Convenience store operator 7-Eleven, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement target, has hired Republican lobbying powerhouse Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti to monitor the Washington debate over immigration reform.

7-ElevenIn June, ICE agents raided and seized 14 7-Eleven stores in Virginia and Long Island and charged owners of employing and suppling false U.S. citizen documents to more than 50 illegal immigrants, mainly from Pakistan and the Philippines. That including identities of dead people.

The raid was part of a federal probe into 40 other 7-Elevens, an action that is part of one of the Justice and Homeland Security Dept.’s biggest criminal immigrant investigation, according to a report in the New York Times.

Scott Matter, spokesperson for Dallas-based 7-Eleven, says the Dallas-based company is cooperating with federal investigators and promised that it’s taking “aggressive actions” to audit worker status of all its franchisees’ employees.

Bruce Mehlman, David Castagnetti and Alex Vogel spearhead the 11-member lobbying team for 7-Eleven.