Dairy farm owner pleads guilty to using illegal labor

The owner of two Michigan dairy farms pleaded guilty Tuesday to harboring workers who were in the U.S. illegally and agreed to pay nearly $1.4 million to the government. Denis Burke, an Irish immigrant, admits he employed more than 100 people who were in the U.S. without legal permission. Guilty pleas were also entered on behalf of his farms, Dunganstown Dairy and Parisville Dairy, both located in Michigan's Thumb region.Burke "gave the illegal aliens free housing on or next to his farms so the illegal aliens would be readily available for work and less accessible to immigration authorities," according to a plea agreement signed by Burke and federal prosecutors.