Garland ISD under investigation
District self reports H-1B Visa information to Homeland Security
Kevin Cummings
Staff writer, Rowlett Lakeshore Times
Last September, employees of Garland ISD contacted district administrators over concerns of potential wrongdoing regarding the districts H-1B Visa Work Program. An investigation was immediately launched, and the district sought outside legal counsel for independent examination since GISD employees were involved. The district has also self-reported and cooperating with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in the investigation, as of Feb. 12.
An H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows for the temporary employment of foreign workers in specialty occupations. People hired with the visa must also have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree or an equivalent if it is required for employment in the field in which they were hired.
Three GISD employees: Victor Leos, former executive director of human resources; Paul Ruediger, teacher at Lakeview Centennial High School; and Gary Reeves, associate superintendent, have been placed on administrative leave pending the results of the outside investigation.
Chris Moore, district spokesman, said placing the employees is not an accusation of wrongdoing, but rather a precautionary measure due to the open, ongoing investigation.
“Concerns were centered around the process of handling visas,” he said. “Essentially what it entails, is it allows employers to employ workers with regards to specialty occupations. We can hire someone and they can come and teach our bilingual classes, and that how we utilize visa folks.”
The visa program currently employs about 8 percent of the district’s teaching staff.
“Once all paperwork is completed, it’s all temporary depending on the length of time of the occupation and of the visa,” Moore said.
The district’s visa program dates back more than a decade, after Leos was hired as director of personnel. Since becoming aware of the concerns, the district has contacted the more than 250 employees affected by the H-1B visa program to ensure that they remain informed.
Garland ISD corruption
District releases findings from ongoing investigation
On Tuesday morning, officials of Garland ISD and representatives from the Littler Mendelson law firm released information regarding the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s investigation of the district.
The district began hiring teachers on H-1B visas – non-immigrant visas that allow foreign workers to be hired for specialty occupations – in 2002. Under the supervision of former Executive Director of Human Resources Victor Leos, the district received 642 applications. As of now, the district has about 200 employees working on H-1B visas.
“It’s clear that [Leos] capitalized on the district’s real need for bilingual teachers,” said Harry Jones, associate with Littler Mendelson. “He bestowed economic benefits to his family and generated revenue for him, his associates and his relatives. Throughout Mr. Leos’ direction of the H-1B program for Garland ISD, there was an extreme lack of oversight by his superior, now the associate superintendent, Dr. Gary Reeves.”
Findings stemming from the investigation found that Leos made trips to foreign countries to hire teachers, largely at the expense of outside recruiting services located in the foreign countries. In the process of hiring applicants, Leos would have employees pay for fees involved in processing the application and attorney fees. Under H-1B visa rules, the employer is responsible for paying the cost of hiring and attorney fees, not the employee.
Once a person was hired, Leos would have them go through the Yu law firm where his stepdaughter, convicted felon Amy Ruediger, worked. The fees paid to the law firm resulted in money going to Leos and his associates.
Leos also told many employees hired through the program – mainly employees hired in the Philippines – that they were required to live for one year at an apartment complex located at 5205 Preston Trail in Garland that was owned by his stepson.
Emails from 2013 show that Reeves was aware that potential wrongdoings were occurring in regard to the H-1B visa program. According to Jones, Reeves failed to properly report the concerns raised in the email and instead sent them to Leos to be handled.
“There were a number of opportunities for Dr. Reeves to step in and stop the corruption,” Jones said.
While investigations regarding the district’s visa handling process are ongoing with Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Education, teachers still working with the district on the visas are facing potential deportation. The district has no control over whether the employees receive green cards, as the process is handled by the federal government.
A separate criminal investigation is also ongoing with the Garland Police Department and the Texas Rangers. Both Leos and Reeves are on administrative leave pending final results of the investigations.
The district has also stated that it will pay more than $500,000 in refunds to teachers whose recruitment through the program did not follow regulations.
“We’re committed to making sure that if anybody paid fees that they weren’t supposed to pay, we will make them whole, and we have checks and balances to make sure that never happens again to our teachers,” said Bob Morrison, Garland ISD superintendent.
Immigrant GISD teachers file lawsuit
Petition states Yu law firm involved in malpractice
It has been nearly six months after Garland ISD began self-reporting and cooperating with investigators from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security regarding wrongdoings in the handling of the H-1B Visas of some of the teachers hired from foreign countries to work for the district. Some of the teachers are still complaining of a lack of communication and progress from the district as some of their immigration statuses come close to their expiration date.
On July 7, four of the teachers hired from Central and South America filed a civil lawsuit against Becky Yu and the Yu South & Associates law firm alleging malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud and negligent misrepresentation.
“We have filed a lawsuit against the law firms who abused our trust and took advantage of us while we were pursuing the American dream,” said Francisco Marcano, a defendant in the lawsuit and GISD teacher. “We want to make sure that these attorneys aren’t going to be able to do this to anyone else, so we want to make sure they won’t ever to do this again.”
The lawsuit alleges that former GISD Executive Director of Human Resources Victor Leos instructed the teachers to complete their visa process and permanent residency applications with the Yu firm, where his stepdaughter Amy Ruediger works as paralegal assistant. It also states that the firm, which claims to specialize in immigration cases, had the teachers pay about $4,000 to $6,000 in fees related to the visa application process, which, according to the Immigration and Nationality Act, are required to be paid by the employer, not the employee. According to the suit, the Yu law firm also received money from GISD for the same payments. In total, each teacher paid about $14,000 to the firm.
In November 2013, the teachers were notified that their applications for labor contracts were being audited and rejected due to “glaring errors and wrongdoings,” according to the petition filed against the Yu law firm. Each teacher could now face deportation after multiple years of service to the district and community.
“These law firms abused our clients’ trust and confidence, accepted funds they should not have accepted and have permanently damaged their immigration status,” said Courtney Perez, senior associate with Carter Scholer Arnett Hamada & Mockler via email.
The teachers claim that they were continuously denied access to their files and were told by Leos that if they did not cooperate with the firm, Garland ISD would no longer sponsor their visas.
David Woodward, an attorney with Cobb Martinez Woodward who is representing the Yu law firm in the case, said that Becky Yu is named specifically in the suit since she is the lead lawyer at the firm. He also said that GISD always knew it was their responsibility to pay for the fees and that if there were any factual errors in the paperwork, it is likely the teachers’ fault.
“I’m not sure anything was done inappropriately,” Woodward said.
Woodward said he expects to file a response to the lawsuit by Aug. 4. The teachers are seeking damages of more than $100,000 for each alleged misdeed. However, Marcano said the lawsuit is not about the money, but about seeking justice.
“We are confident that justice will prevail, and our trust in the legal system to right the wrongs that have been committed against us,” he said. “We paid thousands of dollars to attorneys who we thought were here to help us, only to have our immigration status jeopardized.”