Eisboch wrote:
"hk" wrote in message
...


Well, you'll have to use a cattle prod to get the Bush Admin to do that.
I haven't read where the chairman and board of Wal-Mart have been arrested
and charged with employing illegals.


You have inside information that Wal-Mart hires illegals?

Eisboch



Nope. Outside info:

Wal-Mart Settles Illegal Immigrant Case for $11M

Saturday , March 19, 2005

FC1
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Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), the world's largest retailer, escaped
criminal charges when it agreed to pay $11 million, a record fine in a
civil immigration case, to end a federal probe into its use of illegal
immigrants as janitors.

Additionally, 12 businesses that provided contract janitor services to
Wal-Mart will pay $4 million in fines and plead guilty to criminal
immigration charges, officials said.

Wal-Mart's shares edged down 73 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $51.60 on the
New York Stock Exchange (search).

The deal resolves a more than four-year-long Department of Justice
(search) investigation into the employment practices of the company's
former floor-cleaning contractors.

"This case breaks new ground not only because this is a record dollar
amount for a civil immigration settlement, but because this settlement
requires Wal-Mart to create an internal program to ensure future
compliance with immigration laws by Wal-Mart contractors and by Wal-Mart
itself," said Michael J. Garcia, assistant secretary for U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (search).

"We plan to use this settlement as a model for future cases and efforts
in worksite enforcement," he said.

Wal-Mart received a target letter from a grand jury in Pennsylvania and
was the subject of an October 2003 raid spanning 21 states and 60
stores. The raids led to the arrest of 245 allegedly illegal immigrants.

Wal-Mart, which has 1.2 million domestic workers, had pledged its
cooperation in the investigation.

"We are satisfied that this is being settled as a civil matter,"
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona Williams said. "Despite a long, thorough and
high-profile investigation, the government has not charged anyone at
Wal-Mart with wrongdoing."

No longer does Wal-Mart employ outside contractors to clean its floors.
Companies that do contract work for other chores will have stricter
rules to follow to win those contracts, and upper management will have
to approve contracts of more than $10,000, Williams said.

"It is a lot of money, but I think that is because it is designed to get
attention and remind businesses everywhere that they have a duty to
ensure their outside contractors are following federal immigration laws."

In two separate investigations, authorities uncovered the cases of an
estimated 345 illegal immigrants contracted as janitors at Wal-Mart
stores. Many of the workers worked seven days or nights a week without
overtime pay or injury compensation, attorneys said. Those who worked
nights were often locked in the store until the morning.

Wal-Mart Stores, based in Bentonville, Ark., had sales last year of
$288.19 billion.

In 2001, authorities arrested an estimated 100 illegal immigrants at
Wal-Mart stores in Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and Missouri. Last year,
on Oct. 23, federal agents raided 60 Wal-Mart stores in 21 states,
netting 245 immigrants who were placed in deportation proceedings. ICE
said the workers came from 18 different nations, including 90 from
Mexico, 35 from the Czech Republic, 22 from Mongolia and 20 from Brazil.

Officials said at the time of the raids the investigation involved
wiretaps that revealed Wal-Mart executives were aware that the
subcontractors used illegal workers. Once the raid began, Wal-Mart told
its executives to preserve documents. Federal agents didn't wait and
moved in on part of the company's Bentonville headquarters, taking boxes
from the office of a midlevel executive.

An employer can face civil and criminal penalties for knowingly hiring
illegal immigrants or failing to comply with certain employee
record-keeping regulations. But the settlement spared Wal-Mart of any
criminal charges, though it still faces a civil suit on behalf of the
immigrants that is pending in New Jersey.

The federal settlement also directs Wal-Mart to train all current and
future store managers to prevent employing, hiring or recruiting illegal
immigrants, and to comply with ongoing investigations of cleaning
contractors previously used by the company.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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