Firm hired illegals to keep up with military contracts, feds say

[Judi Lynn]

Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Firm hired illegals to keep up with military contracts, feds say

BOSTON -- The owner of a New Bedford leather company was arrested after a raid at his company Tuesday and accused of hiring hundreds of illegal immigrants to work in "sweat shop" conditions so he could meet the demands of $91 million in military contracts.

Frances Insolia, 50, and three top managers were arrested after about 300 federal agents raided Michael Bianco Inc. at about 8:20 a.m.

About two thirds of the company's 500 employees were detained by immigration officials on suspicion of being in the U.S. illegally. The sweep caused chaos which saw some workers try to flee, only to be turned back by the bitter cold, said Bruce Foucart, Customs Enforcement Special Agent in Charge.

U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan accused Insolia of exploiting the illegals to maximize his profits on the military contracts.

Sullivan said workers were paid about $7 to $7.50 per hour and Insolia set up "deplorable conditions," including docking employees $15 for every minute they were late, and $20 fines for spending more than two minutes in the bathroom or talking while working.
(snip/...)

http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO45314/

[babylonsister]

1. So recommended. I smell more hypocrisy! Whaddaya know. nt

[whistle]

2. What kind of military contract were they working under I wonder?

[Bonhomme Richard]

6. They make load-bearing air survival vest. n/t

[denverbill]

3. Beyond despicable. I'm at a loss for words. n/t

[dkofos]

4. These people (and others like them) are the reason we have an immigration problem!!

[kestrel91316]

5. I'm shocked. Friends of Bushco NEVER break the law.

[Donnachaidh]

7. so is this owner going to face JAIL time?

And how about confiscating ALL his wordly goods for purposely doing something illegal?

He won't have to worry about his overhead with a cell, three hots and a cot.

[Sydnie]

15. They are going to face jail time according to the local news reports

tonight.

[Donnachaidh]

19. I hope so

The employers are the ones who REALLY should be hounded, arrested and jailed. ALL of them.

[dflprincess]

25. Exactly

I have a hard time getting too down on the undocumented workers, they're coming here for the same reasons my ancestors did. I've felt all along the real problem is the employers. There's no way I believe they don't know when they're hiring undocumented workers. (Everyone does background checks now, what comes back when they check on their new employees?). People wouldn't be coming here illegally if American employers weren't the first to break the law.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

8. GET THOSE PENTAGON DOLLARS YOU SLOBS

WHY DIDN'T PENTAGON CATCH THIS?

COMPLICIT, THAT IS WHY:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[Judi Lynn]

9. Kick.

:kick: :kick: :kick:

[Sydnie]

10. Immigration officials round up 300 employees in New Bedford 'sweat shop' raid

NEW BEDFORD (MA) — The owner and three managers of a South End manufacturing plant have been arrested on federal charges of hiring illegal immigrants.

<snip>

Between 300 and 350 illegal immigrants were rounded up during the raid, said U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan, who said about 60 percent of the plant's employees had Social Security numbers that were either invalid or didn't match their name.

<snip>

The company, Michael Bianco, Inc., was hiring illegal aliens as it tried to meet deadlines to supply backpacks and other products to the military, federal officials said in a court filing. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers raided the company this morning.

<snip>

U.S. Attorney Sullivan described the conditions at the plant as a "sweat shop"
"I'm not talking the 21st Century — the turn of the 20th Century — early 1900s," He said. "These are deplorable conditions that these workers essentially had to endure under and they were given no option. ... The conditions were horrible. Clearly they are exploited because of the fact they are here illegally."


Much, Much more about this at the link. http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/03-07/03-06-07/01barker1.htm

This company, according to local reports, was actually manufacturing the false ids themselves. All so they could meet a government contract and keep most of the profit for themselves!

[TomInTib]

11. I know quite a few people in the New Bedford area.

And, for the last few years, they have been shocked by the influx of immigrants. They were actually wondering why so many of them have decided to go to New Bedford.

I have been telling them that the immigrants didn't actually pick New Bedford, it just took them a while to get that far North.

[kestrel91316]

12. Sieze all the assets of the company involved and auction them off.

Give all the corporate officers and management folks who had a hand in the illegal hiring LONG terms in prison. And no, I don't mean in Club Fed. Supermax was more what I had in mind.

That ought to make these asswipes sit up and take notice.

And yes, deport the illegals.

[Sydnie]

13. this is nothing compared to what happens in the fish houses

New Bedford is one of the largest fishing ports in the northeast, if not the biggest. They hire illegals to cut and clean the fish, provide them with warehouses to sleep in ... they basically own these people. Their treatment is deplorable yet, they keep coming. they really just want to make some money and support their families and they are so mistreated.

If they prove that these people were creating the ids for these workers, then yes, I agree. They need to do the time. Perhaps working in a prison laundry making repairs on the prisoners clothes would be fitting?

[One_Life_To_Give]

23. Have the "employers" make gravel

And we can add 2 days to there sentence for each minute they are late in the morning. And 3 days each time they take more than 2 minutes for a bathroom break.

[fed-up]

14. Firm hired "illegals" so they could POCKET MORE (taxpayer) $$$$$$$$$$ nt

[Sydnie]

16. Update from my local news

They also reported a sad by-product of the action taken today. Many of the people who were rounded up and send to Fort Devon had children who were either in school or at a babysitter when they were bused out of the city. They had a check in center set up where other employees were attempting to locate the homes of those who were detained so they could attend to the children of the workers.

Imagine getting home from school and your mother just never comes home or being left at a babysitters and mom just never comes back? They had said that the majority of those detained will most likely be quickly deported. I feel so bad for those kids.

There was a record shop across the street from the factory also implicated. The owner of that store was supposed to be involved in either producing or arranging the production of the fake ids. Appears they even sold one to an INS undercover operative.

So many lives disrupted now it will take forever to straighten it all out.

[Marrah_G]

17. BULLSHIT

New Bedford and Fall River were decimated by the loss of the fishing industries. There are PLENTY of people out of work and looking for jobs. These assholes just wanted cheap labor that wouldn't complain about labor laws and practices. Fuck them, I hope the owners rot in prison for a very long time. This bullshit needs to stop!

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

18. There are PLENTY of people out of work and looking for jobs

Your right about that!

[pampango]

26. The immigration discussion always seems to come down to this.

One side says that the illegal immigrants are only doing jobs that Americans won't do and besides they are fleeing poverty and risking everything.

The other side says that there Americans have always done all kinds of jobs, but immigrants work for less and can be manipulated by employers, so they get hired instead of Americans.

What should we do? Eliminate immigration laws and let anyone come here that wants to. That should make the first group happy.

Or should we build up high walls, back them up with troops, enforce tough employer sanctions and eliminate illegal immigration all together and say to Hell with the rest of the world?

Is there some middle ground that we can agree on and would be enforceable, so that the new immigration laws were actually followed?

[SayWhatYo]

27. I don't understand what you mean...

"Or should we build up high walls, back them up with troops, enforce tough employer sanctions and eliminate illegal immigration all together and say to Hell with the rest of the world?"

How does tough anti-illegal immigration laws say "The hell with the rest of the world"? How is having tough sanctions against employers who hire illegal aliens a negative thing?

Does this apply to all countries or just the US? Have you ever checked out Canada's(or most other nations) imigrations laws? Are they saying "to hell with the rest of the world"?

[pampango]

28. The "high walls" strategy does not have to equate to an

isolationist approach to the rest of the world, but I think it would lead to that. You are right that Canada has pulled this off. I just don't know that we could.

It seems to me, though, that many American liberals, and some conservatives, want to protect American workers and companies from competition from immigrants and imported goods and services. (Some are more worried about outsourcing to and cheap imports from the Third World; some are more worried about illegal immigrants who compete with and put wage pressure on American workers. Often, the ones that worry about the former, are less concerned about the latter, and vice versa.) It worries me that the two groups could agree to build "walls" against immigration, imports and outsourcing and close off much of our interaction with the rest of the world.

The US can survive better than about any other country in the world as an isolationist nation, so it would not destroy us by any means to adopt an "American jobs for American workers producing goods for American consumers" economic philosophy. I just do not think it a good idea and I believe that a "high walls" approach to stopping illegal immigration would be a step in that direction.

I suspect we do agree that the current immigration mess of ignored laws, no or sporadic enforcement, little employer sanctions is a complete mess.

[closeupready]

20. This story would be a fine exhibit to arguments against the increasing gap between rich and poor

Obviously, in a free market economy, if you are going to be "rich", others must necessarily not make as much as you. If you make ever-more amounts of money and others make the same or even more but not as MUCH more, then you are doing well. Hiring illegals means you can pay the exact same amount year after year, never increasing for inflation or rising costs. This doesn't explain all of the increasing disparity between richest and poorest, but I do believe it explains a part of it.

[gratuitous]

21. Full employment in New Bedford?

Or is this another example of illegals taking jobs that our own workers won't do?

Because we know for a fact that it couldn't possibly be because Frances (I thought that was the female spelling?) Insolia and his managers were greedy fucks ripping off the Treasury and providing an inferior product to the military just to line their own pockets. And it surely would have run poor Mr. Insolia out of business to pay a living wage.

If these charges are true, I hope that Mr. Insolia is sent for an extended stay in the Gray Bar Hotel. Thirty years seems a just recompense to me. And no, I don't believe I'll worry overmuch about his family.

[Megahurtz]

22. That's Privitization for ya.

America On The Cheap.

[Javaman]

24. I wonder when those Federal Agents will be fired? nt