IMO that's precisely why they were trying to jam the Z1 visas for 15 to 20 million illegals down our throats last spring. It explains the haste, the sloppiness, the subterfuge, and the relentless and underhanded Senate treatment of the Amnesty bill.
They were desperate to relieve their business patrons (Mcdonalds, Tyson, Cargill, Hilton Hotels, Burger Kink, Hormel, etc) from the potential problem that 15 to 20 million "predicate acts" might cause in a civil RICO suit. IMO every single hire of an illegal constitutes a single crime, and every regional Cargill or Tyson plant staffed by illegals constitutes part of a larger "pattern".
And here's an interesting event that IMO has precipitated the Congressional attempts to make these illegal aliens and RICO magnets a non-issue:
Friday, September 29, 2006
Federal appeals court allows RICO suit alleging company hired, aided illegal aliens
James M Yoch Jr at 11:01 AM ET
[JURIST] The US Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] in Atlanta has ruled [opinion, PDF] ruled that a plaintiff is permitted to bring a class-action lawsuit against a carpet manufacturer under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act of 1970 (RICO) [text]. The plaintiff claims that Mohawk Industries [corporate website] knowingly hired illegal aliens and assisted them in evading immigration officials and law enforcement, allowing it to reduce labor costs and to discourage workers' compensation claims in violation of state and federal RICO statutes. For civil liability to attach under RICO, the defendant must "conduct" or "participate in" affairs of a larger enterprise beyond its own internal affairs. The court held Wednesday that Mohawk's use of a third-party recruiter to hire and conceal illegal aliens satisfied the requirement in light of the US Supreme Court's decision [JURIST report] last term in Anza v. Ideal Steel Supply Corp.