Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents surrounded the house Conception Malinek in a Chicago suburb during the early morning of March 26, 2019. Were in the basement 33 immigrants from Guatemala, including 14 children, brought by Malinek for one purpose: to put them to work, under threat and close surveillance, so that they would pay him thousands of dollars for their trips to the United States.
In the room of this people smuggler, the agents found the notebook in which he wrote down the debts and the money they gave him, as well as allowances for housing, transportation, and cell phones. Everyone had to sign when giving money. This was the sentence read next to the fertilizers that one of his victims had made him: “You are free to go or stay if you pay your debt.”
Malinek, a 50-year-old Guatemalan woman with US citizenship, has been in prison since that day and will remain behind bars for longer: a federal judge in Chicago sentenced her this week to six and a half years in prison. In addition, he ordered pay $ 112,545 to their victims.
“Malinek followed his victims’ every move, knowing their whereabouts at all times, the exact amount of each check he had stolen from them, and which levers to push and pull to keep them all in line,” said the US attorney. Christopher Parente in the sentencing. memorandum. from the government.
“He knew his victims feared deportation and separation from their loved ones far more than the abuse and exploitation he imposed on them,” the official added.
The investigation began when an employee called the authorities to report that his colleague at a factory in Romeoville had told him he lived in a basement packed with dozens of immigrants and that he had to work through the owner of that house.
The testimonies of the victims
Between March 21 and March 26 of that year, detectives interviewed four Maline victims. One of them, a Guatemalan father of a 15-year-old teenager, revealed that he had agreed to pay $ 14,000 to arrive in the United States in December 2018.
He said he was arrested at the border and since he didn’t know anyone in this country, this man said he would arrive at the trafficker’s home in Cicero, Illinois. But when he got to the house, she warned him his debt had already risen to $ 18,000.
The immigrant got a job through an employment agency. His monthly salary was $ 1,956. But he had to pay the ‘pollera’ $ 974, Deducted $ 200 in payment of her debt to take him to the US, $ 424 for various expenses, $ 200 for transporting him to work, and $ 35 for a cell phone she gave him.
He also told investigators that Malinek had threatened them several times by reporting them to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). be deported and stay with their children.
He said he slept with several immigrants in the basement and that they were not allowed to leave until the human trafficker had given their consent. His 15-year-old daughter stayed on the first floor of the house and came to visit him, “But only for limited periods”, notes the prosecution.
The daughter of this Guatemalan witness, for her part, that they owed Malinek thousands of dollars when she added the plane tickets she bought for them to arrive in Chicago.
It was Malinek herself who took a photo of this minor so that they made a false identification, which showed that she was an adult woman. With that apocryphal document, he got a job at the Romeoville factory.
At the end of the week, this teenager gave her check to her father to try to pay off the “debt” as quickly as possible. She received threats that they would be thrown on the street if they stopped paying. When the officers interviewed her, this young woman and her father had been in that house for three months.
From the factory to the basement
Another testimony added to the charge is that of a Guatemalan man who crossed the border with his 12-year-old son. He claimed that Malinek He charged him $ 7,000 and paid him about $ 600 every month.
Desperate to be with his family, he arranged with her to accommodate his wife and another 10-year-old son a fee of $ 30,000. All four slept crammed in the basement, with dozens of people seeking asylum from the US government.
According to the indictment, the trafficker had tricked him into believing he had met an immigration officer to review his case and charged him $ 50 to take him to “appointments.”
The investigation found that Malinek gave each of the victims a cell phone to contact her and charged them for that service.
To make them believe they have to stay home for a while made them believe they were visited weekly by “immigration officers” who confirmed that they were there. She called each family to approach the false officer.
The four victims interviewed by law enforcement officers were on the same shift at the factory. They worked Monday to Friday from 3:00 pm to 12:30 pm. For $ 50 Malinek would drop them off and collect them in a van.
“The victims immediately returned to the basement of the residence,” the prosecution said.
They also had to pay an extra fee to take care of their children while they worked.
Another Guatemalan woman, identified by authorities as “Victim C,” reported that Malinek charged her $ 30,000 for the trip for her and her son. He also worked at the Romeoville factory to pay off his debt. She describes the smuggler as a “verbally abusive” woman, that told them that if anyone found out what was going on in that house, they would lose their children.
He said Malinek was threatening them all the time by calling ICE: “They already know you’re here, so go ahead and talk to them.”
It wasn’t all abuses. In the house there was a written list of “rules” requiring the basement to be cleaned before starting work. If they failed, they had to pay a fine. They also had to organize to clean the house in several shifts. “No victims were compensated for their cleaning services,” the charge quotes.
When registering the stay, the authorities found false residence and social security cards. There was the green card of the 15-year-old victim, who indicated to be 27 years old.
According to the FBI, this woman was involved in migrant smuggling between 2009 and 2019.
Shortly after Malinek’s arrest, his niece said Univision Chicago that injustice was done. ‘My aunt never put them to work. I work too, she never forced me, ”said the woman, whose identity was not disclosed.
She had no criminal record at the time. Authorities describe her as a bilingual woman who graduated through high school. One of his victims said he owned a hotel in Guatemala.
The trafficker admitted in a guilty plea she signed last July that she was involved in human trafficking between October 2009 and August 2014. At the time, she confessed that she had brought ten immigrants to this country, which he exploited with deceit and threats.
