Man is fined for hiring illegals
Published: April 24, 2008
A Manassas man pleaded guilty in federal court this week to hiring illegal immigrants who were not authorized to work in the U.S.
Felisberto Magalhaes, 55, pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria to a misdemeanor charge of a pattern or practice of hiring illegal immigrants.
U.S. Magistrate Judge John F. Anderson sentenced him to one year of unsupervised probation. He also ordered Magalhaes to pay $122,000, the amount prosecutors believe he earned by hiring illegal immigrants.
The maximum punishment for the misdemeanor charge is six months in prison, a fine of $3,000 per illegal immi-grant hired and one year of supervised probation, according to federal law.
Magalhaes was associated with CMC Concrete and Stonewall Concrete, both Manassas-based businesses, according to documents on file in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.
On March 24, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials conducted a raid at CMC Concrete, at 8577 Sudley Road, and took into custody 34 illegal immigrants from Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica and El Salvador, federal officials said at the time.
Federal officials believe that Magalhaes hired hundreds of illegal immigrants over a two-year period beginning in early 2006.
According to the court documents Magalhaes knew that many of the people he hired, some of whom presented false Social Security cards and green cards, were not legally allowed to work in the United States.
Since 2006, Magalhaes hired 257 illegal immigrants who used false Social Security numbers. More than 100 of the false Social Security numbers were issued to no one and 150 were issued to people other than the employees who used them.
The 34 construction workers detained in the March raid are undergoing deportation proceedings, federal officials said at the time.
Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-878-8014.
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Reader Reactions
Bravo, finally the snake’s head got cut off. It was about time to fine businesses that hire illegal immigrants. Oh, and these “law abiding” illegal immigrants running around with fake IDs? More and more it comes to the surface the PWC did the right thing. As I said before one illegal action leads to another, and another, and another…....... a circle without end in sight.
Crack down harder. That money will never be paid back. Punishments should be more harsh. Take business license which normally means the business shuts down. But “oh well”. I hope the officials know that there are a lot more companies in the area that are still doing the same thing.
One more point for all of you “there just hard working people who pay their taxes”. If they have fake Social Security Numbers. How are they paying taxes like the rest of us? I know they are not. One guy the foreman is overpayed and after he cashes his check at the bank who pays cash to the workers in the parking lot. I witnessed this many times when I lived in Manassas.
The penalties are too low. CMC has been doing this for years and every contruction business in the area new it. take their liceince and fine them more. I not saying just hire those born in the US, but do hire those who are here legally.
Take his business license away. I’m sure he’ll do it again
Bravo, I have waiting for good news like this for years. How can anyone argue that these workers are just good people. They SSN that belonged to other other citizens. I can bet that a MAJORITY of these people had criminal records.
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