Posted on 07/16/2005 4:25:23 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Faced with the costs of coping with illegal immigrants, one county is looking to the courts for help - by filing a racketeering lawsuit against the businesses that hire these workers.
The legal theory: that a pattern of immigration violations by employers is costing Canyon County millions for law enforcement, education and social services.
"Their presence lowers the labor wage for American citizens and removes employment opportunities," county Commissioner Robert Vasquez, an ambitious politician who just started a bid for Congress, said of the illegal workers. "Certainly it uses tax dollars to provide them with educational services, medical care, unemployment compensation for those that are injured on the job. They are a drain on the taxpayers of Canyon County, the state of Idaho and the U.S. in general."
The county's attempt to recoup its expenses would be filed under the federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly called the RICO Act, which has been used against targets ranging from organized crime to Internet spammers.
It would be the first time that a government has sued a business under RICO, enacted in 1970, legal experts say.
The county signed a contract Tuesday with a RICO specialist, Chicago attorney Howard Foster, and Vasquez said the lawsuit was expected to be filed soon.
"There is no such lawsuit ever in American history," Foster said. "I don't know if around the country other county commissioners or governments are really as interested as they should be to protect the rights of their citizens."
Idaho may seem a strange stage for an immigration test case. The state has just 19,000 illegal aliens, and ranks 35th among the states, just above Rhode Island, according to estimates from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Canyon County is just southwest of Boise, against the Oregon line.
But Vasquez has developed a reputation as a staunch opponent of illegal immigration. He has tried to bill the Mexican government for the cost of dealing with illegal immigrants from that country, and he tried unsuccessfully to have Canyon County declared a disaster area for what he claims is an impending "invasion" of illegal immigrants.
Carl Rusnok, a Dallas-based regional spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said he didn't have any specific comments on Canyon County's case.
Vasquez won't say which businesses will be sued until the actual lawsuit is filed. He estimates the county has spent at least $2 million on costs related to illegal aliens.
Employers say the lawsuit could spell the end of many labor-intensive businesses that rely on immigrant labor, or at least drive up the cost, said Ann Bates, executive director of the Idaho Nursery and Landscape Association.
"We do our best to be sure that they are legal, but the laws restrict you as to what you can ask," Bates said. "We hope that someday somebody really understands that if we lose our labor force, they lose."
If Canyon County succeeds, the case could create a legal structure for other governments concerned about undocumented workers.
"Right now people say there's no money in enforcing the law, but now there might be for attorneys and trial lawyers. It could create a vested interest in enforcement," said Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C, which supports immigration restrictions.
The RICO Act does offer a tempting prize, since winners can be awarded triple damages.
On the surface, Canyon County seems to have a solid case, said G. Robert Blakey, one of the authors of the RICO Act and a law professor at the University of Notre Dame.
"If people are knowingly bringing in and exploiting undocumented immigrants, they are creating a federal crime," Blakey said. "What this suit raises is just whether the government units - federal, state and local - can sue for the damages they suffer."
However, Blakey notes that some federal courts have already ruled that governments can't try to recover the cost of being a government.
Executives who allow the hiring of illegals need to go to jail, fines don't work.
I love it. Bump!
fyi - saw your post from April.
They ain't weighin' filing the suit anymore. :)
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April 2005
Idaho officials weigh RICO lawsuit over illegal workers
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1382548/posts
These reporters just can't help themselves.
You know they would love to call him a racist but that one won't stick too well.
The land owners in the old south did the same screaming and crying about how they couldn't afford not to have slaves but in the end they did without them.
We can do without ILLEGALS today and we will be just as well off as we are now. Control the borders, let the legals in, keep the ILLEGALS out. Send employers who break the law by hiring ILLEGALS to jail.
An obvious nativist.
"the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act made it illegal for businesses to hire unauthorized workers. Efforts to enforce this provision culminated in 1998 in an initiative called Operation Vanguard, which targeted meatpacking plants in Nebraska — a sector known to be highly dependent on illegal labor. Immigration agents compared company records with Social Security databases, then interrogated 4,500 suspect employees.
" Large numbers of workers fled the plants, and the initiative seemed on the brink of success — until the governor and several members of the Nebraska congressional delegation complained to immigration officials. Their complaint: Not only did the crackdown threaten to close the Nebraska meatpacking industry, one of the largest employers in the state, it also imperiled local agriculture by depressing prices for hogs and cattle.
" The politicians were responding to protests from employers and from the communities that depended on them. Within months, immigration authorities had all but suspended Operation Vanguard."
Let's see what happens in Canyon County when Iowans start losing jobs and farmers and ranchers can't sell their crops and livestock.
It'll just mean more Iowan children leaving home and moving to Texas for jobs.
Lets see. Whats the lesser of two evils here? Outsourcing your business to just about anywhere else besides within the states for cheaper production costs. OR Simply hire illegal and cheap labor within the states.
Makes sense to me that if they would ever get serious about tort reform instead of just talking about it then companies would be saving money on frivolous lawsuits and cheaper insurance and wouldn't need to outsource or hire illegals to maintain a decent profit margian.
It'd be a good start anyway.
Wow, tax dollars working for a change.
Know a good attorney?
Wow, combining rico and trespassing and you might have something that works. Especially if the fine for trespassing is really stiff.
This happened in Idaho, not Iowa.
Shows how open you are to taking in accurate info as you ride that one trick pony.
It'll just mean more Iowan children leaving home and moving to Texas for jobs.
We could let in more legal immigrants to fill those jobs in Canyon County.
So far he has been a complete failure. No wonder the fringe right loves him so.
I just love the way you folks immediately adopt liberal tactics when things aren't going your way.
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