Delaware County Dairy Cattle Farmer Sentenced for Illegal Alien Harboring

A Delaware County, Iowa, man was sentenced on December 31, 2015, after having pled guilty in federal court in Cedar Rapids to one count of harboring, encouraging, and inducing an alien to reside in the United States for the purpose of commercial advantage or personal financial gain.

Michael Thomas Millenkamp, age 47, of rural Earlville, Iowa, owner and operator of Mike Millenkamp Dairy Cattle (MMDC), was sentenced to serve three months in the custody of the United States Bureau of Prisons.  He was also ordered to pay a fine of $5,000 and to forfeit $245,000 to the United States.  Millenkamp will serve a term of 3 years supervised release following completion of his sentence to imprisonment. 

As part of the conditions of supervised release, Millenkamp will be required to complete Immigration Forms I-9 for all of his employees and to maintain copies of all identification documents provided for purposes of employment. Millenkamp will also be required to make at least two presentations at annual conventions sponsored by the Iowa Cattle Industry, Iowa Cattlemen’s Association, Iowa Farm Bureau, Iowa Farmers Union, or similar groups of statewide membership concerning his case.  If he is unable to arrange such presentations, Millenkamp will be permitted to submit letters to the editor or guest editorials to newspapers concerning his case.  Millenkamp also agreed to retain the services of a technical service provider to assess and audit any environmental concerns with his animal feeding operations and to ensure ongoing compliance with State of Iowa Water Quality Standards.  If the environmental assessment indicates deficiencies in Millenkamp’s operations, he will be required to remediate those problems.  Finally, Millenkamp agreed to participate in a government program that will help verify the validity of identity documents provided for employment.

In a plea agreement, Millenkamp admitted that between 2007 and 2011, he employed numerous illegal aliens at his business near Earlville.  Some of the illegal alien employees were permitted to reside at one or more farms owned by him.  Millenkamp admitted he told one illegal alien:

“these people I know, they’re my friends, and they’re like, Mike why are you hiring people that are illegal?  Why are you hiring people illegal Mike?  I said, I don’t know.  But I knew I had to lie, I had to lie.” 

In statements to the Court at sentencing, the prosecutor noted Millenkamp acknowledged at least five workers he had employed were illegally in the country.  However, records showed at least 16 other foreign born workers had documents with invalid identification numbers or belonging to another person.

When imposing sentence, Chief United States District Court Judge Linda R. Reade noted defendant’s prior criminal record, including two OWI convictions and 19 speeding tickets.  The Court also noted it was important to hold employers accountable for compliance with the laws regarding employment eligibility verification.

United States Attorney Kevin W. Techau stated, “I hope Iowa business owners are listening. You can go to prison for knowingly employing undocumented workers. Violating federal law is not a good business strategy.  We are committed to preserving the rule of law.  Employers that seek to gain an unfair business advantage over their competitors by using illegal workers should take note of this sentence.  Investigations like this one are an essential part of our enforcement strategy.”

Techau went on to note, “We remain resolute in our responsibility to hold employers accountable for their actions and to give law-abiding businesses a fair chance to compete.  As an agricultural businessman, Mr. Millenkamp’s “lesson learned” presentations to the Iowa Cattle Industry and Iowa Farm Bureau members about his crimes, as well as the requirement that his animal feeding operations be monitored to ensure compliance with State of Iowa Water Quality Standards, are a significant component of his sentence.”  

Recognizing the diligent investigative efforts, U.S. Attorney Techau concluded by stating, “I would like to thank our partners at Home land Security Investigations for their hard work on this important investigation.”

The case was being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Richard L. Murphy and was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations. 

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.  The case file number is 15-CR-02031-LRR.

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