McDonald's franchisee pleads guilty to illegal labor
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A McDonald's Corp. franchisee pleaded guilty on Wednesday to furnishing illegal immigrants with false identities and will pay $1 million in fines in one of the federal government's first major crackdowns on illegal labor in the fast-food industry.
As efforts to overhaul U.S. immigration law have stalled in Congress, the federal government has stepped up workplace enforcement and has carried out the biggest raids on meat and poultry processing plants in the Midwest.
Working on a tip, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided Mack Associates' 11 McDonald's restaurants in the Reno, Nevada, area last September and arrested 58 illegal immigrants, the Department of Justice said in a statement.
In federal court in Las Vegas on Wednesday, the company pleaded guilty to two felony offenses -- aiding and abetting an alien to remain in the United States and encouraging and inducing an alien's unlawful residence. Two top executives, one former and one current, also pleaded guilty in the case.
Executives from the company were not immediately available for comment.
The plea agreement details how Mack Associates' management employed individuals they knew were in the country illegally by supplying them with names and Social Security numbers belonging to other individuals, the statement said.
"This investigation clearly shows our resolve to pursue those who willfully violate our nation's hiring laws, regardless of their place on the corporate ladder," said Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for ICE Julie L. Myers.
An estimated 12 million immigrants, mostly Hispanics, reside illegally in the United States, many of them working in the restaurant, construction and meatpacking industries with false Social Security numbers and documents.
(Reporting by Mary Milliken; Editing by Gary Hill)
