(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Two brothers are accused of having a pair of undocumented Mexican men smuggled to Chicago and charging them for their trip expenses and shabby local accommodations.
Agustin Arias Lopez, 30, and Juan Arias Lopez, 32, are charged with conspiracy to knowingly transport aliens to come to the United States, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago announced Friday.
Around June 2021, the Chicago siblings made plans to illegally bring two individuals known in court documents as Individuals A and B to work for their construction companies, according to information in an FBI agent’s affidavit. Not only were the undocumented immigrants expected to pay off the purported costs of their entry, they were charged to stay in Agustin Arias Lopez’s basement in the 7200 block of South May Street, prosecutors said.
“Individual A described the basement of the May Street Property as unfinished, without walls, a finished ceiling, or a bathroom. Individual A stated that he and Individual B used a bucket for a bathroom for several weeks, and he bathed in a large sink located in the basement,” the FBI agent said in the affidavit.
Court documents say each week the Mexican men were charged hundreds of dollars against the $800 to $1,000 in weekly wages they made by working seven days straight — 12 to 15 hours a day — for the brothers’ respective concrete companies.
In November, Agustin Arias Lopez fired Individual A and demanded he pay back his debt plus an additional $5,000, authorities said. When Individual A and B returned to the May Street resident to collect their belongings, a confrontation ensued. One of the men said Agustin Arias Lopez had been “taking advantage” of them, and the employer allegedly pulled out a handgun and pointed it at them. A fourth person reportedly intervened.
The undocumented workers provided information to authorities. Agents served search warrants on the brothers’ properties this week, the FBI affidavit said. Financial ledgers and weapons were confiscated, authorities said.
The Arias Lopez brothers were arrested this week. A detention hearing is set for March 28.
Related
