The owner of a roofing company in Iowa City has pled guilty to harboring illegal immigrants. The U.S. Attorney’s office says 33-year old Samira Zuniga, the owner of Xtreme Construction, made her plea this week in federal court in Cedar Rapids.
Zuniga was sought after Homeland Security officials arrested nine illegal immigrants working for Xtreme Construction in Hiawatha on April 26. Evidence presented at a bond hearing showed, shortly after the arrests, Zuniga withdrew several thousand dollars in cash from bank accounts and fled to Mexico with her family.
She was arrested on June 20 as she returned to the U.S. Zuniga and others were loading items into a cargo trailer to be taken back to Mexico. Zuniga faces up to 15 years in prison. Her sentencing date has not been set.