i overheard this in a text message....and i couldn't believe it til i done some research on it.
they are trying to fuck with our people's, FUCK WALMART!!!!
Wal-Mart Raids by U.S. Aimed at Illegal Immigrants
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: October 24, 2003
Federal agents raided 60 Wal-Mart stores across the nation yesterday and said they arrested more than 250 illegal immigrants who worked as janitors for outside contractors used by Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer .
As part of the 21-state raid, the largest immigration crackdown in years, federal agents also searched the office of an executive at Wal-Mart's headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., and removed boxes of documents, company and government officials said. Advertisement
One federal official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that a grand jury was investigating the matter and that the government believed that Wal-Mart officials knew about the widespread use of illegal immigrants. The official said the government had used wiretaps in the investigation and had recordings of conversations among Wal-mart executives and contractors.
Wal-Mart officials were quick to acknowledge the raids and said that the arrested workers were employed by contractors and that Wal-Mart required those contractors to employ only legal workers. Tom Williams, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said the raid and the allegations that illegal immigrants were used in its stores came as a surprise.
"We've seen no evidence from the Immigration Service that anyone in Wal-Mart was involved in any scheme involving illegal workers," Mr. Williams said.
He said he believed that the manager whose office was raided worked in Wal-Mart's building services division. The workers who were arrested were finishing the night shift before dawn, said Garrison Courtney, a spokesman for the division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Most are from Eastern Europe or Latin America.
Mr. Courtney said federal officials had originally sought to arrest 300 of the janitorial workers when the raids began around 4 a.m. yesterday, but were able to arrest slightly more than 250. The employees now face deportation.
Immigration experts said the arrests of so many illegal immigrants at Wal-Marts across the country demonstrated that these workers have come to play a significant role in the American economy. They often take the low-end, low-paying jobs shunned by not just American workers, but also legal immigrants.
Yesterday's arrests came after a five-year period that saw federal immigration authorities greatly scale back the number of company raids. Particularly since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, federal officials have focused their immigration arrests on facilities, like airports, that might be terrorist targets.
"This is the biggest raid in a few years," Mr. Courtney said. "This is the result of almost a four-year investigation. We're a law enforcement agency, and we're going to enforce the laws."
Federal law enforcement officials said the investigation grew out of earlier raids in 1998 and 2001 when about 100 illegal immigrants were arrested working at Wal-Mart stores in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Missouri. These officials said that after those arrests, 13 Wal-Mart cleaning contractors pleaded guilty to knowingly employing illegal immigrants.
Mona Williams, Wal-Mart's vice president for communications, said: "These federal officials are referring to third-party suppliers that we entrusted to hire legal workers. For them to say that it strains credibility that we're surprised about what happened today, those other actions happened years ago."
Mr. Courtney said that if federal officials found substantial evidence that the cleaning contractors or Wal-Mart officials knowingly employed illegal immigrants, they could face criminal charges, including fines up to $10,000 per illegal worker. He said he did not know the name of Wal-Mart's cleaning contractors or of the Wal-Mart executive whose office was searched.
In a statement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said, "The investigation is ongoing," and said the arrests were part of "ongoing efforts to ensure that U.S. companies do not employ individuals who are unauthorized to work in the United States." Wal-Mart officials said the company used about 100 contractors to clean about 1,000 of its American stores. They said they did not know whether one contractor or many employed the arrested workers.
Wal-Mart is not the first company to face immigration issues. A three-year-old lawsuit against several California supermarkets asserts that the supermarkets and their cleaning subcontractors violated minimum wage and overtime laws in using illegal immigrants to clean their floors.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, which filed that lawsuit, asserted that some workers were paid less than the $5.15-an-hour minimum wage and that many were never paid overtime even after working 55-hour weeks.
The cleaning contractors involved in that case often asserted that those workers were independent contractors and not employees and thus were not covered by minimum wage or overtime laws. Mr. Courtney said he did not know whether Wal-Mart's cleaning contractors had violated wage laws. He said the Department of Labor had not participated in the investigation.
Wal-Mart has 1.4 million employees worldwide and had $245 billion in revenues last year. Each week 138 million shoppers visit Wal-Mart's 4,750 stores.
In recent years, Wal-Mart has frequently been accused of skirting various federal employment laws. Class-action suits have been filed in more than 30 states charging Wal-Mart supervisors with pressuring employees to work off the clock. In California, lawyers have filed a lawsuit accusing Wal-Mart of discriminating against female employees in its promotions. The lawyers have asked a federal judge in San Francisco to allow the lawsuit to proceed as a class action, potentially creating a class of 1.6 million current and former Wal-Mart employees.
Wal-Mart denies pressuring employees to work off the clock and asserts that it has an aggressive program to hire and promote women. The raids yesterday were carried out 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.
Immigration officials said their investigation focused on forms, known as I-9's, that employers are required to use to determine the eligibility of their workers.
Ms. Williams said the company was assessing the situation. "We first learned about the raids when store managers at affected stores began calling us," she said.
more links :
http://www.pontealdia.com/estados-unidos...antes.html
http://money.cnn.com/2003/10/23/news/com...r_arrests/
they are trying to fuck with our people's, FUCK WALMART!!!!
Wal-Mart Raids by U.S. Aimed at Illegal Immigrants
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: October 24, 2003
Federal agents raided 60 Wal-Mart stores across the nation yesterday and said they arrested more than 250 illegal immigrants who worked as janitors for outside contractors used by Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer .
As part of the 21-state raid, the largest immigration crackdown in years, federal agents also searched the office of an executive at Wal-Mart's headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., and removed boxes of documents, company and government officials said. Advertisement
One federal official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that a grand jury was investigating the matter and that the government believed that Wal-Mart officials knew about the widespread use of illegal immigrants. The official said the government had used wiretaps in the investigation and had recordings of conversations among Wal-mart executives and contractors.
Wal-Mart officials were quick to acknowledge the raids and said that the arrested workers were employed by contractors and that Wal-Mart required those contractors to employ only legal workers. Tom Williams, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said the raid and the allegations that illegal immigrants were used in its stores came as a surprise.
"We've seen no evidence from the Immigration Service that anyone in Wal-Mart was involved in any scheme involving illegal workers," Mr. Williams said.
He said he believed that the manager whose office was raided worked in Wal-Mart's building services division. The workers who were arrested were finishing the night shift before dawn, said Garrison Courtney, a spokesman for the division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Most are from Eastern Europe or Latin America.
Mr. Courtney said federal officials had originally sought to arrest 300 of the janitorial workers when the raids began around 4 a.m. yesterday, but were able to arrest slightly more than 250. The employees now face deportation.
Immigration experts said the arrests of so many illegal immigrants at Wal-Marts across the country demonstrated that these workers have come to play a significant role in the American economy. They often take the low-end, low-paying jobs shunned by not just American workers, but also legal immigrants.
Yesterday's arrests came after a five-year period that saw federal immigration authorities greatly scale back the number of company raids. Particularly since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, federal officials have focused their immigration arrests on facilities, like airports, that might be terrorist targets.
"This is the biggest raid in a few years," Mr. Courtney said. "This is the result of almost a four-year investigation. We're a law enforcement agency, and we're going to enforce the laws."
Federal law enforcement officials said the investigation grew out of earlier raids in 1998 and 2001 when about 100 illegal immigrants were arrested working at Wal-Mart stores in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Missouri. These officials said that after those arrests, 13 Wal-Mart cleaning contractors pleaded guilty to knowingly employing illegal immigrants.
Mona Williams, Wal-Mart's vice president for communications, said: "These federal officials are referring to third-party suppliers that we entrusted to hire legal workers. For them to say that it strains credibility that we're surprised about what happened today, those other actions happened years ago."
Mr. Courtney said that if federal officials found substantial evidence that the cleaning contractors or Wal-Mart officials knowingly employed illegal immigrants, they could face criminal charges, including fines up to $10,000 per illegal worker. He said he did not know the name of Wal-Mart's cleaning contractors or of the Wal-Mart executive whose office was searched.
In a statement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said, "The investigation is ongoing," and said the arrests were part of "ongoing efforts to ensure that U.S. companies do not employ individuals who are unauthorized to work in the United States." Wal-Mart officials said the company used about 100 contractors to clean about 1,000 of its American stores. They said they did not know whether one contractor or many employed the arrested workers.
Wal-Mart is not the first company to face immigration issues. A three-year-old lawsuit against several California supermarkets asserts that the supermarkets and their cleaning subcontractors violated minimum wage and overtime laws in using illegal immigrants to clean their floors.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, which filed that lawsuit, asserted that some workers were paid less than the $5.15-an-hour minimum wage and that many were never paid overtime even after working 55-hour weeks.
The cleaning contractors involved in that case often asserted that those workers were independent contractors and not employees and thus were not covered by minimum wage or overtime laws. Mr. Courtney said he did not know whether Wal-Mart's cleaning contractors had violated wage laws. He said the Department of Labor had not participated in the investigation.
Wal-Mart has 1.4 million employees worldwide and had $245 billion in revenues last year. Each week 138 million shoppers visit Wal-Mart's 4,750 stores.
In recent years, Wal-Mart has frequently been accused of skirting various federal employment laws. Class-action suits have been filed in more than 30 states charging Wal-Mart supervisors with pressuring employees to work off the clock. In California, lawyers have filed a lawsuit accusing Wal-Mart of discriminating against female employees in its promotions. The lawyers have asked a federal judge in San Francisco to allow the lawsuit to proceed as a class action, potentially creating a class of 1.6 million current and former Wal-Mart employees.
Wal-Mart denies pressuring employees to work off the clock and asserts that it has an aggressive program to hire and promote women. The raids yesterday were carried out 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.
Immigration officials said their investigation focused on forms, known as I-9's, that employers are required to use to determine the eligibility of their workers.
Ms. Williams said the company was assessing the situation. "We first learned about the raids when store managers at affected stores began calling us," she said.
more links :
http://www.pontealdia.com/estados-unidos...antes.html
http://money.cnn.com/2003/10/23/news/com...r_arrests/
