Disappeared News

by Larry Geller

This actually makes sense, but it is certainly a bizarre facet in one of the ongoing human trafficking trials pending in Honolulu. Of course, it has to make sense to the judge. And there are further twists to the plot.

On Tuesday, April 26, 2011, Aloun Farms defendants Mike and Alec Sou, through Mike Sou’s attorney, filed a joint motion with the federal court to arrest and temporarily detain two Thai nationals, Mr. Thanakorn Mukdamuang and Mr. Kuson Thasak, for deposition as material witnesses in the Sou’s criminal case. A hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday, May 4, 2011 before Judge Richard L. Puglisi on the motion. Under federal law, a material witness in a case may indeed be detained despite having done nothing wrong.

The two Thai workers are expected, by the defense, to testify in favor of the Sou brothers, in contradiction to the testimony of the other workers.  From an affidavit filed along with the motion:

According to the indictment, amongst other forms of mistreatment, the Thai workers were allegedly housed in inadequate housing conditions, and their movement and freedom were restrained by Defendants Alec and Mike Sou. It is also alleged that the Thai workers had their passports confiscated, and were threatened with harm throughout their employment at Aloun Farms.

The problem faced by the defense is that these two men are about to leave the country. Here’s the logic, as stated at the end of the affidavit.

7. The Thai workers who have held themselves out to be victims in this case have been granted continued presence parole by the Government which has allowed them to remain in the United States of America even though their visas have expired. Mr. Mukdamuang, and Mr. Thasak have not been granted continued presence parole.

8. Because neither Mr. Mukdamuang, nor Mr. Thasak have been granted continued presence parole, removal proceedings were initiated against them before the Immigration Court in Honolulu, Hawaii. On April 14, 2011, and April 20, 2011 respectively, Mr. Mukdamuang, and Mr. Thasak were both granted voluntary departure from the United States of America as an alternative to forced removal. They were both given 60 days to leave. Therefore, Mr. Mukdamuang must leave the United States of America before June 14, 2011, and Mr. Thasak must leave before June 20, 2011.

9. Trial in this case is scheduled to begin on July 29, 2011.

10. Once removed from the country, it will become impracticable to secure the presence at trial of Mr. Mukdamuang and Mr. Thasak by subpoena.

The twist is that the federal court in Honolulu and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have disparate jurisdictions, and it is not clear that there is cooperation in either the Aloun Farms or the Global Horizons human trafficking cases.

From the documents filed Tuesday, it appears that the two Thai nationals could skip town at any time. Justice moves slowly, and it seems possible that even before the scheduled May 4 hearing the two former Thai workers could be on a plane out of here.

Global Horizon case faces a similar issue

Although it only came up early in the Global Horizons proceedings, the chief defendant, Mordechai Orian, is also facing deportation. In fact, he asked the Hawaii court at a hearing held on April 11 for permission to visit his immigration attorney in Nevada. That permission was denied.

The earlier contention was that Orian was a flight risk because he could have simply decided to give up his opposition to the ICE action against him and be deported, or like the two Thai witnesses, he could “self-deport” legally by getting on a plane out of the country.

Orian currently wears a GPS tracking device and no longer holds his passport, but without cooperation between ICE and the federal court in Honolulu, it’s possible to conceive of a scenario in which he has been taken into ICE custody and on his way to Israel. ICE has not been present nor a participant in these Hawaii trials, and it is not clear whether an immigration judge on the Mainland would recognize the jurisdiction of a federal judge in Hawaii over the immigration case.  It would take years for the government to get him back from Israel through extradition proceedings.

Google translation: 

Permalink posted by Larry @ 4/28/2011 01:42:00 PM