It's all fun and games...

…until someone gets FINED.

And fined they were. Mack Associates were fined $300,000 to be paid immediately and a schedule to pay another $700,000 in the future.

Joe Gillespie and Jimmy Moore face $250K each and up to five years in prison.

So, what was their crime? Fries. And Cokes and Big Macks. Yessiree, a McDonald's franchise in Reno. The feds found 58 illegals working for them and the trail led to franchise executives who were aware of the immigration status of some of these workers and helped them with the paperwork.

They also enticed people to come here to work.

Here’s a photo of the protests that erupted right after the raids. I’m glad that 30 of the illegals arrested in the raid have already been sent home. I’m even happier that they got tough with the people who hired them.

I have been paying careful attention lately and noticed that the Burger King restaurants near my work both have E-Verify signs prominently displayed on the wall where customers can see them. I like the idea. It doesn’t mean they are obeying the law but it is one small effort to remind everyone of interior enforcement.

It will be interesting to see if Washington keeps up the effort. It takes money and political will to do this and there needs to be some sort of payback. The payback they are looking for is enough public trust to move forward with amnesty. Barring that, I’m not sure what the long-term motivation is. And all bets are off after November 4th.