Source:  Dani Friedland, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 7/21/10

Five people were sentenced Friday for conspiring to harbor, transport and employ illegal immigrants, according to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement press release.

Arkansas-based companies Amador Poultry Contracting and J&A Loading were owned or controlled by the five people arrested in September 2009 and sentenced Friday. An investigation found that they knowingly hired illegal aliens to work on chicken catching crews, transporting the workers to different worksites and paying them in cash.

Jose Amador-Villanueva, 39, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to harbor, transport and employ illegal aliens in October 2009 and was sentenced to 12 months in prison. Kelle Stubbs-Amador, 32, pleaded guilty as well and was sentenced to time already served and three years probation. In addition to the immigration-related charges, Leoncio Amador-Villanueva, 42, pleaded guilty to money laundering and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. All three lived in Alma, Ark.

Juan Amador-Villanueva, 43, of Batesville, Ark., received a sentence of 15 months after pleading guilty to money laundering charges. Lowell, Ark. resident Luis Felipe Martinez, 32, pleaded guilty in December 2009 to causing a financial institution to file a false currency transaction report and was sentenced to 30 months. All defendants but Stubbs-Amador will also serve three years of supervised release following their prison sentences.

The defendants also agreed to forfeit property totaling more than $1.87 million that was used to conceal or harbor illegal immigrants, was proceeds of illegal activity or was purchased with the profits of illegal activity.
“ICE aggressively targets employers who egregiously violate immigration laws by knowingly employing an illegal alien workforce,” Raymond Parmer, Jr., ICE special agent in charge of the Homeland Security Investigations office in New Orleans, said in a statement. “Businesses that use illegal alien workers to gain an economic advantage over their competition must understand that they will be held accountable for those unlawful practices.”

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