May 18 (UPI) — Three California men were indicted Thursday for immigration fraud after allegedly charging Mexican nationals thousands of dollars to obtain work visas.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Central District of California said Jorge Vasquez, 58, Melquiades Jacinto Lara, 62, and Ricardo Mendoza Oseguera, 39, ran scheme to charge Mexican farmworkers fees for transportation, room, board and H-2A visas, which are used for agriculture jobs in the United States. But charging fees to obtain these work visas is illegal under federal law.
According to prosecutors, Vasquez traveled to Mexico to recruit farmworkers and charged them as much as $3,000 to obtain an H-2A visa.
“In addition to illegally charging the foreign workers, Vasquez also allegedly made false promises to the workers about how long the visas would be valid and failed to tell the workers that they would be charged for housing, food and transportation,” prosecutors said.
Vasquez also allegedly promised an H-2A visa to an undercover agent with the Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General who he believed was an undocumented immigrant wanting to work in construction, even though the H-2A doesn’t cover construction jobs.
In addition to illegally charging immigrants for work visas, Vasquez and Jacinto allegedly filed federal documents for 75 workers to harvest lemons, avocados and oranges that contained false statements.
Vasquez and Jacinto with conspiracy, three counts of mail fraud, one count of visa fraud and one count of fraud in foreign labor contracting. Prosecutors said the men told immigrant workers in 2013 that the H-2A visas would be valid for three years, even though they knew the visas would expire later that year.
Jacinto and Mendoza are charged with one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.
Mendoza is the owner of Discoteca Mi Pueblito, a music and convenience store in Santa Paula, Calif., that served as a check-cashing and wire transfer service where the farmworkers would redeem vouchers or checks paid to them by Jacinto.
If convicted, the men face up to 20 years in prison.
