Mexican Restaurant Owner Employing 100 People To Be Deported

[zuluweta 250]

Azteca Founder Arrested By Immigration Officials

By Barb Ickes, Quad City Times, March 10, 2015

A Davenport businessman is being detained in Wisconsin as he awaits deportation to Mexico, according to federal immigration officials.

Gustavo Villalpando-Bolanos, 50, is founder and owner of several local Azteca restaurants. His brother and two children also are part of the family business. They declined to comment on Villalpando's arrest, but his daughter, Sonia Isaura Villalpando, said her father's businesses employ at least 100 people.

He was arrested March 4 in Rock Island as part of a nationwide operation by ICE, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The agency took 2,059 immigrants into custody during an operation dubbed Cross Check, which began March 1. Nearly half of those arrested had previous felony convictions, including voluntary manslaughter, child pornography, robbery, kidnapping and rape, agency officials said.

Villalpando has a nearly 20-year-old conviction from California related to transporting and smuggling other illegal immigrants into the U.S. He also was accused of collecting smuggling fees in an operation that centered on an apartment in Long Beach.

"Mr. Villalpando-Bolanos has a criminal history that includes multiple convictions for smuggling and harboring illegal aliens, which are federal felonies," said Shawn Neudauer, a spokesman for ICE. "He has also been previously deported. Mr. Villalpando-Bolanos will be held in ICE custody pending his removal from the United States."

Nora Dvorak, who has worked in refugee resettlement for the Diocese of Davenport and is an advocate for immigrants, said she knows of Villalpando and his restaurants.

"I will tell you: If you've been previously deported and come back, you've got a big problem," she said Tuesday. "This concerns me. Locally, we don't have any true immigration attorneys on the Iowa side. They (immigrants) really need to have someone who can walk them through someone qualified not that it will make a difference in this man's case."

She credited Villalpando for his local success.

"He's been a great guy for the Davenport area," Dvorak said. "He's really straightened out his act, if he needed to."

But Neudauer said the existence of a restaurant chain indicates very little.

"He went to the Quad-Cities and became a respectable businessman, but a lot of criminals do that," he said Tuesday. "A lot of criminals build what appear to be respectable businesses."

Despite his federal record, Villalpando has had only minor, traffic-related contact with local authorities, court records show.

Davenport Police Capt. Dale Sievert said his department was not asked to take part in any federal investigation into Villalpando. Rock Island Police officials were not available Tuesday to say whether they took part in the arrest.

Sievert said his department's policy is for officers to refrain from asking questions about citizenship. All people have the right to access police services, he said, regardless of immigration status.

On Monday, a federal official said the arrests of Villalpando and hundreds of others will make communities safer.

This nationwide operation led to the apprehension of more than 2,000 convicted criminal aliens who pose the greatest risk to our public safety, Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said. Today, communities around the country are safer because of the great work of the men and women of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Link here: http://tinyurl.com/oxte3qm

[TBoneTX 43,041]

He made his bed and is now into the bedpan.

[zuluweta 250]

He made his bed and is now into the bedpan.

Yes. But this is someone who turned his life around to the point of becoming a successful businessman that provides livelihood for 100 people (hopefully US citizens or LPRs and no unauthorized workers). But since he's gotta go, he's gotta go. Maybe he can transfer the operations to his kids (assuming they're legal).

[TBoneTX 43,041]

Good points. Unsure how that transfer would work, if he's not present to sign any papers.

[GandD 5,966]

One post removed for violating TOS and one for Quoting Post Content intended to degrade, intimidate, or incite violence or prejudicial action against a broad demographic or group of people identified by a unifying trait or characteristic (discrimination). For instance, racist or sexist content may be considered hate speech.

Illegal immigrants are a group of people and while you may not like what they have done, you're not going to be allowed to suggest harm to them on this site.

Edited March 12, 2015 by GandD

[-relo- 105]

adios

[Darnell 8,478]

I'm glad ICE has detained him. I hope they take over his businesses, put em up for auction. The proceeds used to fund further ICE budgetary things.