Jury finds Texas couple guilty of concealing and harboring bakery workers in the US illegally
The two Southern Texas Oven owners were guilty of hiding and hosting employees in the USA illegally, after a hearing that lasted for just three days in the afternoon of Wednesday.
Leonardo Baez and Nora Avila-GuelA Mexican couple with a legal permanent residence in the US were accused of eight employees in February after being arrested in the oven. It is a rare situation in which business owners are accused of criminal offenses rather than fine.
Six of the employees had a visitor visa, two of them illegally on the country. According to the Federal Declaration, none of them had no work permission in US employees in a six -bed room and shared two bathrooms in the same building with the oven.
Baex and Avila-Yakıt were tried this week in Brownsville, a 20-minute driving center in southeast of Los Fresnos Bakery. The jury, US regional judge Fernando Rodriguez, Jr. He heard five government witnesses, including an agent found in front of him. The defense did not present any witnesses.
During the hearing, videos of two employees in the country without visa or business authority were played. Both employees said they were not against their will and that they were compensated for their work. Local reporting.
Baez’s lawyer Sergio Luis Villarreal described the decision as “heartbreaking”.
Villarreal, “Lack of confidentiality, we were defending the hidden deficiency in all of these,” he said. “I mean, there was no exploitation, there was no abuse. Nobody had against their will.”
Avila-Yakıt lawyer Cesar de Leon said he believed in the implementation of the law, but he did not agree as described in this case.
“We just felt that there wasn’t really no housing in this case,” he said. “And I think the law was not designed to target people like Nora.”
Baez and Avila-Gruet were allowed to return to work while waiting for the trial. When they reopened the furnaces in April, he returned to support a constant flow of the business. They will continue to be released at the bond until their penalties are planned to be made in November.
