A couple that owns a plumbing company in Plymouth, MI., is facing multiple charges related to harboring, employing and "conspiracy to bring in” undocumented immigrants to work for them.
Moises Orduna-Rios, 36, and Raquel Orduna-Rios, 30 — who also face money laundering charges — are accused of employing 247 undocumented immigrants, who they allegedly “housed … in overcrowded houses and hotel rooms.” Authorities allege that the couple also took the immigrants’ passports.
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The couple was released on bail but is due back in court at the beginning of December, where CBS News reports they face a decade of prison time and charges of up to $3,000 per undocumented immigrant they employed. (1) Meanwhile, their company, Orduna Plumbing Inc. — which is based in Michigan but operates in multiple states — reportedly raked in around $74 million in revenue since 2022 while paying workers roughly between $800 and $1,500 a week. (2)
The investigation began with a simple traffic stop of one of the plumbing company’s vans last December in Upstate New York, where Orduna also operates. Border Patrol arrested “three people who were illegally present in the U.S.” Then, when another employee arrived to claim the towed van, they unknowingly told an undercover border patrol agent about the scope of the company’s operation — going so far as to say that if the undercover agent was an undocumented immigrant, the company “would still hire them.”
Authorities allege that a number of the undocumented immigrants had expired visas, while others were simply in the country illegally, and some have already been arrested.
A slew of recovered WhatsApp messages between Moises and the employees revealed the concern among the undocumented workers about the risk of arrest, including asking for more financial compensation as a result. Other messages mentioned complaints about overcrowding at the residences where the company put the workers up, with one sparsely furnished 1,500-square-foot residence allegedly housing nine undocumented immigrants.
The ongoing issue of overcrowding undocumented immigrants
While the number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. reached 14 million (3) — an all-time high — in 2023 (the last year of available data), accurate numbers regarding how many live in employee-provided housing are scarce. That’s partly because many of those workers live under the radar, for fear of being discovered and even separated from loved ones if deported.
That being said, local studies shed some light on the issue. One such study by agriculture technology company Farmonaut of undocumented dairy farmworkers in New York state found that about 83% “live in employer-provided accommodations that frequently fail to meet basic housing standards for sanitation, potable water and heating (4).” It notes that “overcrowding is rampant, with as many as 12 people sharing a single bathroom or kitchen on some farms” while others live in “makeshift housing constructed off milking parlors” that exposes them “to dangerous methane, pests and relentless noise.”
The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) adds that “14.3% of immigrant workers live in overcrowded housing,” compared to 3.5% of American-born workers. Of those immigrants, 21% are illegal immigrants (5).
The National Immigration Forum, however, points out that the overcrowding often has to do with “the undocumented population [having] limited engagement with many segments of the housing market” including “subsidized or public housing programs” due to legal restrictions (6). Farmonaut says that “the patchwork of laws and local enforcement is failing those who need it most, creating a dangerous loophole for both farmers and workers.” (4)
To that end, a recent review of 65 studies about housing inequalities for migrant and refugee populations from the last 30 years also showed consistently that “substandard housing conditions … was linked with poorer physical health and increased risk of mental health issues.” (7)
It’s worth noting that undocumented immigrants still pay taxes, up to nearly $100 billion last year, yet remain ineligible for many of the social safety nets available to native-born workers. (8)
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Forging pathways toward legal immigration
Data shows that the job sectors that employ the most undocumented immigrants include farming, construction and the service industry. (3) However, the Trump administration deportation crackdown is taking its toll on both the immigrant community and the economy overall.
It’s estimated that the U.S. workforce lost around 1.2 million immigrants (9) — both legal and illegal — in the first seven months of this year. And the effects are being felt across the country, from the agricultural industry to construction to retail and warehouse work, with the American Immigration Council writing in August that “early warning signs show a growing labor shortage, rising prices, terrified employees and employers left in the lurch” without workforce stability. (10)
In fact, a Joint Economic Committee (JEC) paper published by Senate Democrats last December showed that mass deportations could devastate the economy, raise prices of goods and services, cost Medicare and Social Security billions and eliminate jobs for American-born workers across the country. (11)
“What’s going to happen when millions of Americans can no longer find a home care provider?” Arnulfo De La Cruz, president of the California chapter of the Service Employees International Union, asked in an interview with PBS. (12) “What happens when immigrants aren’t in the field to pick our crops? Who’s going to staff our hospitals and nursing homes?”
That’s why experts routinely call for immigration reform that allows immigrants to more easily come to the U.S. and integrate into the workforce. The Economic Policy Institute, for one, proposed legal work authorization that would lead to higher wages for immigrants, along with benefits, so that they can also engage as consumers and help bolster the economy. “The right choice,” they write, “is to regularize the status of unauthorized immigrants who are already here, so they can continue to help the country realize its economic potential.” (13)
The JEC, meanwhile, argued that “expanding legal immigration pathways can reduce irregular border crossings, leading to more secure and regulated borders,” as CIS noted that higher wages would also curb the overcrowding issue. (11)
And the non-profit Baker Institute for Public Policy proposed an approach that includes issuing nonimmigrant work visas to “help fill labor gaps,” reform to help long-time undocumented immigrants obtain a visa, and expanding temporary work visa programs in various sectors to help “promote orderly migration and support economic stability.” (14)
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Article sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.
WCNC (1); Click on Detroit (2); Pew Research Center (3, 9); Farmonaut (4); Center for Immigration Studies (5); National Immigration Forum (6); PubMed Central (7); Economic Policy Institute (8); American Immigration Council (10); Joint Economic Committee (11); PBS (12); Economic Policy Institute (13); Baker Institute for Public Policy (14)
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