3 illegals charged after Lindon raid (Daily Herald)

3 illegals charged after Lindon raid
Grace Leong - DAILY HERALD

Three workers arrested during an immigration raid earlier this month at Universal Industrial Sales of Lindon were charged with illegally re-entering the country after being deported, according to federal criminal indictments returned by a grand jury on Wednesday. The three workers, all Mexican nationals, face up to two years in federal prison if convicted.
Juan Carlos Ibanez-Tovar, 29, is charged with illegally re-entering the United States after he was deported on April 26, 2001. Alejandro Sanchez-Manjarez, 25, is charged with re-entering the country after he was deported on Sept. 22, 2006. Gerardo Reyes Montelongo-Martinez, 35, is charged with re-entering the United States after being deported on Dec. 21, 2002.
According to the grand jury indictment, the three men violated federal laws when they failed to get approval from the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to re-enter the country.
The three men were among 57 illegal workers arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Feb. 7, which took out more than half of Universal's 100-plus work force in Lindon. Of the 57 men arrested, 51 were immigrants from Mexico, two were from Argentina, two from Uruguay, one from El Salvador and one from Honduras, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said.
Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Utah, said federal prosecutors received five of the 57 cases for criminal prosecution. "I can't say if there are more indictments coming. But initial appearances for the three men are scheduled next week, and they'll have an opportunity to enter a plea, and a trial schedule will be set," she said.
ICE also referred 30 of those cases to the Utah County Attorney's Office for criminal prosecution. The 30 workers were charged with third-degree felonies of forgery and identity fraud in 4th District Court two weeks ago.
The ICE raid was conducted at the same time two indictments by the U.S. Attorney's Office were unsealed on Feb. 7.
Universal, a maker of guard rails, bridge rails and signs, was charged with 10 criminal counts of harboring illegal immigrants, all of whom were employed between January 2003 and December 2006, according to the indictment filed on Jan. 23.
A second federal indictment, charged Alejandro "Alex" Urrutia-Garcia, 39, a human-resources director at Universal, with two counts of encouraging or inducing illegal workers to stay in the United States. He faces a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison for each count. The 39-year-old Provo man pleaded not guilty to the charges, and was conditionally released from ICE custody because officials didn't consider him a flight risk or a danger to the community. A four-day trial on his case is scheduled to start April 14.
Attorney James Gilson entered a not guilty plea in U.S. District Court on Tuesday on behalf of Universal Industrial Sales. For each count, the company faces a penalty of up to $500,000 or twice the amount of profits gained from the employee's work, whichever is greater.
The last immigration sweep in Utah involved Swift & Co.'s meat processing plant in Hyrum. That ICE raid was part of a national sweep of six Swift processing plants in December 2006, which led to the arrests of nearly 1,300 illegal immigrants nationwide who had stolen the identities of legal immigrants and U.S. citizens, and used their Social Security numbers to get jobs at the company. Nearly 200 illegal immigrants were arrested in Utah in that raid.
The arrested meatpacking workers are immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Peru, Laos, Sudan, Ethiopia and other countries. Of the 1,282 arrests, 1,217 were on immigration charges and 65 on criminal charges, including identity theft.