Hispanic Grocery Chains Hit By Immigration Audits

Increasing federal immigration audits have led two Hispanic-targeted Southwest grocery chains to file for bankruptcy protection with plans to reorganize.
San Jose, Ca-based Mi Pueblo grocery store filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on the heels of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement audit that told the company to replace some of its 3,260 workers, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In May, Ontario, CA-based Pro’s Ranch Market filed to put its11 stores, which employ about 2,235 workers and are mostly located in Arizona, under bankruptcy protection. Apart from growing competition and a tepid economy, company officials said the company was also “effectively singled out for an immigration audit to which no other competitor was subjected,” according to documents they filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Phoenix.
Pro’s Ranch Market was forced to lay off 300 workers—roughly 20% of its staff—in 2010 in the wake of an agency investigation that found some employees to be working in the country illegally, according to court papers.
Both grocers said they were the target of ICE workplace audits, of which there were more than 3,000 in the 2012 fiscal year.
Wall Street Journal