To see the latest front in the war over illegal immigration, take a look at Mordechai Orian. The 41-year-old owns Global Horizons, a Los Angeles-based service that supplies seasonal agricultural workers to apple, blueberry, and
potato growers across the country. In May, Orian lost one of his biggest clients: Munger Bros., a Delano, Calif., blueberry farm, which decided to use a rival labor supplier, J&A Contracting of Bakersfield, Calif. Munger Bros. executives say they switched suppliers when Global Horizons failed to live up to its contract, but Orian suspects a different motive. J&A, he says, provides cheaper, illegal workers, scooping workers up on street corners by the vanload and delivering them to farms. He says he has evidence of falsified Social Security cards to prove his assertions. And rather than filing a complaint with the federal government, Orian is taking both Munger and J&A to court.
70% of small-business owners declare illegal immigration a "very serious" or "serious" problem, according to a survey by the National Federation of Independent Business. Politicians have become mired in a morass of proposals for immigration reforms, guest-worker agreements, and border fences. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs who scrupulously follow the law are routinely victimized by competitors who hire cheap, illegal labor. Now, tired of waiting for the legislative branch to solve the problem, entrepreneurs are turning to the courts. Their actions have put illegal immigrant employers on notice: Break the immigration laws and you have not only the government to fear, but your fellow business owners as well. David Klehm, Orian's lawyer, says that his suit is the first of its kind, but
experts say it presages a new era. Some observers see the recent lawsuits as pointing to a potential solution to the country's immigration issue. If enough entrepreneurs and employees hold illegal employers accountable
through the courts, says Vernon Briggs Jr., professor of industrial and labor relations at Cornell University, fewer illegal immigrants will be able to find jobs here. "They will deport themselves if they can't find employment," he concludes.
But for Orian, whose case is expected to be decided this spring, the battle is a matter of pride as well as price. He's an immigrant himself - he arrived from Israel in 1997 - and while he has yet to become an American citizen, he is the proud holder of a green card. His example, he says, proves that immigrants can be successful in business while staying on the right side of the law. "I'm not against anyone trying to make a better life," he says. "But after doing it myself, it hurts to see people using shortcuts, and other people taking advantage."