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Company pleads guilty to harboring illegal immigrants

The Associated Press
11/24/99 10:42 AM Eastern

ATLANTA (AP) -- A company that brought in foreign nationals from India to work on Y2K computer problems has pleaded guilty to harboring illegal immigrants.

Investigators with Immigration and Naturalization Service said Deep Sai Consulting Inc., based in Lawrenceville, promised computer programming jobs in Atlanta that would pay $40,000 to $60,000 a year.

But at least 43 illegal immigrants ended up living in Duluth and Norcross waiting for work that never came.

"It's nothing but white-collar alien smuggling," said Larry Hines, INS investigations section chief.

The company pleaded guilty Tuesday to a felony charge in U.S. District Court. Deep Sai attorney Jay Strongwater said he expects the company will be fined about $20,000.

Deep Sai president Syamala Kamineni pleaded guilty last week to a misdemeanor alleging she recruited immigrants ineligible to work here. She was sentenced to one year of probation.

Ms. Kamineni said she lined up jobs, but the market soured and prospects dissolved by the time the programmers arrived.

About a dozen of the 43 eventually got programming jobs, according to government officials. The rest got tired of waiting and left.

INS Agent Chad Holth said Ms. Kamineni applied for visas for more than 200 Indian nationals. About 60 applications were approved before the INS and the Labor Department began investigating.