Restaurant Raids Part of Big Sweep

WHEELING — A nationwide investigation into illegal immigrants being forced to staff Mexican restaurants to pay off smuggling fees and rent ended Wednesday as federal authorities raided establishments in five states, including two locally — Nogales Mexican Restaurant in Wheeling and El Caporal Mexican Restaurant in New Martinsville.

Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested one person in Wheeling during the Nogales raid, which took place shortly after 7:30 a.m. Wednesday at the 1201 Market St. business. Alejandro Garcia of Wheeling, who is identified in federal documents as the manager of Nogales, was arrested.

Agents also raided three apartment buildings in Wheeling that were targeted by ICE in what agency spokesman Michael Gilhooly called a “criminal worksite enforcement operation.” The buildings are located at 811 Market St., 16 Eighth St. and 1201 Eoff St. Several suspected illegal immigrants were detained in the raid.

Federal agents then made their way south, raiding El Caporal Mexican restaurant in the New Martinsville Plaza along W.Va. 2 shortly before noon. Lunch was interrupted for several patrons during the raid. Agents arrested restaurant manager Alberto Antimo of New Martinsville.

Also arrested Wednesday, according to the Associated Press, was Simon Banda, who uses the name Jorge Delarco of Depew, N.Y., the owner of both Nogales and El Caporal along with five other Mexican restaurants in three other states that were raided by federal immigration agents Wednesday. Banda is charged with conspiring to harbor illegal immigrants.

He appeared in federal court in New York without a lawyer Wednesday and was given until Friday to hire one. U.S. Magistrate Judge Hugh Scott ordered him detained until then, based on the government’s assertion that Banda is a Mexican citizen who is in the United States illegally.

Gilhooly said the Wheeling and New Martinsville raids were part of a criminal investigation that also involves Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Georgia.

In addition to ICE, members of the West Virginia Department of Labor, West Virginia State Police, the Ohio County Sheriff’s Department and the New Martinsville and Wheeling police departments took part in the raids.

Also Wednesday, federal immigration agents raided several Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plants — including one in Moorefield, W.Va. — in a crackdown on an alleged scam to provide fake identification for illegal immigrant workers, authorities said.

More than 300 people are expected to be charged in the Pilgrim’s Pride raids, said Julie Myers, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement assistant secretary.

In another case, a federal grand jury in Atlanta indicted 10 people from suburban Atlanta employment agencies on charges they placed illegal immigrants in jobs at Chinese restaurants and warehouses in six states. The agencies allegedly developed a network to “recruit and exploit” undocumented workers, said Kenneth Smith, special agent in charge of the ICE office in Atlanta.