The Denver Post

 Labor brokers cut costs, corners
Fast-growing firms exploit immigrants to feed construction industry
February 16, 2003

"...INS veteran Evans may know more about what he calls the "smokescreens," "scams" and "dirty tricks" of brokers than any other federal agent in the country.  Over 22 months, Evans sifted through the history and financial records of an obscure Texas corporation called Brother's Construction II. That investigation yielded a federal indictment against Brother's in Tennessee in December 2001.  The probe is the government's biggest swipe at construction brokers to date. Brother's president David Cantu plead guilty in December to four conspiracy charges and is set to be sentenced in April.  A $5.6 million-a-year business that operated in several Western and Southern states, Brother's supplied hundreds of workers, nearly all illegal immigrants, to some of the country's major drywall contractors, investigators said. In some cases, workers were recruited through Spanish-language newspapers along the U.S.-Mexico border, but most were already in the U.S.  By claiming its workers were independent contractors, not employees, the company evaded more than $500,000 in payroll taxes over 15 months, and bilked its workers out of $1 million in overtime, according to the indictment and a Labor Department source familiar with the case.  Cantu also deducted 10 percent from workers' checks, telling them it was for insurance. Investigators said the money went directly to the broker.  But Evans said he was most stunned by the broker's ability to move large numbers of undocumented workers across state lines at customers' demand.  Investigators who raided a Memphis hotel room found business cards suggesting that Brother's operated under more than 20 different identities. On a single site - FedEx world headquarters in Memphis - the broker provided more than 150 undocumented workers, according to the indictment."