Indictment: Restaurant Owners Smuggled Brazilians for Cheap Labor

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Indictment: Restaurant Owners Smuggled Brazilians for Cheap Labor

The sordid, sophisticated, and profitable business of illegal migration is exposed in the indictments of several people who allegedly trafficked cheap, submissive Brazilian workers into restaurant jobs in Massachusetts.The criminal complaint describes the alleged labor trafficking, bribery, tax cheating, high-tech coordination, false documents, and intimidation — plus much else that politicians, journalists, business executives, and migration advocates prefer to hide.“Sketchy businesses operate with illegal, exploited labor, and nobody seems to notice or care,” noted Jessica Vaughan, at the Center for Immigration Studies. The result, she said, is that:The investigation began in 2018, under President Donald Trump. Sealed complaints were used to win judicial approval for two October 4 raids on two restaurants used by a Brazilian family of alleged coyotes. The family of two brothers — and at least one son — smuggled migrants from Brazil for roughly $20,000 and then used them as cheap, tax-free labor in the two restaurants, the Dog House Bar & Grill, and Tudo Na Brasa (Taste of Brazil), on the main street in Woburn, Mass.The complaint named several suspects, including Chelbe Moraes in Brazil, and Jesse James Moraes and Hugo Giovanni Moraes in Massachusetts. The family includes additional U.S.-based siblings who were connected to the business but were not arrested.The investigation was conducted by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. Agents detained illegal migrants and used them to record conversations with the Brazilian family.The alleged smugglers used illegal labor in their restaurants, according to the legal complaint. The practice allegedly cheated Americans out of jobs and decent wages, and undercut honest business owners who paid market rates for their labor.

“SOI-3 was smuggled into the United States from Brazil in 2021 by CHELBE and other Target Subjects,” the indictment says, adding:

Cooperating Witness “CW-2, an individual who began cooperating with this investigation after unlawfully entering the United States, has provided the following detailed information about how JESSE encouraged CW-2 to leave Brazil and come to the United States to work at his restaurant in Woburn,” the complaint — says, adding:Shortly after CW-2’s arrival in Woburn, CW-2 began working for JESSE at TASTE OF BRAZIL. CW-2 worked 7 days a week, from about 6:30 am to about 10:30 pm, except for Sundays after 3:00 pm. When CW-2 began working at TASTE OF BRAZIL, they were not sure how much they were supposed to be paid for their work, but CW-2 would only receive $100 in cash per week. CW-2 would have to ask JESSE for specific things they needed, and sometimes JESSE would give them more money … In addition to working for JESSE at TASTE OF BRAZIL, CW-2 began working for HUGO at THE DOG HOUSE shortly after it opened. CW-2 worked as a cleaner at THE DOG HOUSE from approximately 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. seven days a week, for which HUGO paid CW-2 initially $800 per month, then raised it to $1,000 per month and then went back to $800 per month, always in cash. One of CW-2’s children also worked for JESSE at TASTE OF BRAZIL for a time … Another of CW-2’s children worked for HUGO at THE DOG HOUSE during its construction, helping to build out the restaurant as a carpenter and doing finishing work … Upon arriving in the United States, SOI stated that they worked at TUDO NA BRASA for approximately one month. SOI told investigators the work was very hard. SOI was required to carry heavy sacks of potatoes and other heavy items. SOI stated they were paid $3.00 per hour, did not receive any tips, and worked 7:00 am to 9:00 pm.

Nationwide, companies employ at least 10 million illegal migrants in blue-collar, white-collar, and seasonal jobs.

Smugglers have delivered at least 2.5 million migrants during Biden’s two years in office. This welcomed flood of illegal labor — and the parallel flood of legal immigrants and visa workers — has cut Americans’ wages, spiked rents and housing prices, and also pushed up inflation for a wide variety of goods, such as used autos and food.

The alleged smugglers used cash and minimized tax reports to cheat the Massachusetts government and the state’s residents:

Alleged smuggler , Hugo Moraes, lived well and was proud to display his wealth on his Facebook account.

The smugglers allegedly used the migrants’ children to threaten and intimidate their indebted migrant workers, according to a covert transcript of a conversation between the alleged smuggler and a migrant, “CW-2.”The complaint shows that many poor migrants were willing to accept much abuse — and threats — to launch their children into the United States, where they would get free education, legal status, and a decent life:The alleged smugglers were able to keep good ties with local politicians, partly via political donations of at least $1,500 to a Democratic state legislator.The complaint does not include any evidence that rival restauranteurs, restaurant customers, or passing citizens noticed and complained about the long-standing use of underpaid, subservient migrant labor in the two restaurants.

Public passivity is encouraged by pro-migration Democrats and the pro-migration media.

“I talk to employers all over the state and we need workforce we need workers … for a range of industries,” Maura Healey, the state’s current Attorney General and the likely next Democratic governor of the state, said on October 9. “At the end of the day, what we need is comprehensive immigration reform,” she said. Healey and her interviewers ignored the pocketbook damage done to Americans by illegal and illegal migration .Similarly, the state’s establishment united against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis after he sent Venezuelan economic migrants to Martha’s Vinyard in Massachusetts. The media coverage given to the Venezuelan migrants included cheerful articles about the growing Brazilian population in the state. But the public will get a chance to vote down the state’s unpopular giveaway of driver’s licenses to illegal migrants in a public referendum in November. The referendum backers say the giveaway will:

Cheap-labor migration is very unpopular nationwide, and so is illegal migration . The BayStateBanner news site reported on August 24:

The alleged smugglers keep a close tab on federal policy to ensure they delivered on their smuggling contracts with the economic migrants:The Internet-based Whatsapp network allegedly allowed the smugglers to guide their clients on every step of the 4,800-mile journey from Brazil to Massachusetts:

The alleged smugglers boasted of their cooperation with corrupt police in Mexico:

The alleged smugglers allegedly paid off numerous officials in Mexico:

SOI-3 stated that they understood the airport employee showing them their picture to mean that the airport employee was assisting CHELBE in their smuggling trip. SOI-3 stated that they paid the airport employee with money that Geraldo had given them prior to leaving Brazil. SOI-3 stated that they and their family passed through passport inspection with no issues. The family then flew from Tijuana, Mexico to Mexicali, Mexico. At the Mexicali airport, SOI-3 and their family were approached by a taxi driver. The driver also showed them the photo Geraldo had taken of them. SOI-3 paid the taxi driver $200 with money that Geraldo had given them. The taxi driver then drove them to a motel that was about a two-hour drive from the Mexicali airport. The taxi driver also gave SOI-3 a SIM card so they could continue to communicate with CHELBE using WhatsApp. SOI-3 and their family checked into the motel. After they checked into the motel, an individual identified as Lupito came to the family’s room and informed the family that he was assisting CHELBE.

The smugglers can easily bribe government officials to create fake documents in Brazil, and also in the United States:

There are many smugglers , including additional Brazilian smugglers .

On August 18, the Department of Justice announced the arrest of a Brazilian smuggler who claimed to have worked as a smuggler for 20 years:Under Biden, the federal government has simultaneously cracked down on cartel-controlled migrant smugglers and also enriched the Mexico-based cartels by deliberately accelerating the inflow of migrant workers, consumers, and renters into the U.S. economy.The crackdowns have hit crude and cruel family operations, sophisticated gangs working for seasonal employers, and many low-tier operatives for the powerful cartelsBut they have yet to hit lawyer-protected groups, such as international churches and the Fortune 500 subcontractors that sneak huge numbers of illegal white-collar workers into the middle-class jobs needed by American families.

“Policies and laws need to be tightened up to prevent this flagrant abuse of our immigration system,” Vaughan said:

Under Biden’s lax rules, she added, the Brazilians’ criminal enterprise “is just how it’s done if you want to get to America.”