AP News, March 7th, 2007
While federal agents raided a New Bedford company looking for undocumented workers in 2005, an announcement blared over the loudspeaker at nearby Michael Bianco Inc. telling worried employees they were free to leave for the day.
About 75 people ran and hid _ some in boxes and others in their cars, said Melvin H. Graham, a special agent for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
So said an informant who described for immigration officials what authorities called blatantly illegal hiring practices by the leather goods plant.
On Tuesday, 300 federal agents turned their attention on Michael Bianco Inc. itself. About two-thirds of the 500 workers were detained for possible deportation, and owner Francesco Insolia and three top managers were arrested.
The company not only hired illegal immigrants, but courted them in a quest for cheap labor to maximize profits from million-dollar military contracts, federal officials said.
Investigators said the illegal worker paid a steep price for their jobs: dingy conditions and onerous fines, including a $20 charge for talking while working and spending more than two minutes in the bathroom.
Late employees were docked for every minute, according to U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan. Others were forced to work double shifts on the lines of machines for stitching military backpacks and safety vests. Sullivan compared the scene to sweatshops from the early 1900s.
"They were given no options. It's either here, or the risk of no income at all," he said. "Clearly, they were exploited because of the fact they were here illegally."
Insolia's wife, Suzanne Thompson, said Sullivan's characterization of the company as a sweatshop was "horrifying."
"None of that is true," she said.
Insolia's lawyer, Inga Bernstein, said, "The whole story will come out, and at that point it will be a very different scenario."
The sweep sparked a chaotic scene in which some workers tried to flee, only to be turned back by Tuesday's bitter cold, said Bruce Foucart, ICE Special Agent in Charge.
Investigators said Insolia, plant manager Dilia Costa, payroll manager Ana Figueroa and office manager Gloria Melo allowed an undercover officer posing as an illegal immigrant to continue working at the plant for four days in September 2006. Figueroa also advised her how to obtain a fake Social Security card, investigators said.
Most of the suspected illegals were women from Central America, officials said.
The Massachusetts Immigration & Refugee Advocacy Coalition denounced the raid, and planned emergency support for affected families.
Paul Graham of United Interfaith Action said it was "ironic" that federal officials were detaining workers who stitched equipment for soldiers.
"We need these workers, Massachusetts needs them, and America needs them," he said. "Let's stop tearing families apart."
Insolia, 50, Costa, 55, Figueroa, 40, and Melo, 41, each were charged with conspiring to encourage or induce illegal aliens to reside in the United States _ which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison _ and conspiring to hire illegal aliens, which is punishable by up to six months in prison.
Luis Torres, 45, who worked at a record shop across the street from Michael Bianco Inc., was charged with preparing fake identification documents for its workers. He faces up to 15 years in prison, if convicted.
Lawyers for Figueroa, Melo and Torres declined comment after the hearing. Costa's attorney, Kevin Barron, said his client was law-abiding and "terrified" by her arrest.
Michael Bianco Inc., founded in 1985, specialized in manufacturing high-end leather goods for retailers including Coach Inc. and Timberland Co. before landing a $9.4 million military contract in 2003 to make survival vests.
Between 2004 and 2006, it won $82 million in military contracts to make products including lightweight backpacks. An Army spokesman did not return a call about the status of the contracts.
The contracts led to a massive expansion of the company's work force, which grew from 85 employees in 2003 to more than 500, according to investigators.
