Iowa City construction company owner charged with harboring illegal workers

CEDAR RAPIDS – The owner of an Iowa City construction company was formally charged today in federal court with harboring and employing illegal immigrants.

Samira Zuniga, owner of Xtreme Construction, is charged with one count of harboring and transporting illegal immigrants and one count of employing illegal immigrants. She is accused of harboring and employing roofers from Mexico who were charged in April with immigrant violations, according to court documents.

A preliminary hearing and detention hearing for Samira Zuniga is set 10 a.m. Thursday in U.S. District Court.

A van registered to Samira Zuniga was pulled over by Marion Police on April 11, with Antonio Zuniga and four other unidentified Hispanic men, according to an affidavit of the criminal complaint. On April 27, Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested the nine roofers who were working for Xtreme Construction, a sub contractor for Eastern Iowa Construction.

Zuniga, originally from Guatemala, became a naturalized citizen in 2007, but  Antonio Zuniga, listed as “signer” on a bank account for Xtreme and a relative of Samira, is an illegal immigrant and isn't authorized to work in the United States, according to the affidavit. Samira Zuniga filed a petition on behalf of Antonio Zuniga, to adjust his illegal status, which was approved but he was never issued an employment authorization document, according to the affidavit.

On June 7, six of the illegal immigrants testified before a federal grand jury that they worked for Antonio Zuniga and he knew they were illegals, drove them from their apartment to work and back, paid them in cash and also paid a portion of their rent at 1958 Broadway in Iowa City, according to the affidavit.

Two of the workers testified they were Antonio Zuniga's cousins and he would drive one of them from Oklahoma City, Okla., to Iowa in his truck and both were paid in cash and never completed any paperwork. These two workers also said they knew Samira Zuniga and she would occasionally drive them to work and was on the trip from Oklahoma.

Two days after the roofers were arrested, Samira Zuniga made a withdrawal from Xtreme for $5,936, according to the affidavit. Agents believe the two left Iowa and went to Mexico. Samira Zuniga reentered the United States at the Laredo, Texas, Port of Entry June 18.  She entered with three Hispanic women of unknown immigration status.

There are no charges filed against Antonio Zuniga at this time.