FROM AZ CENTRAL: On July 15, dozens of heavily armed federal ICE agents carried out a raid at several Colt Grill BBQ & Spirits locations in Yavapai County.
Agents arrested four people, including the husband and wife owners of the popular northern Arizona restaurants, on felony charges of hiring and harboring undocumented workers. ICE agents also took into custody nearly two dozen workers on immigration charges.
The raid resulted in the closing of all four Arizona Colt Grill BBQ and Spirits restaurants in the Village of Oak Creek in Sedona, Prescott, Prescott Valley and Cottonwood, Check said. A fifth Colt Grill location is in Foley, Alabama.
The fallout of the raid is difficult for the communities, but the corruption at the establishments seems to have been severe.
After a three-year investigation, federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations arrested the owners of the restaurants, Robert and Brenda Clouston, both 61, and two others, Luis Pedro Rogel-Jaimes, 33, and Iris Romero-Molina, 29. They were arrested on multiple charges, including conspiracy to transport illegal aliens; conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens; conspiracy to encourage and induce an alien to unlawfully enter the U.S.; and a pattern of knowingly employing unauthorized aliens.
A federal grand jury indictment accuses the group of being involved in a scheme to pay for undocumented immigrants to be brought to the United States. These workers were placed in the restaurants while the group allegedly created a cleaning company to pay them with funds from the restaurants.
AZ Central reports (emphasis added):
The undocumented workers were paid below minimum wage and were not compensated for overtime, federal prosecutors said. The Cloustons and Rogel-Jaimes and Romero-Molino benefited financially from the scheme and did not pay proper employment taxes for the workers, federal prosecutors said.
All four have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Rogel-Jaimes and Romero-Molina face additional trouble as they are Mexican nationals who were living in the United States without authorization, according to federal prosecutors.
Nikki Check, a Yavapai County supervisor, said the rural northern Arizona communities are still reeling from the raid’s economic and emotional repercussions after about 200 Colt Grill employees lost their jobs in the fallout.
“It’s significant for our small economy for sure,” she said, noting that the popular restaurants were always busy.
Although some Colt Grill workers have been hired or assisted by the county’s One-Stop employment centers, most restaurants “already have a full complement of employees,” said Craig Lefever, the Yavapai County workforce development director.
The impact on these communities shows how bad decisions and illegal activity in one sector can have devastating ripple effects on innocent residents, and should serve as a reminder to support businesses that respect the rule of law.
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