A U.S. couple has been charged with employing undocumented workers in multiple states, including in Upstate New York.
WRGB reports Moises Orduna-Rios, 36, and Raquel Orduna-Rios, 30, have been arrested after allegedly making $74 million through their Michigan-based plumbing company, Orduna Plumbing. Federal prosecutors say they used hundreds of workers who were not authorized to be in the United States, including immigrants who were recently arrested by ICE in Buffalo, Rochester, and Charlotte, North Carolina.
According to MLive.com, Orduna Plumbing employed 253 people, but federal investigators said they could only confirm six were legally allowed to work and live in the U.S.
A criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York shows the contracting firm allegedly operated in New York, Michigan, North Carolina and Ohio. The couple allegedly took workers’ passports and placed them in overcrowded houses and hotel rooms
WRGB reports nine people were allegedly living together in a “sparsely furnished residence” in Rochester. All nine, including five from Mexico and four from Nicaragua, were arrested; one was released because he had an ongoing immigration case.
MLive reports the investigation began in January 2020 when U.S. Border Patrol agents in Buffalo found undocumented immigrants driving vehicles registered to Orduna Plumbing. Federal agents said a work van outside an Amerst hotel was registered to the company and Moises Orduna-Rios in Plymouth, Michigan.
ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) also arrested five undocumented Mexican immigrants in Buffalo in April 2023 and eight people in three vehicles in Western New York throughout 2024. In all four cases, they were driving cars or vans belonging to Orduna-Rios and Ordina Plumbing.
According to court documents, messages found on a worker’s phone from a recent search warrant showed Raquel and Moises Oduna-Rios sent WhatsApp messages to workers about passports, payroll, tools, work vehicles, and housing rules. On Feb. 1, Moises warned them to avoid immigration enforcement by driving the speed limit, limiting trips to the store and avoiding “gatherings such as barbeques.”
Moises and Raquel Orduna-Rios appeared in court last week in the Eastern District of Michigan and were released on a $10,000 bond. They’re scheduled to appear in Rochester’s Federal Courhouse on Dec. 2.
The couple is facing charges of harboring undocumented workers for “commercial advantage or private financial gain,” employing “at least 10 unauthorized aliens,” engaging in a pattern of hiring undocumented immigrants and money laundering.
If found guilty, the couple reportedly faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $3,000 per undocumented worker.
