I am not sure what to make of this.  It is not as simple as it first sounded.

Let’s explore, shall we?

Illegal Immigrants Sue Wendy’s

A group of illegal immigrants who worked for Wendy’s International Inc. is suing the restaurant chain because the company fired them after discovering it had missed a deadline for joining a federal program that would have helped them attain legal status.

I am not familiar with the program…

The lawsuit, filed Friday in state district court in Houston, is a companion to a similar class-action suit filed last month in Dallas against Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy’s, its subsidiary Cafe Express and the Houston-based business law firm Boyar & Miller.

The immigrants, who worked for Cafe Express, are seeking unspecified damages.

Between the two lawsuits, 40 illegal immigrants say they were fired after the company recently found that Boyar & Miller, the law firm Wendy’s had hired, never filed paperwork for a 2001 legalization program that allowed immigrants with employer sponsorship or an American spouse to apply for citizenship.

Wait, was this a sponsored amnesty program?  Or a sponsored citizenship program.  I mean an employer can help a sponsored emplyee attain citizenship, but I don’t know enough about the INS stuff to speak about a program to allow employees to obtain legal status from illegal status.

Worker visa programs, yes.  But that, no.

Once the discovery was made, Wendy’s was forced by law to fire the employees because of their illegal status. Immigrants in the program would have been insulated from being fired.

This bothers me.  They should never have been hired.  But let’s move on for a minute.

Suing Wendy’s because they obeyed the law seems pointless.

"I put all my hope and faith in this company," said Daniel Olivares, who worked for Cafe Express for nine years before being fired in September. "It was devastating news for me and my family."

So you were here 9 years illegally?

"A surgeon leaving a scalpel inside of someone is a direct analogy to missing a filing deadline - you don’t do it as a lawyer," said Stanley Broome, whose Dallas-area law firm, Howie, Broome & Bobo, is representing the immigrants.

So sue the Lawyer.  Why sue Wendy’s?  And the surgeons analogy is really silly.  But again, has anyone suggested that Wendy’s had maliciously delayed the paperwork?  If not, then the issue is one of malpractice.

Attorneys for Olivares said the company deducted $25 from his weekly paycheck of $313.20 for 4 1/2 years to cover legal fees associated with the program. With the rest of his paycheck, Olivares said he helped support his sister, her two daughters and his ill mother in Mexico City.

Remember that. Money they send home to Mexico is one of the 3 top Mexican income sources. 

Any one want to take a guess why Mexico is trying to hard to stop the fence and any other proactive immigration reform?

ChaChing$$$

That said, someone does need to account for the money taken from them for 4 years.  I make that out to be about 6 grand a person…and while in the grand scheme of things it is not that much (Wendy’s does make millions), the fact was it was their money, and it was given in good faith for a program with the best intentions.  I may not like illegal immigrants, but I don’t like to hear of them being victimized.

Olivares said he was risking deportation to speak up for himself and his former co-workers. He said he has not looked for other work because he’s afraid of being caught by the authorities.

"I’m not safe anymore," said Olivares, who has been in the country 14 years

All I can say is you were never safe, you were here illegally.

But I don’t like the bait and switch aspect of this.  Deport em?  Yea.  Cheat em and raise false hopes?  No.

So on this I am conflicted.   More later, perhaps.