Despite Wal-Mart raids, crackdowns on illegal workers are rare

AP ^ | December 1, 2003 | JUSTIN PRITCHARD

[sarcasm]

When federal agents swept into Wal-Marts across the country and arrested 245 floor cleaners, they were reviving an increasingly rare practice.

Politics and economics weaned the federal government from workplace crackdowns of illegal employees years ago. The government has busted steadily fewer employers and arrested fewer illegal employees since the late 1990s, according to federal immigration data.

[sarcasm]

ping

[dagnabbit]

Proving an employer knew a worker was illegal is hard, and even if they are found guilty, there's little economic incentive for bosses to scrutinize documents. A one-in-a-thousand bust by immigration agents might result in fines of up to $10,000 per worker, but firms can save more than that by paying an undocumented work force $7 an hour instead of, say, the $11 plus benefits other employees might demand.

Prison time might get some executives' attention.

Or maybe the State and County could calculate their per-illegal-worker cost of schooling, jailing, and hospitalizing illegals and their children, and pass that on as fines against employers busted by the feds.

[Gunslingr3]

Or maybe the State and County could calculate their per-illegal-worker cost of schooling, jailing, and hospitalizing illegals and their children, and pass that on as fines against employers busted by the feds.

Socialism, not immigration, is what bankrupts nations...

[MIchaelTArchangel]

Yes, prosecution or even roundup of illegals is rare, but one need not go to Wal-Mart to find illegals. The other day I was backed up in traffic on my way home from work so I pulled off into a Dunkin' Donuts in Framingham, Massachusetts. It was extremely hot inside, I suppose to give the workers their temperatures more like those in their native lands. As I waited in line, I unzipped my jacket and the various government ID cards on the lanyard around my neck came into view. Of the eight workers in the place at the time, six of them simply walked into the back room after one of them announced in Spanish that I might be looking for them.

[HiJinx]

[JustPiper]

The title tells it all