Mon, 17 Aug 2015

A tree care firm in Texas used fake staffing companies to employ illegal immigrants, despite being earlier raided by immigration authorities, according to The Dallas Morning News.

The publication reports Apollos Philip, who ran Big Bird Tree Service, is due to appear in a Dallas court this week, having previously agreed to plead guilty to employing illegal immigrants.

Based on federal court records, the publication says Philip had some of his legal employees set up shell staffing companies, through which he funnelled paycheques to the unauthorized workers in an attempt to hide his hiring practices.

He allegedly created the scheme just a few weeks after US Immigration Enforcement agents raided the company in November 2011 and told the immigrants not to return to work.

During the raid, Philip’s brother and company owner Manasseh Philip, who himself was not authorized to be in the US after being deported in 1999, was arrested. He is serving a five-year prison sentence.

It was after his arrest that Apollos, along with sister Irene Eads, took over the running of the company. Eads has reportedly already pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

The shell staffing companies were names as Romero Staffing, Morris Labour Service and Albert’s Labor Service.

The legal employees were allegedly coerced into opening these companies. 

The publication also says Big Bird clients included the City of Dallas.