Michael Bianco Inc

• First Look Inside Michael Bianco Inc.

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. -- Michael Bianco Inc. today announced that a six-minute video tape produced by an independent TV crew offering the first public lo...

• Business Wire
• March 16, 2007

• 2 Years Later, Raid's Ripple Effect Felt

XICALCAL, Guatemala - For years, the only people in this valley were those too old or too young to make the trip to the United States. Now the village bustles again with deported workers. The reason is a raid that happened nearly two years ago and 3,000 miles away. On a bitterly cold March morning in New Bedford, Mass., dozens of immigration agents swarmed the Michael Bianco Inc. textile factory on the water's edge and arrested 361 people, mostly Central American women.

• Telegraph - Herald (Dubuque)
• December 14, 2008

• State Seeks the Release of Detainee-Parents

BOSTON (AP) -- The head of Massachusetts' social services on Monday called for the release of about 20 factory workers arrested in an immigration raid, saying many have children with no one else to care for them. They were among the 361 people taken into custody following the raid March 6 at a Michael Bianco Inc. factory that makes equipment and apparel for the U.S. military.

• Deseret News (Salt Lake City)
• March 13, 2007

• Ice to Query 500 Workers in Illegals Probe

S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents continue to interview hundreds of employees of a Massachusetts company whose owner and managers were arrested this week on charges of hiring illegal aliens. The interviews are aimed at determining the immigration status of workers at Michael Bianco Inc. (MBI), a New Bedford, Mass., company that specializes in the manufacture of handbags and other leather goods and has held Defense Department contracts worth more than $90 million.

• The Washington Times
• March 08, 2007

• Suit Accuses Massachusetts Firm of Bilking Illegals ; Paid 2 Checks to Avoid Overtime

A Massachusetts leather and clothing manufacturer targeted in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid in March has been accused in a lawsuit of conspiring to avoid overtime pay by making it appear that its workers - many of whom were illegal aliens - were being paid by two separate companies. Brought by Greater Boston Legal Services on behalf of current and former employees of Michael Bianco Inc. (MBI) of New Bedford, Mass., the suit said the workers were paid with two separate checks to give the appearance that none of them exceeded the 40-hour workweek that would require overtime payments.

• The Washington Times
• May 17, 2007

• Aguilar v. U.S. Immigration, (1st Cir. 2007)

...Bonn, III and Harvey Kaplan, with whom Michael. Shin, Matthew M. Lyons, Dechert LLP, Kaplan, O'Su...targeted Michael Bianco, Inc., a Department of Defense contractor. suspect...

• Federal Circuits

• Chertoff Defends Ice Raid On Illegals ; Rejects Complaint From Kennedy

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has dismissed accusations that a raid on a Massachusetts clothing and leather manufacturer that netted more than 360 illegal aliens was "ill- conceived and hastily implemented. In a letter to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who made the accusations in letters last week to Mr. Chertoff about the March 6 raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Michael Bianco Inc. (MBI), the Homeland Security boss said agents took "decisive and proper action against serial violations of our immigration laws."

• The Washington Times
• March 22, 2007

• Government Assistance

MBI had started receiving smaller government contracts as early as 1998, when it signed a $96,000 deal with the Federal Supply Service for "individual equipment," according to the Federal Procurement Data System. Over the course of the next year, Michael Bianco won six contracts, including a $1.6 million Department of Defense contract for "men's outerwear. Prosecutors say MBI managers told [Yolanda Ramos-Mendez] how to buy fake documents, gave her a sewing job and even handed over a $150 advance for food. When she told [Francesco Insolia] that she did not have any immigration papers, according to an affidavit, he told her that "todo el mundo tiene papeles" - "everyone has papers." State and local officials asked to tour our facility and then decided to initiate efforts to meet our wor...

• Boston Banner, The
• August 18, 2009

• City Fights Raided Firm That Hired Illegal Aliens

A New Bedford, Mass., clothing and leather manufacturer, whose owner and managers were arrested last week in a massive federal raid on charges of hiring illegal aliens, had reneged on a promise to hire local residents in exchange for $57,000 in tax breaks - and the city wants its money back. Mayor Scott W. Lang told The Washington Times he plans to "get every dime back" of tax benefits the company received as part of a five-year deal in which Michael Bianco Inc. (MBI) promised to hire local residents to fill an expanding work force. The mayor said the city has a long history of supplying skilled workers for needle- trade industries like MBI and he intends to "make sure we keep those jobs here.

• The Washington Times
• March 12, 2007

• Deportados No Hallan Empleos

Hasta ahora, sólo 160 de los empleados de Michael Bianco fueron enviados a sus países, pero la redada tuvo un importante efecto sicológico y sembró terror en todo el país. Los indocumentados comenzaron a sentirse acosados y las empresas que los contrataban empezaron a tomar más cuidados. Su esposo no podía mantener a sus cinco hijos en Guatemala, de modo que consiguió que amigos y parientes le prestasen seis mil dólares para regresar ilegalmente a Estados Unidos. Llegó el 28 de octubre de 2007, quejándose de un dolor en la garganta. Al día siguiente se sintió peor todavía, pero Gómez no lo llevó al médico por temor a que lo descubriesen. Víctor García, de 34 años, se pregunta cómo hará para alimentar a sus cuatro hijos. Cuando trabajaba para Michael Bianco, enviaba 500 dólares por mes. ...

• La Opinión; Los Angeles, Calif.
• September 01, 2009