Two men from Honduras were indicted on May 7 in St. Louis, accused of hiring at least ten other illegal immigrants and re-entering the United States after being deported. Oscar Ruiz-Oliva, 41, and Jorge Manuel Oliva-Paguada, 37, face charges that include knowingly engaging in a pattern of hiring unauthorized aliens, knowingly hiring at least ten unauthorized aliens within a twelve-month period, and illegal re-entry after deportation.
According to the indictment, Ruiz-Oliva was previously deported near Phoenix in 2009 while Oliva-Paguada was deported near Houston in 2013. In addition to these charges, Oliva-Paguada is also charged with being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm—a .40-caliber pistol. A motion filed by prosecutors requests that Ruiz-Oliva be held until trial based on allegations he employed at least twenty-five illegal immigrants.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri is prosecuting the case through Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Ware and Kyle Bateman. The office investigates and prosecutes federal crimes such as terrorism and fraud while enforcing civil rights; it collaborates with law enforcement to prevent crime and improve community quality of life across its service area of forty-nine counties in Missouri, according to the official website.
This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159: Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF brings together agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), United States Marshals Service (USMS), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) as well as prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.
The indictment notes that "charges set forth ... are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt"; all defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
