Judge dismisses county’s suit over illegal aliens

BOISE – A federal judge Wednesday tossed out a southwest Idaho county’s lawsuit against local employers accused of hiring illegal immigrants. The suit was an attempt to recoup money the county says it has spent on the workers.

The judge said Canyon County’s claimed higher expenses for social services such as indigent medical care, schools and jails were simply the costs of being a government entity.

The lawsuit marked the first time a government tried to use the federal Racketeering and Corrupt Organizations Act to demand damages from businesses for the costs of allegedly illegal employees.

The county filed the lawsuit in July against four businesses: Syngenta Seeds, Sorrento Lactalis, Swift Beef and Harris Moran Seed, as well as against the former director of the nonprofit Idaho Migrant Council.

The four companies, which together employ hundreds of people in Canyon County, were accused of knowingly hiring hundreds of illegal immigrants, partly through agreements with worker recruiting companies.

In dismissing the case, U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge said the county’s contention that the hiring of illegal aliens posed a “public nuisance” was not grounded in state law. The judge dismissed the case with prejudice, which means it cannot be refiled.

In addition, as a plaintiff in the RICO action, the county was not acting in a governmental capacity, but as a private party to a civil lawsuit, Lodge wrote.

“Instead, by its own admission, it is asserting ‘claims for the costs of municipal services,’ ” Lodge wrote. “This type of ‘general injury’ to a county’s ‘ability to carry out its functions’ is not an injury to ‘business or property.’ Therefore, Canyon County does not have standing to bring this action.”

Republican Robert Vasquez, a county commissioner and congressional candidate, had championed the lawsuit as part of his battle against illegal immigration in Idaho.

“I’ve often said, when you step into a court of law seeking justice, all you will find is the law,” Vasquez said. “I’m not making a legal analysis here, but from my perspective, the cost of indigent welfare and other costs increase because of the presence of illegal aliens. As those demands increase, businesses and property owners will see an increase in the cost of taxes to pay for it. That, to me, would indicate a damage to them. But I’m not Judge Lodge, in his infinite wisdom.”

David Chambers, vice president and general counsel of Sorrento Lactalis, said the company was happy about the ruling. Like all the defendants involved, Sorrento Lactalis argued that Canyon County’s basic premise – that the companies were conspiring to hire illegal immigrants – was false.

Albert Pacheco, the former director of the Idaho Migrant Council and the only individual named in the lawsuit, said he was celebrating Lodge’s decision. The lawsuit accused Pacheco of creating a policy of “willful blindness and harboring,” providing medical and housing assistance for illegal immigrants.

“There was really no basis in fact in terms of this lawsuit,” Pacheco said. “(The ruling) sends the message that what our problem is around immigration really can’t be solved in this manner. It has to be solved in a way that is going to be fair and just for all concerned. Instead of grandstanding, basically.”

Richard Leasia, the San Jose, Calif.-based attorney representing Harris Moran Seed, said he wasn’t surprised by the ruling, even though it’s unusual for a court to dismiss a lawsuit with prejudice so early in the case.

“I’m hopeful that it will discourage government entities from attempting to use civil damages actions as a way of protesting federal immigration policy, which is kind of what I think this was,” Leasia said.

Vasquez promised he would push the county to appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but said the decision would be made by the county commission as a whole.

Canyon County is largely agricultural and many of its Latino residents work in that industry. About 19 percent of the county’s 131,000 residents identify themselves as Hispanic, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.