The Farms - Indictment of Company Managers
Press Conference
December 4, 2008
On July 20th, federal agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 43 illegal Mexican workers at a Waipahu apartment complex on Oahu. All of these undocumented aliens worked at The Farms Inc., which is an agricultural business located in the Ewa area of Oahu.
Based on the evidence, federal charges were thereafter filed against 23 of these individuals for possession and use of fraudulent identification documents - in which they falsely represented that they were authorized to work in the U.S. (Using Fraud Green Card for Work, Using Fraud SSN for Work, and Poss Fraud Green Card).
In September, seven (7) of these Defendants plead guilty to the Counts 1 and 2 and agreed to cooperate in furthering this investigation.
Now, in the course of this investigation, agents conducted an audit of the employment records for The Farms. This audit determined that the company had a total of 102 current and past employees. It is significant to know that of these 102 employees, 96 of them had used false identification information and documents on their employment forms even though they were illegal aliens.
Addtionally, both Mr. David Kato or Mr. Glen Kelley McCaig signed these employment forms on behalf of Farms Inc., verifying to the Government that the information provided on the I-9 employment forms were true. They acted in their managerial capacity and as duly authorized representatives of The Farms.
I have said previously that undocumented workers and those who knowingly employ them - deprive our citizens of employment opportunities - especially during these hard economic times. I said then, and I still strongly believe, that these illegal aliens and their employers are stealing our jobs and wages from our people and our families, --- and that they should be held accountable.
I also clearly announced that if you were knowingly hiring illegal aliens, you better keep looking over your shoulder because we intended to come after you for your criminal conduct.
Today, I announce that David Kato and Glen Kelley McCaig were indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury for being accomplices to the filling out of fraudulent I-9 employment verification forms, - and for providing false statements to the Government in attesting that the I-9 forms contained true and correct information, when they in fact knew they were lying to the Government.
The maximum penalty for these crimes are:
- 10 years imprisonment for each Employment Eligibility Fraud Count [False statement on form required by immigration laws - 1546(a) offenses];
- 5 years imprisonment for each False Statements Count [1001(a)(2) offenses]; and
- 5 years imprisonment for each Social Security Fraud Count [Misrepresentation of Social Security Number - 42 U.S.C. 408(a)(7)(B) offenses]
- Additionally, each Defendant is subject to a maximum fine of $250,000 per count that he is convicted of.
Both Defendants Kato and McCaig used a criminal scheme in order to hire illegal aliens to do work for The Farms. These two were part of a cover up to hide the status of these illegal aliens workers by making sure that the fraudulent identification documents used by the aliens looked legitimate, - and the Defendants also took other steps to promote the hiring of - and the hiding of these illegal aliens from being discovered.
The initial appearance for both Defendants is currently set for 3:00 o’clock p.m. today in the Courtroom of the Honorable Magistrate Kevin Chang.
I will be honest with you. Making a case against an employer is very difficult, because the laws do not require any employer to go beyond just looking at an employee's identification documents.
The law does not require companies to spend just a few more minutes to verify the authenticity of the paperwork submitted by those who are being hired. This lack of follow-through is frustrating, but we will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute employers whenever possible, because they are the important ones who should be held accountable for these types of crimes.
For those companies who wish to make sure that the individuals they hire are authorized to work in the United States, their job is very simple and it takes only a minute or two to verify the status of hirees.
E-Verify is an online system operated jointly by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration. Participating employers can check the work status of new hires online by comparing information from an employee's I-9 form with over 444 million records in the Social Security Administration database, and more than 60 million records in Department of Homeland Security immigration database.
More than 87,000 employers are already enrolled in the program, with over 6.5 million queries run so far in fiscal year 2008.
E-Verify is free and voluntary for all employers, and the results of your inquiry will take just a minute or two. It is the best means available for determining employment eligibility for new hires, and the number of registered employers using this program is growing by over 1,000 companies per week.
The merits of this program is so successful that as of June 9, 2008, all federal agencies has been ordered to require contractors on federal jobs to use this type of electronic system to verify their workers' employment eligibility.
Clearly, taking a few seconds to verify the status of your new employee is worth it, and this definitely outweighs the potential loss of the employee in the future due to immigration issues. This can also greatly assist investigators in quickly determining that you and your company had no culpability or criminal involvement assuming that an illegal alien was accidentally hired.
As I indicated, there is no Federal or Hawaii State law mandating electronic employment verification. Thus, I am requesting that our state legislature examine this issue and determine whether or not to require all businesses in Hawaii to use an electronic employment verification system - similar to other states like Arizona on the mainland. Unless or until employment verification is required, more and more of our citizens will be deprived of the opportunity to work in these hard economic times, and our job to catch these employers of illegal aliens will remain difficult.
I would like to thank ICE Special Agent in Charge Wayne Wills for his agency’s outstanding job in furthering this investigation. I would also like to that the U.S. Marshal Service and the State Sheriff’s Department for their assistance in this case.
This case will be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Hino. This case is still under further investigation, and I will not comment on other aspects of the case or the possibility of future charges.