NY WOMAN SENTENCED TO 15 YRS IN PRISON FOR ROLE IN FORCED LABOR AND ALIEN SMUGGLING SCHEME

NEW YORK WOMAN SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS IN PRISON FOR HER ROLE IN FORCED LABOR AND ALIEN SMUGGLING SCHEME

NEW YORK -- MARILUZ ZAVALA was sentenced today to 15 years' imprisonment on her conviction for conspiring to obtain forced labor, conspiring to recruit, harbor, transport, and house undocumented workers, engaging in extortionate credit transactions, and transferring false alien registration cards. The sentence, announced by Roslynn R. Mauskopf, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Martin D. Ficke, Special Agent-in-Charge, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, New York (ICE) and Bradley J. Schlozman, Acting assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, US Department of Justice, was imposed this morning by United States District Judge Sandra J. Feuerstein at the U.S. Courthouse in Central Islip, New York.

The defendant previously entered a guilty plea on November 5, 2004, as did her husband and co-defendant, JOSE IBANEZ. As part of the guilty please, ZAVALA and IBANEZ forfeited a residence located at 3524 Great Neck Road, Amityville, New York, valued at $220,000 and approximately $30,000 in currency from operating accounts into which they deposited their victims' paychecks from which they made monthly mortgage payments on the houses the defendants used to harbor their victims.

At the time of the defendants' arrests on June 21, 2004, federal agents executed search warrants at three Long Island residences owned by the couple, located at 5 Felway Drive in Coram, 4 Fourth Avenue in Brentwood, and 3524 Great Neck Road in Amityville, and rescued 69 Peruvian nationals, including 13 children, who had been living in cramped, squalid conditions. The agents also seized a large quantity of phony identification documents, including Social Security cards, alien registration cards, and New York State drivers' licenses.

Between June 1, 1999 and June 21, 2004, ZAVALA and IBANEZ assisted the victims in fraudulently obtaining tourist visas by providing them with false documents and coaching the victims on how to lie to US Embassy officials. They charged the victims smuggling fees ranging from $600 to $13,000 per person.

The victims were forced to turn over their passports and almost all of their earnings to the defendants, who used the money to purchase vehicles and real property on Long Island and in Peru. In addition to the smuggling fees, the victims were required to pay the defendants for over-crowded and unsanitary living space – frequently eight to ten persons per room with only one or two mattresses, and no more than two bathrooms for use by 30 or more individuals. The defendants also threatened to turn the victims over to law enforcement authorities if they refused to pay the defendants.

"The defendants victimized aliens who were desperate to enter the United States to build better lives for themselves and their families," stated United States Attorney Mauskopf. "We will use all available resources to protect the victims of trafficking and alien smuggling, and to prosecute those who would exploit them for personal profit and gain." Ms. Mauskopf thanked Catholic Charities for its extraordinary help in aiding the victims, and added that the Peruvian victims have been granted "continued presence" status in the United States, which eventually may enable them to obtain permanent legal status.

"Today's sentence exemplifies the seriousness of exploiting human being for financial gain," stated ICE Special Agent-in-Charge Ficke. "Human trafficking is akin to modern day slavery and identifying and dismantling trafficking rings is a key component of ICE's mission of protecting America and promoting the public safety of our communities."

Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Schlozman stated, "With no regard for human dignity, these traffickers exploited their victims' hopes and fears to force them into involuntary servitude. Today's sentencing sends a clear message to those who would attempt to profit at the expense of another's freedom."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/1472612/posts?page=38#38

Impact from illegal alien labor:

- Costing health care, retirement funding, education and law enforcement, accruing at $30 billion per year.

- USA is foregoing $35 billion a year in income tax collections because of the number of jobs that are now off the books.

- Census Bureau estimates that 8.7 million people are illegally residing in the USA

- Urban Institute estimates a total of 9.3 million are illegally residing in the USA

- Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates a total of 9.2 million are illegally residing in the USA

- The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) stated that the Bureau of Labor could have missed as many as 10% of illegal aliens, since illegal aliens avoid census questionnaires. The CIS suggests the total illegal population is at 10 million or higher (March 2004).

- Employers have incentive to hire undocumented workers off the books.

- Overseas labor markets have forced US employers to find innovative ways to capitalize on sources of cheaper labor to stay competitive.

- Employers place pressure on the government to ignore the flood of cheap labor.

- Services, ie but not limited to: public school enrollment, language proficiency programs, and building permits, that cater to illegal aliens have increased in areas that are considered gateways for immigration.

- The top nine states that account for 50% of illegal aliens are: California, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina.

- Sole authority to govern immigration flow is placed on the federal government.

- Responsibility for providing support to legal and illegal immigrants rests with the state and local governments.

- Immigrants send home on average $1,400 to $1,500 per year through money transfers (also called Remittances).

- As per the World Bank in 2002, people sent $133 billion worldwide. Developing countries accounted for $88 billion of that.

- Remittances from the United States to Mexico have tripled to $13 billion between 1995 and 2003.

- As per the Pew Hispanic Center, 39% of surveyed Latino immigrants listed themselves as having legal status to opening bank accounts. This enables cash transfers through private money centers such as Western Union and Money Gram.

- HOWEVER, banks including Citibank, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo Bank began accepting matriculas, which are photographed identity cards for Mexicans living in the US.

- Matriculas are obtainable by any legal or illegal Mexican. Matriculas are widely obtainable through Mexican consulates across the USA.

- To date, around 2.5 million matriculas have been issued, and the number is growing.

- In major illegal alien gateway cities, the influx of immigrants has led to a housing boom unexplained by official population growth.

- In New Jersey, the three gateway towns are New Brunswick, Elizabeth, and Newark.

- Housing permits in these three towns shot up over six-fold, while the rest of the three counties only saw a three-fold increase.

- 80% of these permits were designated for multiple tenent dwellings.

- Official statistics state that illegal aliens in New Jersey have jumped 110% – an estimate that is inconsistent with the housing statistics. Local realtors' stats for multiple tenent housing and school enrollments suggest the number is higher.

- The major illegal alien gateway cities have experienced school enrollments much higher than projections.

- The decrease in the number of births in the past decade had led education administrators to expect decreasing school enrollments as a post echo boom trend.

- A higher immigration rate, however, has offset the impact of declining births.

- Enrollment stats for major illegal alien gateway city school districts that included: Queens, New York; Elizabeth, Newark and New Brunswick, New Jersey; and Wake County in North Carolina revealed explosive growth in immigrant students, far beyond numbers consistent with *legal* migration limits.

- NYC public school system is the largest in the nation, enrollment of 1.1 million students.

- Immigrant student enrollment for 1998-2001 was 103,000, with Queens accounting for the largest share, 37,000.

- Between 1990 and 2001, more than half of New York City’s school districts increased their enrollments 10% or more, driven by a high number of immigrant students.

- New York City Public Schools, 1999 to 2001: 102,867 immigrant students: Dominican Republic, China, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Ecuador, Colombia and Haiti.

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