M.C. Law Group Attorney Alex Meyerovich Explains Legal Fees

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- At M.C. Law Group, we know that hiring an attorney is a serious financial decision. However, in many immigration cases, hiring the cheapest attorney can cost you more money in the long run. At M.C. Law Group, we provide exceptional service for reasonable fees, and we include many services in your legal fees that other attorneys leave out.

Watch the video below to see Attorney Alex Meyerovich explain how M.C. Law Group fees are different from other immigration attorneys.

Learn more about M.C. Law Group

Honduran National Sentenced for Hostage-Taking and Alien-Harboring

A Honduran national was sentenced Monday, November 5, 2012, to 35 years in federal prison following multiple convictions in a hostage-taking and alien-harboring conspiracy, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas. The investigation was conducted by the Houston Police Department (HPD), and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Cesar Avila, 38, was sentenced Nov. 5 to 420 months in prison and ordered him to pay a $1,000 special assessment fee by U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal. Avila was convicted of hostage-taking conspiracy, four counts of hostage-taking, using a firearm during a crime of violence, and four counts of aiding and abetting the harboring of illegal aliens. Avila was convicted by a jury following a three day jury trial that concluded June 6.

Additional testimony was presented by one of two female victims who Avila sexually assaulted. She provided graphic testimony about how she was abused, and how that abuse has affected her. In handing down the sentence, Judge Rosenthal noted that Avila's statement that he had himself been a victim of smugglers was "chilling" in light of the evidence presented at trial. As an illegal alien, Avila is expected to face deportation proceedings after he completes his 35-year prison sentence.

Trial testimony showed that on Aug. 19, 2011, the Houston Emergency Center received a 911 call from a subject who spoke only Spanish. The victim advised he was being held against his will at a house in Houston by alien smugglers who had been hired to smuggle him to an unspecified location in the United States. He claimed Avila was armed with a handgun and had threatened them with death, and they were in fear of their lives.

HPD officers eventually located the residence on the 100 block of Jamaica Street in Houston. The location had no windows and the French doors on the north side of the residence had the glass panes covered with aluminum foil. Once inside the location, several people, who were later identified as hostages, began pointing to Avila as the hostage-taker and smuggler. Officers also discovered a semi-automatic handgun and a ledger detailing payments by the smuggling organization under the mattress where Avila was sitting.

Several of the aliens who were held hostage also identified Carlos Martinez-Aguilar, 44, an illegal alien from Mexico. They stated that Martinez-Aguilar came into the building where they were being held and drank beer with Avila in the hours prior to law enforcement arriving. They also stated that Martinez-Aguilar asked about the status of payments of smuggling fees. The victims indicated Martinez-Aguilar was not involved in abuse or threats, and he had provided them food and blankets. Officers discovered Martinez-Aguilar had been living in the larger house in front of the building where the aliens were housed.

One of the victims advised officers he had been in the Houston area for about eight days, and had been moved from house to house in the Houston area with five other aliens. He admitted he was in the country illegally and that he had paid smugglers $5,000 to smuggle him into the United States. He identified Avila as the subject who was holding him. He stated that Avila was constantly armed with the handgun, and had threatened to kill him if he tried to escape. Further testimony revealed that the smugglers were threatening to kill him if his family did not pay an additional $5,000.

The mother of one of the victims testified at trial that she and her family had been contacted by smugglers demanding more money and threatening her son's life, as well as the life of her family if the additional money was not paid. She was so frightened she contacted police who conducted surveillance to protect them. Her daughter also testified that the family raised money by borrowing it from friends, and they sent as much money as they could via wire transfer to smugglers in Mexico.

Avila will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

Martinez-Aguilar was previously sentenced to 36 months in prison after previously pleading guilty to one count of harboring illegal aliens.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Julie Searle and Douglas Davis, Southern District of Texas, prosecuted the case.

Corporation Pleads Guilty to Knowingly Hiring Illegal Alien for McDonald's Manager

A Kansas corporation agreed to plead guilty Wednesday, October 31, 2012, to an immigration charge after a federal investigation showed that the manager of one of its McDonald's restaurants in Wichita was an illegal alien. This announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom, District of Kansas.

This guilty plea agreement resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with the assistance of the Social Security Administration's Office of Inspector General.

McCalla Corporation, a McDonald's restaurant franchisee with offices in Wichita, was charged Oct. 31 with one felony count of knowingly accepting a fraudulent identification document offered as proof that an employee was eligible to work. As part of the plea agreement, the corporation agreed to pay a $300,000 fine, and an additional $100,000 forfeiture judgment.

The case is the second time in two months that a Kansas company has been charged with knowingly employing illegal workers. In the other case, the owners of two hotels in Overland Park, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo., were charged with knowingly hiring illegal workers for housekeeping jobs.

"ICE is committed to holding businesses accountable when they knowingly hire or retain illegal workers," said Gary Hartwig, special agent in charge of HSI Chicago. "Employers who willfully violate our nation's hiring laws gain an unfair economic advantage over their law-abiding competitors. Our goal is to protect job opportunities for the nation's legal workers and level the playing field for those businesses that play by the rules."

"Businesses that knowingly hire undocumented workers are putting us all at risk," said U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom. "They are creating a marketplace for unauthorized workers who may resort to presenting false documents to gain employment, completing applications for fraudulent benefits and even stealing the identities of legal U.S. workers. Employment is the primary driving force behind illegal immigration. I'm calling on all Kansas employers to strengthen their hiring practices and to help us safeguard this nation by hiring and maintaining a lawful workforce."

According to an affidavit, the investigation began in February 2011 when HSI received information that McCalla Corporation employed illegal workers. McCalla Corporation owns McDonald's restaurants at the following six Wichita locations:

·                             1630 S. Hillside

·                             11989 E. Kellogg

·                             501 E. Pawnee

·                             1219 S. Rock Road

·                             2418 S. Seneca

·                             1645 S. Webb Road

In the plea agreement, McCalla Corporation admitted that in March 2011 the company's director of operations became aware that one of its store managers was using a false Social Security number. The director told the McDonald's store manager she needed to provide him new documents to confirm her eligibility to work.

Two days later, the store manager presented a resident alien identification card. The director knew the new card was not genuine. He knew that it takes weeks, not just two days, for a foreign national to obtain a resident alien card. Nevertheless, he updated her paperwork and McCalla Corporation took no further action concerning her employment. She worked as a store manager for this corporation from May 2009 to September 2012.

Grissom said he expects McCalla Corporation to enter the guilty plea within the next three weeks, as the court's schedule permits.

Owner of L.A. Employment Agency Charged with Filing Fraudulent Work Visa Applications

The owner of a Los Angeles employment agency was indicted Thursday, November 1, 2012, on immigration fraud charges for allegedly filing more than 100 bogus work visa petitions on behalf of aliens she falsely claimed had been recruited for positions with prominent hospitals and non-profit organizations.

Lilia Tabafunda, 57, the owner of People's Resources International Services in the Wilshire Center district of Los Angeles, was named in a 10-count indictment returned the afternoon of Thursday, November 1, 2012, by a federal grand jury. The indictment charges Tabafunda with nine counts of visa fraud and one count of perjury. Two of the charges involve alleged fraud and false statements related to Tabafunda's own naturalization application.

"Visa fraud crimes often involve the unwitting and the desperate," said U.S. Attorney André Birotte Jr. "Tabafunda allegedly took this exploitation to new heights, falsely claiming associations with some of America's most trusted organizations, including internationally known cancer centers. Tabafunda exploited the goodwill of these groups for personal gain, shamelessly seeking to compromise the integrity of our naturalization system along the way."

The charges are the result of a probe by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Department of Labor's Office of the Inspector General. The investigation began in 2007 after HSI received a lead from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' (USCIS) Fraud Detection and National Security Unit that Tabafunda was filing suspicious H-1B non-immigrant visa petitions.

Tabafunda was arrested Oct. 15 by HSI after she attempted to board a Mexico-bound cruise ship, despite prior instructions from special agents not to leave the country. Tabafunda made her initial court appearance the following day and was released on $50,000 bond.

Court documents in the case allege that for nearly a decade Tabafunda used the names of shell companies and non-profit organizations in fraudulent employment-based, non-immigrant visa petitions submitted to USCIS and the U.S. Department of Labor. According to the indictment, Tabafunda falsely claimed that her clients were being sought for positions by prominent organizations, including City of Hope, Barlow Respiratory Hospital in Los Angeles and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Among the jobs listed on the fraudulent employment visa petitions were budget analysts, clinical research specialists and "health educators."

Employment-based visas are normally issued when a business in the United States needs someone to fill a specific job and is unable to find a qualified employee in the domestic labor pool. The business can file a petition to allow a particular alien, who is qualified to fill the job, to enter the United States to work for the business.

"It's disturbing that someone would exploit the names of respected hospitals and public service organizations as part of a scheme to defraud the government and the American people," said Claude Arnold, Special Agent in Charge for HSI Los Angeles. "Our message is simple – America's legal immigration system is not for sale and HSI will move aggressively against those who compromise the integrity of that system simply to enrich themselves."

According to court documents, Tabafunda charged her clients anywhere from $2,500 to $10,000 to file visa petitions on their behalf. Most of Tabafunda's clients were Philippine nationals who originally entered the United States on tourist visas.

"Immigration fraud is a serious national problem and this indictment is an outstanding example of all levels of the government working together to fight fraud," said Rosemary Langley Melville, director, USCIS California Service Center. "USCIS officers encountered this scam while processing requests for immigration benefits and worked seamlessly with federal partners to identify and investigate this case. We will continue to identify those who threaten the integrity of our immigration system."

Tabafunda is scheduled to be arraigned on the indictment Nov. 13 in U.S. District Court. If she is convicted of all 10 counts in the indictment, Tabafunda would face a maximum statutory penalty of 95 years in federal prison.

Abel Salinas, special agent in charge of the Los Angeles Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, stated: "Today's indictment reflects our commitment to investigate allegations of fraud involving the Department of Labor Foreign Labor Certification programs. The Office of Inspector General will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to combat these types of crimes."

Fake Immigration Attorney Arrested for Fraud

A Tijuana man who allegedly posed as an immigration attorney has been arrested on state charges for defrauding at least two individuals as part of a scam to collect fees for phony immigration-related legal services while working at an office in San Ysidro.

Alberto Rodrigo Garcia, 50, of Tijuana, Mexico, was taken into custody Thursday, November 1, 2012, at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry by special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Garcia was expected to be arraigned in state court Monday, November 5, 2012, on felony charges of grand theft and practicing law without a license.

"Our office does not tolerate scammers who take advantage of innocent victims," said San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis. "Our Economic Crimes Unit does an outstanding job prosecuting these types of cases and bringing a measure of justice to those who were defrauded."

After receiving a tip, HSI began investigating Garcia in May. So far, the probe has identified two victims who paid more than $5,000 for what they believed were legitimate immigration services rendered by Garcia. Special agents suspect others may have fallen prey to the same scam.

"Protecting the integrity of the nation's immigration system is a top priority for HSI," said Derek Benner, special agent in charge for HSI San Diego. "As part of our ongoing efforts to protect the community from immigration fraudsters, we are seeking the public's assistance to help identify other potential victims."

Anyone with information that may be related to this case is asked to call 619-550-5183.
According to a case affidavit, Garcia met with at least two victims on separate occasions and offered to file paperwork to legally immigrate one man's spouse and another man's fiancée.

As part of his illegitimate immigration-related services, Garcia advertised using business cards that identified his business as a professional attorney service. He also provided receipts with stamps that identified him as the owner of Alberto R. Garcia, Inc. Garcia is also a licensed tax preparer.

During ensuing meetings, the victims reported they gave Garcia personal documents, such as birth and marriage certificates, passport photos, and payments to file the required paperwork.

When one of the victims subsequently went to the San Ysidro office to ask about the status of his case, he was advised that Garcia no longer worked there, but had opened a new office near the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana.

Chinese Nationals Arrested for Harboring and Unlawfully Employing Illegal Aliens

Three Chinese nationals from the Katy, Texas, area were taken into custody Thursday, October 25, 2012, following the return of an indictment alleging a conspiracy to harbor and induce illegal aliens to reside in the U.S, and unlawful employment.

These arrests were announced by U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas. The investigation is being conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

The indictment indicates Song Yu, 32, Hue Chen, 36, and Cheng Jie Chen, 40, hired illegal aliens from Guatemala to work at the Bamboo Village, aka New Bamboo Village restaurant. In addition, some of these aliens were allegedly directed to obtain fraudulent work authorization documents. They never presented identification documents and never completed I-9 forms, as required by law, according to the indictment. The indictment further alleges illegal aliens and other workers were provided housing, and were transported to and from the restaurant.

Bamboo Village restaurant is a Chinese restaurant located on the 5100 block of Avenue H, in Rosenberg, Texas. Cheng Jie Chen was its original director and president. On April 5, 2010, the restaurant changed the corporation name to New Bamboo Village Inc., at which time Yu, Cheng Jie Chen's nephew, was named as the director and president.

Federal law requires employers to hire only U.S. citizens and aliens who are authorized to work in the United States. Further, employers must verify employment eligibility using the Employment Eligibility Verification Form (I-9). The employer is required to examine, at the time of hire, the documentation provided by the individual that establishes his identity and employment eligibility to ensure the documents presented appear to be genuine and relate to the individual. The employer must retain the I-9 forms for three years after the date of the hire or one year after the date the individual's employment is terminated, whichever is later.

On March 24, 2009, HSI special agents encountered and arrested illegal aliens at a residence on the 4900 block of Timber Lane in Rosenberg. These individuals, who did not have the proper I-9 documentation, allegedly worked at Bamboo Village and resided at the Timber Lane location. According to the indictment, they were transported daily to work at the restaurant.

HSI issued a warning notice to the restaurant on or about July 1, 2010, advising then owner Chen Jie Chen of the penalties associated with knowingly hiring and employing illegal aliens, and the lack of the I-9 forms.

On Aug. 22, 2012, HSI personnel again encountered more illegal aliens who were arrested at the same Timber Lane residence. At the time, all were allegedly being housed by the defendants at this location while working at New Bamboo Village.

The three were expected to make their initial appearances before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Johnson Oct. 26. If convicted of the conspiracy charge, they face up to 10 years in prison, as well as a maximum $250,000 fine. Unlawfully employing illegal aliens carries an additional six-month prison term, and a $3,000 fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Suzanne Elmilady, Southern District of Texas, is prosecuting the case.
An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until convicted through due process of law.

Michigan Man Convicted in Extreme Human Trafficking Case

A Michigan resident was found guilty Tuesday, October 20, 2012, by a federal jury, after less than a day of deliberation, on charges related to the forced slavery of minors from his native Togo. The verdict was announced by U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Acting Special Agent in Charge William Hayes.

Evidence introduced during the trial established that Jean-Claude "Kodjo" Toviave, a native of Togo, West Africa, used force, and threats of force, to obtain the domestic labor of four minors from Togo from January 2006 to January 2011. Toviave brought the four minors into the United States by giving them passports with false names and dates of birth. In immigration documents, Toviave represented that the four individuals were his biological children.

Toviave pleaded guilty Feb. 24 to visa fraud, mail fraud and harboring aliens in connection with bringing the four minors to Michigan from Togo.

The four victims testified at trial that Toviave regularly beat them with broomsticks, a toilet plunger, sticks, ice scrappers and phone chargers if they failed to obey his orders to complete household labor. The victims' testimonies during trial detailed the work they were forced to do on a weekly, and occasionally, daily basis, spanning nearly five years. They were required to cook and clean for the household, wash laundry by hand, iron Toviave's suits, shine his shoes, wash and vacuum his car, babysit his friends' children and clean a friend's home. In addition to force and threats of force, Toviave used food and sleep deprivation as punishment for the minors.

"This conviction is a victory not only for the young victims in this particular case, but also for human dignity and the rule of law," said Hayes. "HSI is fully committed to working with our law enforcement partners, both local and international, to combat the crime of human trafficking. Sadly, this crime occurs every day in America. We encourage anyone who suspects that human trafficking or forced labor is occurring in their community to report it to authorities immediately."

"Many people are shocked to learn that slavery and human trafficking still exist in this country, but the victims are often hiding in plain sight," said McQuade. "We are working with victim advocates and law enforcement agencies to expose these crimes. This conviction and the liberation of these victims occurred because of the diligence of school teachers, advocates, investigators and prosecutors."

Toviave's sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 6, 2013, where he faces a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.