ASSOCIATED PRESS

August 1, 2008

Agents arrest 43 Mexican immigrants

HONOLULU  — Federal agents arrested 43 illegal immigrant farm workers in Waipahu this week during a raid on an apartment complex.

Immigration and Customs special agent-in-charge Wayne Wills said it was the largest arrest in a single raid so far this year. He said all worked for a business called The Farms. Authorities believe the workers, all male, are from Mexico.

They were taken to the federal detention center in Honolulu pending deportation hearings.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is determining whether to file criminal charges in cases where the men provided false information to get hired, immigration officials said.

Those criminal charges carry up to five years in prison, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Hino.

Farmers said more places hire illegal immigrants than most people might think.

“There are probably more today then there were five years ago, and I mean it’s because they’re needed,” says Dean Okimoto, Hawaii Farm Bureau.

Okimoto says many local farmers can’t find workers to do the hard labor anymore — not at a wage they can afford.

“I need at least probably eight more, and I can’t even find one,” he says.

Many farmers feel forced to look elsewhere.

“It’s not surprising at all because just to keep the farms going or to expand, it’s really difficult,” says Okimoto. “I do think immigrant workers are key to the agriculture industry. It’s how it’s survived all these years, even on the mainland.”

Honolulu City Councilmember Rod Tam said he believes illegal immigrant workers are a growing problem in Hawaii.

“It’s not right at all when you think about it. It’s not fair to many of us who pay our taxes,” says Tam. “I want everyone to abide the law. That’s the bottom line,” says Tam.

Wills said the arrests were part of a crackdown on employers who use illegal immigrants.

In May, immigration agents arrested 22 suspected illegal immigrant workers at two chain restaurants on Maui. A few months before that, immigration officials arrested 19 foreign nationals on immigration charges at a downtown Honolulu construction site and a Halawa warehouse.