Police: Texas smuggling bust has Maine ties
Federal authorities said they’ve broken up a Houston smuggling ring that recruited people to enter the country illegally and work below minimum wage in Chinese restaurants in seven states, including Maine.
The Associated Press reported the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations division alleges the Hong Li and Tai Shan employment agencies operated in Houston along the same business model over 10 years, supplying workers mostly from Mexico and Central America to work 12-hour shifts at below minimum wage.
Greg Palmore, a Houston-based spokesman with ICE, told Mainebiz that no Maine restaurant owners were accused of involvement in hiring workers in the United States illegally. According to a grand jury indictment in the case, officials believe two workers were hired illegally in 2010 and 2011 at a restaurant in Brewer.
Federal authorities said the arrest of 21 people Thursday came after a three-year investigation that found the agencies had recruited restaurants to hire its workers through Chinese language newspapers and websites.
ICE officials could not immediately provide the names of Maine restaurants suspected to have hired workers from the two Texas agencies or other information about the number of people sent to work here in connection with the case.
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