RICO Immigration Litigation on the Rise
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. §§1961 et seq. (RICO), is gaining popularity as a tool by the federal government, employees, competitors and others to combat immigration law violations. The resort to RICO rests in large part on the federal government’s failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform. The attractiveness of RICO as a civil or criminal claim results from its stiff penalty provisions. Successful civil plaintiffs can recover treble civil damages, reasonable counsel fees and injunctive relief if they can prove that the damages they suffered resulted “by reason of” the defendant’s immigration violations. The government finds RICO well-suited for criminal prosecutions in this area because of the ease with which it can prove conspiracy claims and thus connect illegal activities by several defendants. The Askarkhodjaev indictment, for example, contained several RICO counts. During the last month, two class action decisions were issued by the federal courts that emphasized the increased reliance on RICO as a remedy for immigration violations. On May 18, 2009, a federal court in the Eastern District of California granted class certification of RICO claims brought by employees who alleged that the employer, a food-processing company, had depressed their wages by engaging in a pattern of racketeering activity by knowingly hiring undocumented workers at low wages. Brewer v. Salyer, No. 06-1324 (E.D. Calif. May 18, 2009). On May 28, 2009, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed a district court decision that had denied class certification to the plaintiff employees who sued Mohawk Industries, Inc. claiming that it violated RICO by hiring undocumented workers to drive down their wages. Williams v. Mohawk Industries, Inc., No. 08-13446 (11th Cir. May 28, 2009). The Mohawk litigation has had a long and tortured history in the federal courts. It began in January 2004, and several issues have been on appeal to both the 11th Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. As a result of this decision, however, Mohawk now faces the prospect of treble damages if found liable to the thousands of employee plaintiffs that comprise the class. (From EBG's Immigration Alert)
