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Press Release

Maryland Woman Indicted for Alien Harboring and Withholding Immigration Documents to Maintain Labor and Services of Zimbabwean National

For Immediate Release
Office of Public Affairs

An indictment was unsealed today in the U.S. District Court of Maryland charging Shingaizdo Nhekairo, 49, of Arnold, Maryland, with one count of alien harboring for financial gain and one count of unlawful conduct with respect to immigration documents. The indictment was announced by Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur.

According to the indictment, between 2006 and 2014, the defendant harbored the victim, a national of Zimbabwe. The indictment further alleges that the defendant concealed the victim’s immigration status for purposes of financial gain and confiscated the victim’s passport to maintain her labor and services.

An indictment is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. If convicted of alien harboring, the defendant faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. The crime of unlawful conduct with respect to immigration documents carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison and requires mandatory restitution.

The case is being investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Baltimore Division, with assistance from the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ayn Ducao of the District of Maryland and Trial Attorneys Vasantha Rao and Emily Savner of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.

Updated March 27, 2019

Topics
Civil Rights
Human Trafficking
Press Release Number: 18-874