UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

PRESS RELEASE

December 6, 2004
The Justice Department today announced that a farm labor contractor and
three of her relatives have pleaded guilty to human trafficking-related
charges in connection with a scheme to recruit young Mexican men to work on
farms in Western New York and to hold them in conditions of forced labor.
 
Maria Garcia and her son Elias Botello admitted to participating in a scheme
to approach young undocumented aliens near the Arizona border and recruit
them to come to New York with false promises of good wages. They transported
their victims to Albion, New York where they forced them to work in the
fields for little or no pay and told them they were not free to leave until
they paid off enormous debts. Eventually, the victims were able to escape
from the defendants' control and seek help.  Garcia's husband, Jose I.
Garcia, and another son, Jose J. Garcia, also pleaded guilty today to
related charges...

The defendants will be sentenced on April 11, 2005. They face sentences of
up to forty-six months in prison. The case was investigated by the Bureau of
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security. It is
being jointly prosecuted by attorneys from the Civil Rights Division and the
United States Attorneys Office.