Milpitas Company Charged with Violating Immigration Law

Milpitas-based Vector Fabrication Incorporated was ordered to pay $75,000 in fines for violating federal immigration law in Milpitas, according to an announcement made Monday.

The statement came from Dean K. Shear, a Diplomatic Security Service Special Agent at the agency's San Francisco Field Office.

Between July 2007 and May 2009, the printed circuit board maker told 28 immigrant workers to surrender their certificates of alien registration to corporate officers during their stays in the U.S., according to Shear.

Often called I-94 forms, certificates of alien registration are stamped into the passports of U.S. visitors at immigration checkpoints and visitors must hold on to them while they are in the United States.

The Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) Special Agents based at the American Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, initiated the investigation in January 2009 after some of the aliens reported being mistreated during their stays at the Vector Fabrication factory in Milpitas.

DSS Special Agents in San Francisco then served a federal search warrant on the factory on October 21, 2009, and seized evidence, leading to the conviction and sentencing.

“The sentencing of Vector Fabrication Incorporated sends a strong message: The Diplomatic Security Service is committed to making sure that those who commit visa and passport fraud face consequences for their criminal actions,” said Shear. 

Vector Fabrication Incorporated previously pleaded guilty to one federal misdemeanor count of "Aiding and Abetting the Failure to Possess Alien Certificates of Registration". 

Shear advised people with information about entry visa frauds are to contact the Diplomatic Security Service in San Francisco at (415) 705-1176, or at any American Embassy or Consulate overseas.