Jury finds Texas couple guilty of concealing and harboring bakery workers in the US illegally

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Two South Texas bakery owners are guilty of concealing and harboring employees in the U.S. illegally, a jury found Wednesday afternoon following a trial that only lasted three days.

Leonardo Baez and Nora Avila-Guel, a Mexican couple who have legal permanent residence in the U.S., were charged after being arrested at their bakery along with eight employees in February. It's a rare case in which business owners are charged with criminal offenses rather than just a fine.

Six of the employees had visitor visas, and two were in the country illegally. None had permission to work in the U.S. Employees lived in a room with six beds and shared two bathrooms in the same building as the bakery, according to the federal affidavit.

Baex and Avila-Guel were tried this week in Brownsville, a border city about a 20 minutes’ drive southeast of their Los Fresnos bakery. The jury heard from five government witnesses, including an agent who was present during the raid, before U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez, Jr. The defense presented no witnesses.

Videos of the interviews with the two employees in the country without visas or work authorization were played during the trial. Both employees said they were not held against their will and were compensated for their work, according to local reporting.

Baez’s attorney, Sergio Luis Villarreal, called the verdict “heartbreaking.”

“We were arguing the lack of concealment, the lack of covertness in all this," Villarreal said. "I mean, there was no exploitation, no abuse. No one was there against their will."

Cesar de Leon, Avila-Guel’s attorney, said he believed in the enforcement of the law but disagreed in the way it was defined in this case.

“We just felt that in this instance, there was really no harboring," he said. "And I think that the law wasn’t designed to target people like Nora.”

Baez and Avila-Guel were allowed to return to work while they awaited trial. When they reopened their bakery in April, the business had a steady stream of customers return to lend their support. They will continue to be released on bond until their sentencing, which is scheduled for November.