 each.

If convicted, the men face up to 10 years on each fraud count, five years on each false statement count and up to $250,000 in fines per count.