Washington farm rehired undocumented immigrants

As per the revelation by government prosecutors, HerbCo International, Inc., a herb farm based in Duvall (Washington) willfully re-hired undocumented immigrants.

Washington farm knowingly hired undocumented immigrants--According to Donald Reno, Jr. an assistant US Attorney, the Washington-based herb farm is guilty of hiring undocumented immigrants knowingly. Moreover, it also hid the identity of its undocumented immigrant workers, adds Reno.

When verification led to identification of undocumented immigrants working in the herb farm, nearly 86 were fired instantly. However, the farm quickly rehired all of them.

Cash, night shifts to allure undocumented immigrant workers--Moreover, it offered to pay cash and arranged a night shift for what it called as it’s ‘A team’ to enable them work in the farm even as the production started showing signs of plummeting, Reno revealed.

All these steps were meant to bring the farm production on the track once again.

Wages to the tune of $40,000 were paid under the table before the investigators got a tip from one of farm’s own employee last year. The farm had nearly 200 undocumented immigrants on its rolls in the last couple of years, the officials records unveiled.

Criminal charges for willfully hiring undocumented immigrants—Federal prosecutors allege that HerbCo International Inc. is now facing four criminal charges for offending federal rules of not hiring legal immigrant workers. in addition, it has also been slapped with a fine of $1 million.

Following an anonymous tip, the US ICE(US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents found nearly 214 employees without having proper legal documents after the farm was audited last year, court documents reveal. So, the HerbCo farm fired all these workers immediately.

But, later on, it asked a labor firm to supply the required number of legal farm workers.

However, when the production levels did not show any improvements, Debra Howard, the company’s General Manager, decided to rehire 86 undocumented immigrants(regarded as the top cream) by having a special night shift to keep their identity hidden from the legal workers recruited through the firm Labor Ready, Reno writes in the memo.