Posted on August 25, 2010

Ex-FBI Agent Accused of Illegal Hiring at Rockwall Deli

Jason Trahan and Dianne Solís, Dallas Morning News, August 20, 2010

A former Dallas FBI agent is expected to plead guilty next week to federal charges that for 11 years she used illegal immigrants to staff a Schlotzsky’s restaurant she owns in Rockwall.

Ann Cox was fired by the FBI after the U.S. attorney’s office filed a misdemeanor charge on July 28 accusing her of employing six illegal immigrants during periods from 1997 to 2008.

“While operating the deli, Cox engaged in a pattern and practice of hiring and employing aliens in the United States while knowing that they were unauthorized for such employment,” court documents said.

Cox has filed paperwork admitting that she knowingly hired illegal immigrants. She is expected to plead guilty before U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater in Dallas on Aug. 27.

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So far this fiscal year, federal criminal charges have been brought against only 147 managers nationwide for hiring illegal immigrants. That’s nearly the same as the number of illegal employees who have been arrested during the same period, statistics show.

But in fiscal 2007, criminal charges were brought against 92 employers nationally, compared with 711 illegal immigrant employees.

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