Jose Humberto Gonzalez, the human resources manager for Howard Industries, Inc., was in federal court Thursday to hear the court’s 25 indictments against him. The indictment does not place any blame on the company.

Gonzalez was charged with 25 counts of conspiracy and employee verification fraud following an August 2008 ICE raid at the Laurel plant and Ellisville headquarters of Howard Industries, Inc. He made his initial appearance before United States Magistrate Judge Michael T. Parker at the United States Federal Courthouse in Hattiesburg.

If Gonzalez is convicted, he could face a maximum of five years per count while charged a maximum fine of $250,000 per count.

The indictment follows the August 25, 2008, U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid that allegedly found 595 illegal aliens working at the plant. The raid ended up being the largest single workplace site raid in American history. Of the 595, nine were charged criminally with aggravated identity theft and pled guilty to those charges. Many of the others have returned to their countries of origin.

“ICE aggressively targets employers who egregiously violate immigration laws by knowingly employing an illegal alien workforce,” ICE’s Office of Investigations Special Agent-in-Charge Michael Holt said. “This indictment demonstrates firsthand how ICE agents use our investigative tools to pursue those who take advantage of illegal labor for personal profit.”

Howard Industries, Inc. continues to deny that the company had any knowledge of illegal hiring practices. The company released the following statement Thursday afternoon:

“Howard Industries has always and continues to conduct its hiring practices in strict compliance with federal and state laws,” the statement reads. “It is the policy of Howard Industries to hire only U. S. citizens or those who have legal authorization to work in the United States. We have never knowingly hired anyone who was not legally authorized to work in the United States.

“As part of the hiring process, the company checks the identity and work authorization documents of every applicant, gets fingerprints from every employee, and enters the applicant’s information into a government database to verify that he or she is authorized to work in the U. S. In sum, the company does everything that the law requires plus several additional steps. To the best of the company’s knowledge, Humberto Gonzalez and all other employees have followed these government procedures and have not violated any laws.”

The indictment unsealed Thursday includes details of the allegations:

“... Gonzalez was charged with conspiring to commit multiple offenses against the United States, including encouraging illegal aliens to reside in the United States, attempting to conceal and harbor illegal aliens, and falsely attesting to the validity of employment-related documents. The indictment alleges that it was a part of the conspiracy that Gonzalez, on behalf of Howard Industries, would routinely hire illegal aliens and in the process of hiring such would accept false identity documents, including alien registration receipt cards and Social Security Cards. The indictment further states that, as part of the conspiracy, defendant Gonzalez would submit Social Security numbers provided by him by applicants at the Laurel plant to the Social Security Administration to verify their numbers and, after being notified by the Social Security Administration that the Social Security numbers of such applicants were not found to be valid, Gonzalez would nonetheless hire and continue to employ such persons. As charged, it was also a part of the conspiracy that Gonzalez would instruct employees to obtain alternative identity documents which he knew falsely represented their true identities. The indictment further charges that it was also a part of the conspiracy that Gonzalez would assure Spanish-speaking foreign nationals working at the Laurel plant that they would be warned if immigration authorities were coming to the plant.”

In addition to the conspiracy charge, Gonzalez was charged with 24 counts of falsely certifying to the employment eligibility of job applicants and employees. The indictment charges that, on various dates, Gonzalez falsely certified, under penalty of perjury, on Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verifications that he had examined the documents listed on the Form I-9 and determined them to be genuine and that, to the best of his knowledge, the applicant was eligible to work in the United States, whereas in fact he had been notified by the Social Security Administration that the Social Security numbers of such applicants were not found to be valid.

Acting United States Attorney Stan Harris, Assistant United States Attorney Gaines Cleveland and Mike Hurst are the prosecutors in charge of the case. According to documents from the U. S. Attorney’s Office, Harris stressed that “this indictment represents an accusation only and all defendants are entitled to a presumption of innocence.”

Gonzalez was released on bond after an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Hattiesburg.