On Tuesday, Feb. 27, federal, state and local law enforcement officials announced that as a result of a joint investigation, five managers and former managers of IFCO Systems, a pallet company that operates a facility in Guilderland, pleaded guilty to charges of transporting, harboring and employing illegal aliens.
The managers admitted guilt in relation to unlawful practices that occurred in Guilderland and four other plants nationwide. These practices included hiring unauthorized aliens, obtaining fraudulent work documents, and transporting and housing illegal aliens.
Glenn T. Suddaby, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, called the results of the investigation pointed at management level officials very significant.
`This type of corporate practice can’t be allowed,` said Suddaby. `They create a situation of throwaway employees.`
A worksite enforcement action was conducted at more than 40 IFCO plants nationwide, allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to detain nearly 1,200 illegal aliens working at the plants.
From October 2004 to April 2006, officials said IFCO employed 81 illegal aliens, most of whom came from Central America to the Guilderland plant located in the Northeastern Industrial Park.
Suddaby thanked Guilderland police for their `heads-up` police work, acknowledging that the department `provided significant information and support early on, which enabled us to move ahead with this investigation.`
`We had a hit-and-run personal automobile injury accident that occurred in our town that involved some of the employees of IFCO,` said Guilderland police officer Chuck Tanner, who participated in the investigation of the case. The car involved in the accident was carrying four employees of IFCO, said Tanner, and the driver ran following the accident. Tanner said Guilderland police were able to track the vehicle’s occupants to a motor inn, and ICE was contacted.
Following the accident described by Tanner, Robert Belvin, a manager at the Guilderland plant, advised the two workers who were not charged to keep their identification documents in the trunk of their vehicles to avoid arrest, and to stop making disturbances that would attract police attention, according to the plea agreement.
Again, under the direction of the former New Market Development manager, James Rice, Belvin admitted in his plea to have manipulated employee paperwork to keep illegal aliens employed. In one instance, a worker was fired under the name and Social Security number he had been using and then hired back under a new name and Social Security number.
Both Belvin and Rice were charged with felonies and face up to 10 years in prison and heavy fines when they are sentenced in June. The three other men pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges and face up to six months in prison and fines.
Charges remain pending against three other managers and the investigation is continuing.
Officials representing ICE, the New York State police, the Social Security administration, the Internal Revenue Service and more all attributed the success of the investigation to the collab-orative efforts of every agency involved.
`This is the type of cooperative law enforcement you write books about,` said Suddaby.
According to Suddaby, this investigation would provide the basis by which future illegal alien investigations would operate, and management would continued to be targeted by law enforcement as a means to slow illegal operations happening at businesses like IFCO.
`We’re not just rounding up illegal aliens,` said Suddaby. `You’re going after the reason they come.`
An important reason this practice needs to be stopped, said Suddaby, is because industries employing illegal aliens have an unfair competitive advantage.
An owner of a local competitor of IFCO agreed.
`It was very tough to compete with them,` said Sam Donadio, owner of Power Pallet in Amsterdam. Donadio said he was surprised at the findings of the investigation but added that IFCO’s ability to offer its products at the prices they did now `made sense.`
`The impact it can have on the local economy is significant,` said Suddaby.
In a statement, IFCO defended its corporate policy and said it had cooperated fully with investigators. The company’s guiding principle, the statement said, has always been to abide by federal and state employment laws and regulations.
`These events are deeply disturbing to the company,` read the statement. `The government’s allegations regarding certain events that occurred largely in Albanywere not part of any companywide plan, scheme or practice to violate the United States immigration laws.`
No charges have been brought against the company.“