ART. 1, SEC. 8, USC, IMMIGRATION, ILLEGAL WORKERS, RACKETEERING, RICO

UNITED STATES
SUPREME COURT

Mohawk Industries, Inc.
 v.
Williams

 (05-465)

Oral argument date: Apr. 26, 2006

Mohawk Industries has been accused of harboring and hiring illegal immigrants in violation of the RICO Act.

 To establish a RICO violation, Mohawk's employees must show that Mohawk and its third-party recruiting agencies constituted an "enterprise" within the scope of RICO. 

The district court held that Mohawk's collaboration with the third-party recruiters sufficiently established an enterprise. The Eleventh Circuit affirmed, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari to determine whether a defendant corporation and its agents can constitute an enterprise under RICO, in light of the rule
that a defendant must "conduct" or "participate in" the affairs of some larger enterprise and not just its own affairs.

If the Court affirms, the scope of the enterprise element would be vastly widened, exposing more corporations to RICO liability.

But if the Court reverses, the government may find it more difficult to use RICO to control corporations and other similar entities where immigration violations are alleged.