Feds: Wal - Mart Execs Knew Workers Illegal [View All]

[wakeme2008]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Wal-Mart-Illegal-Workers.html

ovember 7, 2005
Feds: Wal - Mart Execs Knew Workers Illegal
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 7:14 p.m. ET

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) -- Senior Wal-Mart executives knew cleaning contractors were hiring illegal immigrants, many of whom were housed in crowded conditions and sometimes slept in the backs of stores, according to a federal agency's affidavit.

The affidavit, unsealed last week, was part of an investigation of Wal-Mart by federal immigration officials that led to the 2003 raid on 60 Wal-Mart stores in 21 states, and the arrests of 245 illegal workers. The retailer agreed to pay $11 million in March to settle the case, but says top executives neither encouraged nor knew of the practice.

The affidavit was filed by the Immigration and Naturalization Service to secure search warrants for a 2003 raid on Wal-Mart Stores Inc. headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. The INS has since been folded into the bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The document was unsealed Nov. 2 by a U.S. district judge in Fayetteville, Ark. at the request of a New York attorney representing more than 200 former employees in a civil lawsuit against the world's largest retailer.



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