Group offers to fund revival of Canyon County's RICO lawsuit
The case alleges that 4 businesses and a former Migrant Council director hired or assisted undocumented workers.

BY KRISTIN RODINE - krodine@idahostatesman.com
Edition Date: 08/03/08

The U.S. Supreme Court could revive Canyon County's RICO lawsuit against four agri-businesses if a national watchdog group gets its way.

Judicial Watch has volunteered to foot the cost of appealing the case to the nation's highest court, officials said Friday. The group announced on its Web site Thursday it has petitioned the Supreme Court to revisit the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that rejected the county's lawsuit in March.

The county sued Syngenta Seeds, Sorrento Lactalis, Swift Beef, Harris Moran Seed and former Idaho Migrant Council director Albert Pacheco in 2005, alleging that they knowingly hired or helped undocumented workers, ultimately costing the county millions of dollars for indigent medical care, legal services and other social services.

Attorneys for the businesses and Pacheco deny those allegations, but they haven't had to argue the facts in court because the district court judge in 2005 and the 9th Circuit judges in March all ruled the county doesn't meet the requirements to pursue the suit under the federal anti-racketeering law.

Judicial Watch contests that interpretation, as do Canyon County leaders, who spent more than $61,000 on legal fees on the case between August 2005 and September 2007.

In April, county commission Chairman David Ferdinand said he wanted to keep pursuing the case, but only if funding sources other than county tax money could be found. The cost to local government of illegal immigrants is a major national issue that deserves a hearing, he said.

Local residents have committed about $250 toward the cause so far, with more pledged, he said Friday, but now Judicial Watch has stepped forward.

"A friend of mine who is a member of Judicial Watch called me and said Judicial Watch wanted to fund the appeal," Ferdinand said, adding that he put the friend in touch with the county's attorney in the case, Chicago-based RICO specialist Howard Foster. RICO - the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act - was enacted in 1970 to fight organized crime, but has been applied on a broader basis since the early 1990s.

Commissioners have agreed to allow Judicial Watch to go forward with a Supreme Court appeal, he said, and the watchdog group is working with Foster.

"This isn't about the lawsuit," Ferdinand said. "It's about the interpretation of RICO by the 9th Circuit."

"RICO is a tool that can be used to fight illegal immigration. Businesses who hire illegal aliens could be subject to RICO lawsuits," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. "The lower courts in this case have ignored the plain language of the RICO statute, and we hope the Supreme Court takes this opportunity to reaffirm the rule of law."
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