Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Bad Girls
Agents with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency remove boxes containing evidence, during a raid at El Caporal restaurant at 3601 Union Road in Cheektowaga.
(Yeah, right! They are carrying take out!)
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Mexican restaurant owner, managers and employees picked up in sweep of immigrant smuggling operation
By Michael Beebe
Updated: 04/16/08 1:40 PM
Immigration agents and local law enforcement in five states today arrested the Depew owner of seven Mexican restaurants, 11 restaurant managers and 45 illegal aliens in a scheme that authorities said involved smuggling workers from Mexico to work for low wages in the restaurants.
Simon Bandes, a Mexican who came to this country illegally and has passed himself off as a Honduran, authorities said, was accused of being the ringleader after his arrest at 6 a.m. at the Lancer Court Apartments in Depew.
Bandes recruited workers in Mexico and paid $2,000 to smuggle them into this country to work at his restaurants, said U.S. Attorney Terrance P. Flynn and Lev Kubiak, acting agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Buffalo.
The restaurant employees were made to work long hours at low wages in Bandes' restaurants to pay off the smuggling fee, Flynn said, giving Bandes' restaurants a competitive advantage over his rival restaurants.
Bandes also rented apartments to his workers, authorities charged, and took rent payments out of their wages.
The investigation began two years ago after Cheektowaga police came to the federal agency with information on Bandes, who was using the name Jorge DeLarco, and his El Caporal Mexican Restaurant at 3601 Union Road, Flynn said.
Bandes also owns Mexican restaurants in Dunkirk, the Azteca Mexican Food Cantina, and in Allegany, the Don Lorenzo Mexican Restaurant.
Those establishments were raided today, as were Bandes' restaurants in Bradford, Pa., Mentor, Ohio, and Wheeling, W.Va. Agents also raided apartment houses where the illegal aliens lived and the Marietta, Ga. home of Bandes' sister.
Arraignments were scheduled for this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Hugh Scott.
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By Michael Beebe
Updated: 04/16/08 1:40 PM
Immigration agents and local law enforcement in five states today arrested the Depew owner of seven Mexican restaurants, 11 restaurant managers and 45 illegal aliens in a scheme that authorities said involved smuggling workers from Mexico to work for low wages in the restaurants.
Simon Bandes, a Mexican who came to this country illegally and has passed himself off as a Honduran, authorities said, was accused of being the ringleader after his arrest at 6 a.m. at the Lancer Court Apartments in Depew.
Bandes recruited workers in Mexico and paid $2,000 to smuggle them into this country to work at his restaurants, said U.S. Attorney Terrance P. Flynn and Lev Kubiak, acting agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Buffalo.
The restaurant employees were made to work long hours at low wages in Bandes' restaurants to pay off the smuggling fee, Flynn said, giving Bandes' restaurants a competitive advantage over his rival restaurants.
Bandes also rented apartments to his workers, authorities charged, and took rent payments out of their wages.
The investigation began two years ago after Cheektowaga police came to the federal agency with information on Bandes, who was using the name Jorge DeLarco, and his El Caporal Mexican Restaurant at 3601 Union Road, Flynn said.
Bandes also owns Mexican restaurants in Dunkirk, the Azteca Mexican Food Cantina, and in Allegany, the Don Lorenzo Mexican Restaurant.
Those establishments were raided today, as were Bandes' restaurants in Bradford, Pa., Mentor, Ohio, and Wheeling, W.Va. Agents also raided apartment houses where the illegal aliens lived and the Marietta, Ga. home of Bandes' sister.
Arraignments were scheduled for this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Hugh Scott.
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