A federal probe has found that about 1,800 American Apparel workers are working illegally in the U.S. No wonder the company has been a longtime advocate of immigration reform. About 1,600 employees of the L.A. factory are working under "suspect and not valid" eligibility filings. The eligibility of 200 more to work in this country also could not be verified due to discrepancies. The 1,800 workers in question comprise about a third of the factory workers in L.A. But American Apparel isn't worried about losing money because of this. They say they've got a lot of inventory stocked up that should tide them over for a while in case they have to search for 1,800 deportee replacements.

Company executives note the eligibility papers can be easily faked and that they have let go employees whose eligibility was proven false in the past. If any of this hampers American Apparel's ability to roll out new product lines, that might not be such a bad thing for, you know, humanity.

Probe fingers 1,800 American Apparel workers [Reuters]