After Huge Raid on Illegals, Wal-Mart Fires Back at U.S.

WSJ ^ | 11/19/2003 | Ann Zimmerman

[BurbankKarl]

In a series of predawn raids on Oct. 23, federal agents rounded up 250 illegal immigrants working as cleaning crews in 61 Wal-Marts across 21 states. Twelve federal agents also descended on Wal-Mart Stores Inc. offices in Bentonville, Ark. Brandishing a search warrant, they made off with 18 boxes of documents from the company's operations department -- mostly records related to cleaning contractors dating back to March 2000.

[af_vet_rr]

WalMart is an oversized leech that sucks the lifeblood out of every small town in America.

First, they drive the much smaller Main Street merchants out of business.

Then they turn around and import Chinese goods, shutting down the factories that provided good-paying jobs in the smaller communities.

I've gotten weird looks/comments from people in the past when I tell them I try not to shop at WalMart and will go out of my way and pay a bit more to hit up mom-and-pop stores and/or try to buy American-made. They have this "but you can get everything at WalMart and for cheap prices!!!" attitude.

I know not everybody can afford to pay a little more to buy from a locally-run store or to buy American, and I maybe tilting at windmills when I do so, but that's just me.

[familyop]

You saw a little of the treatment men get from Sears in general. The route you describe is typical of the demands put on the few Sears will hire.

Oh, BTW, by "servicemen," I meant men who are in the Reserve Components of the US military. ...my fault.

[Lloyd227]

""If Wal-Mart was cooperating, why would [the government] have gone ahead with the raids on 61 stores?"

uh... possibly because the prosecutors and LEOs involved a arrogant thugs in need of a headline?

[Eris]

Funny - states want to give illegals driver's licenses, the feds are considering giving them social security.

But when Wal-Mart employs them by proxy, that's a crime.

When I look at all the people who despise Wal-Mart and why, I remember I need to stop by one on the way home tonight and pick up some things.

:)

[gubamyster]

ping

[DLfromthedesert]

Walmart is such a chaotic, messy store; I could never stand to shop there anyway. I get claustrophobic in their narrow aisles.

[Regulator]

By the time the federal prosecutors had closed in on him, Chris Walters was a wealthy man

Yeah, being a human smuggler of indentured slaves will make you rich. Of course, you run the risk of being caught, and possibly losing the money you made by cheating and victimizing people, but don't worry. The free trade cultists will defend your "right" to do that, down to the last slave you've smuggled in.

[janetgreen]

Bush's proposed amnesty will cover the butts of these slave labor employers while screwing American taxpayers.

[TLI]

Wal-Mart says managers at many levels knew about the problem of illegal workers in its stores, because they had been cooperating for as long as three years in federal investigations in both Pennsylvania and Chicago.

Wal-Mart says it was led to believe it wasn't a target of the investigations, and it says it didn't take action to sever its ties with the contractors because federal officials specifically asked it to leave the relationships in place.

Which is a PERFECT example of just how much to trust a fed. They are there to do one thing, make an arrest. The bigger the better. They are NOT your friend / buddy / whatever.

[presidio9]

Back to Sears & Roebuck for more than just tools.

And that is your right. Just be wary of "Conservatives" who demand that the Gub'mint get involved.

[presidio9]

The unions hate Wal-Mart, perhaps that is why they are being hit, or perhaps just because they are so successful. I shop at Wal-Mart to gouge the unions in the eye, and the prices are rather good.

Even better. It pains me to see Protectionist "Conservatives" being manipulated by the socialists. The term "Big Business" is class warfare at its finest.

[PRND21]

Your Tancredo did exactly what Wal Mart did...hired illegals.
Don't be such a hypocrite.

[presidio9]

The free trade cultists

Are you serious with this? What is your motivation for being a Conservative?

[freeangel]

"federal officials specifically asked it to leave the relationships in place"

Wal-Mart better have that in writing or a tape made somewhere. And if it does it will be interesting to watch the developments of the case.

[Old Professer]

The agents told the Wal-Mart officials that the contractors recruited illegal immigrants through overseas ads and charged them $10,000 to come to America, which they then had to work off. "They are indebted to the groups that bring them over, and stealing is one of the ways they labor to pay off the debts," the agents told the Wal-Mart employees, according to a Wal-Mart memo chronicling the meeting

White slavery; the more things change, the more they stay the same.

[atlaw]

ON THE ONE HAND: "It probably sounds a little naive now, but we were simply trying to help our government and cooperated closely with federal agents for three years," says Mona Williams, Wal-Mart vice president of corporate communications. "Throughout that time they specifically told us we were not the target of any investigation and that we would be given a heads-up before any arrests were made in our stores. Instead, they conducted unannounced raids on our stores and created a well-planned media frenzy by saying they had proof that Wal-Mart executives knew what was going on. All we knew was what they had told us."


ON THE OTHER HAND: "Before and after the raids, Wal-Mart says it did what it could to ensure that its contractors were hiring legal workers."


A consistent story would help their case.

[norton]

"If Wal-Mart was cooperating, why would [the government] have gone ahead with the raids on 61 stores?" a person close to the investigation said.

I could suggest an answer but the bureaucrat close to the investigation would really, really, hate the answer.

[Bamabunker]

I did not know that Wal-Mart continued to keep their employees salaried while gone on active duty.


Thank you for the information.

[Walkin Man]

"It probably sounds a little naive now, but we were simply trying to help our government and cooperated closely with federal agents for three years," says Mona Williams, Wal-Mart vice president of corporate communications.

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!

[Regulator]

Are you serious with this?

Of course I am. What would make you think I'm not?

What is your motivation for being a Conservative?

Why do you want to know? Still searching for the Meaning of Life, and you're taking a poll to find out?