(WHAS11) - There’s been plenty of talk recently about immigration reform and how we determine who gets into the United States and why they’re allowed to come here.

But in a WHAS11 News investigation, we discovered that hundreds, if not thousands of people coming into our area from other countries may be bending the rules.

Have you ever wondered how so many Chinese restaurants are popping up here in Kentuckiana?  The local yellow pages show more than 200 here.

Some are mom-and-pop businesses, but others are part of a new multi-billion dollar industry and all it takes is an easy-to-acquire document to make it legal.

Chinese immigrants arrive in an extended van each morning starting a 12-hour day at Dynasty Buffet in Louisville’s east end.

Ray Piazza lives across the street from where some of those immigrants used to live.

They leave here at 10 o’clock in the morning and come home at 10 o’clock at night. I’d make comments “man they’re hard-working people. That’s 7 days a week that they do this,” he says.

Most don’t have family here and had never heard of Louisville.

And they aren’t U.S. citizens. Instead, they carry employment authorization documents.

Originally, employment authorization documents, of E.A.D.s, were issued so immigrants seeking citizenship could work while waiting for green cards.

But now they can be issued for a number of reasons, including for those seeking “political asylum.”

According to the citizen and immigration service’s own website, “these documents allow them to receive social security cards and state driver’s licenses” during the months or years it takes the federal government to rule on their claims.

More than a million EAD requests were submitted last year.

We found one U.S. based law firm that handles the application process for Chinese immigrants for $5,000.

Immigration and customs enforcement, or “ICE” says “workers who are in possession of valid immigration authorization documents are entitled to legally work in the U.S. “

But take away the documents, and you have a totally different story.

ICE raided the China Star restaurant in Bardstown earlier this year.

Authorities say illegal aliens working there agreed put in up to 80 hours a week to pay back organizers who arranged for them to be smuggled into the United States.

Authorities say in the Bardstown case, the immigrants lived together in an apartment rented by the restaurant’s owner.  They then wired their earnings to relatives in china.

China Star owner, Ji Quan Yang, could be looking at 20 years in prison for the charges he faces.

So how do Chinese immigrants get here?  Twelve immigrants were found inside a container shipped from China to Seattle.

Other Chinese immigrants fly on commercial airlines after obtaining travel visas.

Once here, they usually flock to employment agencies like one in New York’s Chinatown.

From there, they’re driven to more than 41,000 Chinese restaurants in the United States.  There are more Chinese restaurants than all the McDonald’s, Burger Kings and Wendy’s combined.

Is what’s going on behind the scenes in Chinese restaurants considered human trafficking? It depends on the case.