Posted on 10/24/2003 10:25:17 AM PDT by wheelgunguru
Wal-Mart Knew of Immigration Violations Involving Its Cleaning Contractors, Sources Say
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Oct. 24 — Wal-Mart had direct knowledge of immigration violations involving its cleaning contractors at stores across the country, federal law enforcement sources said. Federal agents raided Wal-Mart's headquarters and 60 of its stores across the nation Thursday, arresting more than 300 illegal workers in an immigration crackdown at the world's biggest retailer.
The workers were members of cleaning crews hired by outside contractors, but federal law enforcement officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity said Wal-Mart knew of the violations. They cited recordings of meetings and conversations among Wal-Mart executives, managers and contractors.
"We have seen no evidence of this from the INS, and, if that turns out to be true, we will cooperate fully with law enforcement officials," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona Williams said.
The workers were arrested as they finished their night shifts at Wal-Mart stores in 21 states. Agents also hauled away several boxes of documents from an executive's office at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville.
An employer can face civil and criminal penalties for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants or failing to comply with certain employee recordkeeping regulations.
Wal-Mart Stores had sales last year of $244.5 billion. The company has about 1.1 million employees in the United States, and it uses more than 100 third-party contractors to clean more than 700 stores nationwide, Williams said.
"We require each of these contractors to use only legal workers," she said.
The law enforcement sources said the investigation grew out of earlier probes of Wal-Mart cleaning crew contractors in 1998 and 2001.
All the arrested workers were in the country illegally, said Garrison Courtney, a spokesman with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They were detained at local immigration offices. Those who had no criminal record were released with instructions to appear before immigration judges.
Wal-Mart is not the first big company to be targeted in an immigration investigation. Six managers at Tyson Foods, based one town away from Wal-Mart in Springdale, were charged in an immigrant-smuggling case in 2001.
One defendant shot himself to death a few months after being charged, and two managers entered guilty pleas early in the case. A jury acquitted the poultry company and three other managers.
Ulysses A. Yannas, an analyst with the investment firm Buckman, Buckman and Reid, said it is too much to expect Wal-Mart to keep track of all of its vendors' workers. But he said the investigation could present a problem for the company.
"It is a question of what else it might bring out. These are long, drawn-out processes," Yannas said.
Top Wal-Mart officials learned of Thursday's sweep when store managers began calling headquarters for guidance in dealing with the raids.
Courtney said agents searched the office of one of Wal-Mart's executives. Williams, the spokeswoman, said they spent several hours in the office of a "mid-level manager" at Wal-Mart's headquarters and carried away several boxes of paperwork.
She said she did not know if any other Wal-Mart administrative offices were searched.
The arrests were made at stores in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
This irks me. Why would a law enforcement official who is in a position to know need a condition of anonymity? I have no idea what WalMart knew and what they didn't, but I'm certainly not going to make up my mind based on a non-source. For all I know, the AP called some federal marshall in Anchorage and asked his opinion.
Could it have been a clue that they turned up for work on the first day wearing wet burlap sacks stamped "Hecho en Mexico"?
Unfortunately, Wal-Mart doesn't verify that each of these contractors uses only legal workers.
And/or they've been shown to vote only third party...
Can you say that 5 times fast?...I can!...Try "Toy Boat".
Must be FRieday...sorry.
FMCDH
Southern border 'immigrants' are a political third rail. The Government can't touch them without igniting a firestorm.
The Feds can poison the well for all illegals and let the individual employers do the dirty work...
Carolyn
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