The builder also turned the tables on its nemesis when, on August 16, Hawksley sent a letter to an ICE investigator stating that Fischer Homes would henceforth notify the government every day at noon whenever and wherever a “foreign-appearing” worker showed up on its jobsites. Fischer also set up a “hotline” where anyone could report “suspicious” workers. After several days of this, McBride asked Fischer to stop the daily reports, “and acknowledged that the government was ‘uncomfortable’ about receiving unsubstantiated allegations,” writes Entine. In other words, when Fischer Homes offered to be an “immigration cop,” which it has been targeted for not being, the government demurred.
In September, Pratt and six other defendants were convicted and sentenced to between 12 and 18 months in prison. Many of Pratt’s laborers were found guilty, too. A trial date for Fischer’s superintendents was set for Nov. 27. But on the 15th of that month, McBride suddenly requested a continuance because one of his witnesses, a Pratt business associate named Nelson Trejo, had absconded to Mexico. McBride reportedly told Judge David Bunning that he couldn’t make his case without Trejo. (McBride disputes this.) Attorneys representing Fischer and its supers protested against any further delays, and the judge agreed; he dismissed the case without prejudice, which meant that the government could re-indict if it chose to at a later date.
McBride, reports Entine, kept Fischer Homes hanging for another 15 months by warding off the builder’s demands for written notification by his office and ICE that their investigation was over. It wasn’t until Feb. 9, 2009, that an ICE investigator, James Bellamy (who was involved in the initial sting operation), told a Fischer Homes’ attorney that the company could retrieve its documents. The government could re-file over the following three years, but it appeared that its prosecution of Fischer Homes was finally over.
Why it went after the builder remains an unanswered question. Even Entine concludes, after three years of research, that Fischer Homes might have been a government target “by chance.” One theory is guilt by association, as the Feds had had their eye on Pratt for a couple of years, after the Drug Enforcement Administration raided a Mexican restaurant of which Pratt owned a piece. Entine also speculates that the government chose Fischer Homes instead of a larger public builder operating in a western state like California or Arizona where there are heavy concentrations of Hispanic voters and interest groups. He also quotes one Fischer source who believes the raids were payback by one ICE investigator, Paul Chambers, who owned a Fischer-built home about which he had construction-defect complaints.
Fischer Homes seems to have recovered as a business. “The common enemy brought us together,” said Hawksley. As for its employees’ and officers’ faith in the fairness of their government, that’s another story. Entine reports that Henry Fischer couldn’t even get an audience to discuss his problem with Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, whom Fischer had supported financially. Several other Fischer Homes employees expressed disappointment and anger at the Bush administration. “We were just pawns, political pawns,” said Copsy, the superintendent. “If the law lies to you, then arrests you, then tries to coerce you, how can I believe my government? This isn’t what I thought America was.”
John Caulfield is senior editor at BUILDER magazine.