Chinatown raid targets exploitation of illegal workers

Agents detain suspects and suspected illegal immigrants after raiding a business in southwest Houston on Thursday. Raid teams of federal agents served search warrants at two businesses in the Chinatown area. Agents detain suspects and suspected illegal immigrants after raiding a business in southwest Houston on Thursday. Raid teams of federal agents served search warrants at two businesses in the Chinatown area. Photo: Cody Duty, Houston Chronicle Photo: Cody Duty, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 29 Caption Close Chinatown raid targets exploitation of illegal workers 1 / 29 Back to Gallery

Federal agents arrested the owners of two employment agencies in Houston's vibrant Chinatown on Thursday and charged them with allegedly providing hundreds of undocumented workers, mostly from Latin America, to prep food, bus tables and wash dishes in Chinese restaurants.

The Chinatown raid came as part of a multistate crackdown by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that led to the arrest of 21 other owners and managers of Chinese restaurants in South Texas, Louisiana and parts of Arkansas who allegedly employed and exploited the illegal workers.

"You have two businesses, two placement agencies, that in essence built a business model where the commodity was illegal workers," said Brian Moskowitz, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Houston. "They acquired and delivered illegal workers to greedy restaurant owners around the country."

The restaurant workers were required to put in 12-hour days, labored six days a week and were not paid overtime or allowed to keep tips or gratuities, agents said. The restaurant owners paid the workers in cash, avoiding paying employment taxes, and did not provide their undocumented workers with health insurance, vacation or sick time, officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.

In Houston, ICE agents arrested Lina Sun, 54, owner of the Long Li Job Agency at 9107 Bellaire Blvd., and a competitor several doors away, Chenglun Ma, 57, owner of Tai Shan Employment Agency, of 9115 Bellaire Blvd., agents confirmed.

The Houston agencies used a fleet of vans to deliver their undocumented workers to restaurant jobs in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas and employed a team of eight drivers, agents said.

"The workers, who were primarily from Mexico and Central America, worked in less-than-desirable conditions, were paid below minimum wage, received no benefits, we're provided housing that was substandard, and weren't allowed to keep tips or gratuities," Moskowitz said. "At the end, this is a crime about greed, profit and money."

Federal indictment

Sun allegedly charged undocumented workers a $300 to $630 fee to place them with a restaurant, which was deducted from their first month's wages. Workers were paid a flat salary of $1,000 to $2,000 a month for workweeks of 72 hours, according to a federal indictment unsealed in Beaumont.

In some cases, the workers lived in confined quarters provided by their employers, where they slept on the floor or on air mattresses, authorities said. Agents confirmed that during the investigation they discovered 18 people crowded into a 2,000-square-foot house in Port Arthur.

By late Thursday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had arrested 23 of the 32 men and women charged in the employment conspiracy. Ten of those charged were from Houston, and another 22 suspects were being sought in Sugar Land, Missouri City, San Marcos, Brownwood, Dallas, Port Arthur and Sanger, as well as cities in Louisiana and Arkansas, Moskowitz confirmed.

The case is being prosecuted from Beaumont by U.S. Attorney John M. Bales, where the investigation began last year.

ICE agents originally detained 11 Hispanic men who were found living in apartments next to the Bellaire Boulevard job agencies, but two with legal status were later released.

Most of those men were thought to be kitchen workers and some may be held as material witnesses or deported, ICE authorities said.

Border security at risk

Moskowitz said the two Houston employment firms did not directly smuggle immigrants into the country, but they became known nationwide as a reliable source of undocumented workers.

"By supporting and offering jobs they serve as a magnet for those who want to come here illegally," he said. "They just make border security more difficult by encouraging more people to come here illegally, and to those who are already here to burrow in deeper, to hide deeper in the shadows."

Shortly after dawn Thursday, more than a dozen federal agents could be seen searching the offices of the two businesses located on the first floor of a row of two-story buildings along Bellaire.

A government helicopter circled the storefront locations in the 9100 block of Bellaire as agents led a group of Hispanic men into waiting vans.

Other agents could be seen gathering paperwork in the offices, part of an effort to examine business records that would document the extent of the group's profits.

The arrests took place along a strip of Asian-owned businesses that included a photo processing shop, doctor's offices, a pharmacy, a foot massage parlor and beauty parlor.

One of the adjacent business owners said he was unaware of his neighbor's activity, and did not approve.

"Not good," said Xiulan Wang of K Photo, where passport photographs are taken. "I think all the people in this country need to be legal - that's very important."

Worker can relate

One young Hispanic man, who said he works in the kitchen of a Chinese restaurant, was returning to the apartments as the ICE agents were wrapping up their search. He was sympathetic to the plight of the detained workers.

"They were only looking for a job, they are not here to rob," said the 19-year-old, who would only give his first name, Manuel. "Look, I'm from Guatemala, and we are here looking for work."