O.C. Man One of 11 Indicted in Smuggling Ring

The federal government has indicted 11 people, including a Buena Park man, for allegedly smuggling aliens falsely identified as agricultural workers into the United States, New Hampshire’s U.S. attorney said Thursday.

The indictment, returned in U.S. District Court, claims that the defendants charged aliens fees ranging from $2,700 to more than $6,000 each to create fictitious farm-worker histories for their applications for temporary resident status. The scheme allegedly involved nearly 2,000 aliens from at least 60 countries who now live in the United States.

“The case illustrates how New Hampshire is inextricably linked to organizations alleged to be operating nationwide,” U.S. Atty. Jeffrey R. Howard said. “The fact that the alien population in New Hampshire is small compared to that of other states is one factor which helps to draw conspiracies here.”

A trial in the case is scheduled to begin on Dec. 4.

Howard said the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 created the category of “special agricultural worker.” That allowed aliens who might otherwise be in the United States illegally and who performed seasonal agricultural work for at least 90 days within a 12-month period to apply for lawful temporary resident alien status.

Aliens who applied through the program had to prove to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service that they met the requirement by submitting forms signed by employers.

The indictment charges that the primary farms allegedly used to promote the scheme were South Dade Harvesting and Second Dade Harvesting in the Miami, Fla., area.

Indicted in connection with the scheme were the operators of the farms, Willie Jones, 46, of Goulds, Fla., and David Jones, 53, of Naranja, Fla.; Colon E. Bustamante, 58, of Jersey City, N.J., a notary public who accompanied some of the aliens to the Paterson, N.J., INS office to assist them in interviews; and Victor A. Nassif, 52, of Goffstown, N.H., who is charged with helping the aliens complete false applications for temporary resident status.

Also indicted were: Michel Melki, 29, of Buena Park, Calif.; Atef Eid, 42, of New York, N.Y.; Awad Hamada, 29, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Abed El Kafar, 35, of Astoria, N.Y.; Muhammad Masnu, 40, of Bronx, N.Y.; Adres Prada, 36, of Miami, Fla.; and Wahid Zaman, age unknown, of Astoria, N.Y.