Federal Judiciary

Ninth Rejects RICO Claims Against Companies Who Hire Illegal Aliens

By Robert Loblaw

Canyon County v. Syngenta Seeds, Inc., 06-35112 (9^th Cir., March 21, 2008)

Here?s an interesting approach to the problem of illegal immigration: an Idaho County is trying to use RICO laws to go after employers who hire illegal laborers. Plaintiff Canyon County claims that four local companies have knowingly employed and harbored illegal aliens, and their presence has cost the County millions of dollars in health care and criminal justice services. The County also sued Albert Pacheco, who is the director of a local social services agency that has allegedly helped illegal immigrants obtain public benefits.

The County pleaded claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The RICO Act was designed as a tool for going after the Mob, but the statute has spawned litigation far beyond what Congress could ever have imagined. In this case, the County alleged that the companies conspired with labor contractors to bring illegal aliens to Canyon County, to provide the companies with false working papers, to provide the aliens with false identification papers, and to funnel their wages through the contractors, all in violation of immigration and labor laws.

It?s a creative theory for RICO liability, but we?ll have to wait for another plaintiff to test the merits, as the district court dismissed the County?s suit, and the Ninth Circuit affirms. The Court explains that the County lacks standing to bring its claims for several reasons. Most significantly, the County cannot prove that the defendants? alleged acts caused the financial losses that it claims. Because the issue of proximate causation requires too much speculation, Canyon County cannot proceed with its RICO suit.

Full post as published by Decision of the Day on March 21, 2008 (boomark / email).