Citrus farmer charged for hiring illegal immigrants

And in the courts, a citrus farm manager of la Democracia was charged today for hiring nineteen Central Americans who did not have employment permits. Thirty-three year-old Ray Ogaldez, of the Hummingbird Citrus Farm was escorted to the Belize City Magistrate’s Court by Immigration Personnel where he appeared before Magistrate Kathleen Lewis. Ogaldez pleaded not guilty to all nineteen charges and since there was no objection, the magistrate offered him bail in the sum of three thousand dollars. Ogaldez was arrested on Thursday following a joint operation between the Belize Police Department and Immigration personnel at the citrus farm. The Seventeen Guatemalan and two Honduran employees had been on the job for only a week. It is expected that the nineteen will be deported to their country.