SA couple arrested in US
2005-06-10 19:29
Abigail Isaacs
Cape Town - Two South Africans were arrested in the United States after they apparently provided fellow South Africans with work permits they had obtained fraudulently.
Petrus Botes, 50, and his friend and partner Yvonne Coetzee, 32, were charged with bringing South African workers into the US on temporary work permits and then placing them illegally with unauthorised employers.
Coetzee was also charged with encouraging them to remain in the US as illegal immigrants.
The US immigration and customs enforcement department said the couple established an employment bureau, JP Services, in Bennington, Kansas, that provided workers particularly to the agricultural industry.
Charges include illegal applications for work permits without the consent of the workers.
They are also charged with falsifying employers' signatures on the application forms.
Guilty of breaking visa regulations
After the permits were approved, they placed workers with employers other than those indicated on the permits.
Elissa Brown of the Chicago branch of the department of immigration and customs enforcement said Botes and Coetzee had pulled their scam without regard for the workers, employers or the laws.
Botes and Coetzee were found guilty of contravening visa regulations in 2002.
They recently received a final summons to leave the US. Should they be found guilty on the most-recent charges, they would have to serve their sentences before being deported to South Africa.
- Die Burger