Employment Agency Owner Sentenced in Scheme to Recruit Undocumented Workers in Atlanta, Southeast States

ATLANTA—CHUN YAN LIN, 44, of Doraville, Georgia, was sentenced today by United States District Judge William S. Duffey on a charge of conspiring to transport and harbor illegal aliens.

United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said, “Many of the workers in this case were underpaid for long work weeks and lived in substandard conditions, after being placed in locations in Atlanta and around the Southeast. Employment agencies that take advantage of the illegal employment trade will pay the price.”

“The recruitment, harboring, and transportation of illegal aliens are very serious crimes,” said Brock Nicholson, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Atlanta. “Those who put our nation’s security at risk to pocket a profit can expect to face similar serious consequences.”

Brian D. Lamkin, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta, said, “Exploiting others for profit while many of these individuals were vulnerable because they were in a country they were unfamiliar with is despicable. The FBI will continue to work with its law enforcement partners in eradicating such businesses that disregard the law and disregard the dignity and rights of others.”

LIN was sentenced to two years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and was ordered to forfeit $5,200 to the United States. LIN pleaded guilty to the charges on October 20, 2010. LIN is expected to be deported upon completion of her sentence.

According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges and other information presented in court: From June 2009, through June 2010, CHUN YAN LIN owned an employment agency called Lucky in Chamblee, Georgia, and conspired with others to transport and provide jobs to illegal aliens. LIN and other employment agency owners primarily placed the illegal aliens in restaurant jobs in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Georgia. The Lucky employment agency did not require or request any proof that the aliens had permission to be or work in the United States. The Lucky employment agency also advertised in Asian language newspapers and on the Internet. LIN charged the undocumented aliens a commission and transportation fee to place them in a restaurant or other job site and to drive them there, or in some cases charged the restaurant owners, who deducted the fees from their illegal workers’ modest pay.

The Lucky employment agency used paid drivers to minimize contact between the undocumented aliens and the outside world, including law enforcement. Restaurant owners XIANG MEI KE and HUANG ZHENG, of Hong Kong Super Buffet in Buford, Georgia, and JING XING JIANG, the owner of Fuji Buffet in Lawrenceville, Georgia, all previously pleaded guilty to hiring illegal workers and were sentenced on January 25, 2011. In addition to employing the illegal workers, ZHENG and KE housed four of them in their home while JIANG housed seven illegal workers. KE received eight months of home confinement and 30 months of probation. ZHENG received three months in custody and a year of supervised release. JIANG received five months in home confinement and three years of probation.

A co-defendant in this case, Lucky employment agency driver SHU XIAN JIA, 54, of Doraville, Georgia, is scheduled to be sentenced on April 26, 2011, on a charge of transporting illegal aliens.

This case was the result of a joint investigation by special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A total of 10 cases has resulted in 23 defendants being sentenced and 10 employment agencies being shut down.

Assistant United States Attorney Susan Coppedge and Phyllis Clerk prosecuted this case.

For further information please contact Sally Q. Yates, United States Attorney, or Charysse L. Alexander, Executive Assistant United States Attorney, through Patrick Crosby, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Attorney's Office, at (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the HomePage for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia is justice.gov/usao/gan.