57 Brazilian immigrants face deportation
Fifty-seven Brazilian immigrants working for an Allston cleaning company were taken into custody this week and could face deportation after their boss was arrested on charges that he tried to bribe an immigration agent to get green cards for him and his wife.
José Neto, 38, a Brazilian national who was operating Spectro Cleaning Services out of his home at 33 Blaine St. in Allston, was arrested Tuesday on federal charges of bribery and knowingly hiring undocumented immigrants. The arrest led authorities to his cleaning company and to dozens of Brazilians who are allegedly in the country illegally.
Neto's wife, Marli Oliveira, and the cleaning company employees, 54 men and three women from Massachusetts and Connecticut, are being held in the Suffolk House of Correction at South Bay. They are expected to face deportation proceedings before an immigration judge, according to Paula Greniere, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
US Magistrate Judge Judith Dein ordered Neto held pending a hearing Monday on whether he should remain jailed without bail until his case is resolved.
Neto was among more than 700 suspected foreign nationals in Massachusetts who received a letter last August from immigration officials, summoning them to a meeting about their immigration status. The letters were sent to those suspected of buying fraudulent Social Security cards from an identity theft ring.
During an interview with a customs agent Sept. 24 at the JFK building in Boston, Neto allegedly admitted that he had entered the country illegally a decade ago and offered the agent $20,000 if he could get green cards for him and his wife, according to a customs affidavit filed in federal court.
During a series of meetings with the agent between September and December, videotaped without Neto's knowledge, Neto paid $20,000 for the green cards and another $9,000 to secure the release of two friends who had been taken into custody by customs agents for entering the country illegally, according to the affidavit.
Two of Neto's employees told customs officials that they were usually paid in cash, though sometimes by check, and that Neto never made any deductions for taxes from their paychecks, according to the affidavit by Teresa Courtney, a special agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Fausto da Rocha, executive director of the Brazilian Immigrant Center in Allston, said Neto ''made good money" by employing fellow countrymen who were here illegally and not paying taxes. Da Rocha said he caused problems for all of them when he allegedly tried to bribe an agent.
US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, whose office is prosecuting Neto, released a statement yesterday saying, ''Immigration laws exist to protect American citizens."
