A federal judge has cleared a Nebraska couple of accusations that they held Laotians, including a Columbia resident, as indentured servants.
Ae Xaypanya
Ae Xaypanya, an immigrant from Laos who works as a tailor at Men's Wearhouse off Stadium Boulevard, told authorities that Edward and Amphayvanh Alstatt tried to charge him for returning his immigration documents, took money from him and didn't pay him for three months of work. He was a witness in an August trial in which the Alstatts faced three charges of violating immigration laws.
U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon wrote that he doesn't condone charging immigrants hefty fees for helping them but that there wasn't enough evidence to prove the Alstatts intended to commit peonage. He also wrote that the couple provided room and board, helped immigrants find work and took Xaypanya on a family vacation.
"The Alstatts, for all of their faults, worked to bring family members out of Laos to the U.S.," Bataillon wrote.
Xaypanya came to the United States as the spouse of a woman who had won the 2007 diversity lottery — a process that randomly selects winners and grants them and their spouses with visas. Amphayvanh Alstatt, who is also from Laos, assists immigrants for pay and allegedly arranged the marriage so Xaypanya, her cousin, could come to the United States.
A year later, he reported the couple to authorities when they wouldn't return his Social Security and green cards. The Alstatts argued he owed them fees for helping him navigate the immigration process. She charges about $3,000 a person, according to court documents, though at one point, Xaypanya said she attempted to charge him $25,000 for his documents. Alstatt denied that but did admit that she had him sign a $9,000 note when he came to get his documents, which included interest.
Xaypanya also accused Edward Alstatt of taking roughly $3,500 from him when the two shared a bank account and a vehicle in Iowa. Alstatt said he considered it payment for the car. Bataillon dubbed it a misunderstanding.
Xaypanya worked for three months in New Orleans without pay, but there is no evidence he was coerced, threatened or abused, Bataillon said. The work experience also let him gain experience needed to find other work, he wrote.
That immigrants are loaded with debts to the Alstatts is the "particularly bothersome" part, Bataillon said. "The interest rate charged by the Alstatts … essentially insures unending payments to the Alstatts. This debt load and its computation are unconscionable and abuse."
However, he continued, there is no evidence that Xaypanya was held or forced to perform labor to satisfy the debt.
Amphayvanh Alstatt was found guilty of one charge for lying to the government about why she failed to include one immigrant's criminal history on immigration forms. Sentencing will take place this summer.
