CHEYENNE - Earlier this fall, the Wyoming Supreme Court considered the case of an illegal immigrant who sued a Gillette construction company that had employed him for 10 years. Just before Thanksgiving, a traffic stop near Glendo netted 23 illegal aliens.

The cases underscore the fact that Wyoming has illegal workers, and their numbers are growing due to the upsurge in the energy and construction industries, according to labor and sociology experts.

Reliable estimates, though, are hard to come by.

"We just know there's a growing number of people who work here but have not formally come to establishing a residence here," said Tom Gallagher, a sociologist with the Wyoming Department of Employment. Agency research indicates that non-state residents, legal or otherwise, comprise 23 percent of the work force.

Jackson Hole has seen a large influx of immigrants, mainly from Mexico, to fill jobs of maids, cooks, landscapers and other services positions.

Teton County's business community strives to employ legal workers, said Carmina Oaks of Jackson's Latino Resource Center.

"I think Jackson is so proactive in getting documented people," she said.

Bruce Anderson, a political science and sociology instructor at Western Wyoming Community College, and his wife, who is from Costa Rica, have associated with a number of immigrants in Rock Springs. Most are from Mexico, and some are illegally here, he said.

"With regard to the ones that are here illegally, I think there's a fairly substantial disposition on the part of many employers to accept them readily and do with them what they feel they can possibly get away with to meet their own economic interests," he said.

Anderson agrees with Lynn Birleffi, executive director of the Wyoming Lodging and Restaurant Association, that fewer Americans desire the jobs that immigrants are filling.

"Students won't work like they used to. College kids won't work like they used to," Birleffi said.

Kim Floyd, executive secretary of the Wyoming AFL-CIO, expects the numbers of immigrant workers to increase due to labor shortages and high wages offered in the energy and construction sectors.

"We're seeing it in Rock Springs already in the construction industry. I think it's coming to Casper and Cheyenne faster than we think, and of course the oil fields," he said. "I don't know if it's going to displace any workers, but it's certainly going to take away jobs from people who want to move here and work."

Birleffi said she has no idea how many illegal workers might be employed in her industry but is unaware of any who have displaced American workers.

"It's very difficult to know if somebody has falsified documents," she said. "I think (business) people try to obey the law."

She is keeping a close eye on President Bush's guest-worker proposal in which temporary legal status would be offered to illegal workers. For now, Birleffi would like to see the cap raised for seasonal visas.

"One of the problems with this is that people just react emotionally and they refuse to expand options for legal immigration, even if it's temporary," she said.

Floyd, however, said businesses often create their own labor problems by paying wages so low that only migrants will take the jobs.

"They will absolutely work for pennies, and these employers will take them in and pay them pennies," he said.

The growing numbers of migrant workers will likely spur ugly reactions, said Adrian Bantjes, associate professor of history at the University of Wyoming.

"There's a certain nativistic gut-level response to migration that reflects fear, fear of change," he said.

Anderson agrees.

"I think a lot of that is fear of the unknown - not understanding the language, not understanding the culture, not understanding the circumstances that lead people to take the great risk of trying to come to this country," he said.

He and Bantjes noted that much of southwest and south-central Wyoming was part of Mexico until 1848. They find it slightly ironic that a Mexican citizen could be illegally tilling soil that was part of his or her native country.

Dolores Saucedo Cardona, who oversees UW's Office of Multicultural Affairs, said migration by Latinos has never been one-way, that they have moved in and out of Wyoming for many years due to economic reasons.

"This is really not an issue of illegal immigration. To me it's really an issue of migration," she said. "A lot of them came out of Wyoming and moved historically down south into the Southwest and into Mexico. Wyoming has a Spanish history that's probably very undocumented."

Bantjes said U.S. policy toward Mexican immigrants is "schizophrenic."

"We put them in a terrible position because on the one hand, current policy is geared toward making it as dangerous as possible to cross the border," he said. "Hundreds are killed every year crossing the border, and we are partly responsible for that. But when they get here, we give them jobs."

While security is a significant concern since 9/11, it is a different issue from migration, Bantjes said.

"(Mexican) President Fox is still hoping that some kind of agreement can be made with the Bush administration, but I don't see it happening anytime soon," he said. "I just don't think the political climate is such that any kind of agreement can be made at this point."

Capital bureau reporter Robert W. Black can be reached at (307) 632-1244 or robert.black@casperstartribune.net.