Atlanta Illegal Immigrant Aid Includes Cleveland Restaurant

An illegal immigrant investigation involving smuggling is underway in Atlanta and it involves at least one business in Cleveland. The federal government has indicted seven people and more could be coming.

The government indicted the people who supplied what it calls an illegal labor pool and smuggled these workers through several states. Next, it may target the companies that employed them. And one business is in Cleveland.

The government charges four people in the Atlanta area moved illegal workers across the eastern United States for a fee.

The indictment says Hong Mei Li, also known as "Jenny Li" arranged last October for an undocumented worker, identified as A.M (a native and citizen of Mexico) at a restaurant in Cleveland, Tennessee. The restaurant paid him $1200 per month for working 13 hours a day, six days a week, paid in cash and housed by the restaurant owner.

We did the math, that comes to $3.55 a hour.

But the government says "A.M." worked only two months in Cleveland. The government says this accused group brought him back to Chamblee in metro Atlanta. Then, in February, the government says "A. M." went to work with other illegal workers in a Chinese restaurant in Rochester, New York.

Meanwhile, the indictment does not say the Cleveland restaurant was a Chinese one, but the government says in its indictment, that illegal workers overall were shipped to Chinese restaurants and warehouses.

Late this afternoon, our investigative team learned that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement raided a Cleveland home on Grand Avenue.

Mayor Tom Rowland said code enforcement got involved because of a high number of cars parked here.

The raid happened toward the end of last year and Mayor Rowland says some Chinese people were deported.

The mayor and neighbors say one of the residents at the time owned a restaurant in Cleveland.

We do not know if that raid is connected to this current indictment.

So you may be wondering where did this group pull these alleged illegal immigrants from? According to the indictment, they would advertise in regional ethnic newspapers and get direct referrals from illegal immigrant smugglers, known as "snakeheads" or "coyotes," who often travel on I-75.

As for the Cleveland restaurant in question, immigration agents say it is definitely possible it does not know it is under investigation. In these indictments, the government did not name the employing restaurants or warehouses.

That's because Immigration Agents may go after them as well.

And this afternoon, we spoke with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent. We asked him if the Mexican employee was only identified by the initials "A.M" because he may be testifying on behalf of the government. The ICE agent says that is possible.

To read some of the federal indictments, click above and to the right beneath "Associated Links."

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