Wal-Martians Deal With Aliens

It all sounds so familiar. Illegal immigrants. Raids and arrests by the feds. Giant Arkansas company. Who knew what and when?r

But this time, federal agents raided Wal-Mart Stores Inc., not Tyson Foods Inc.r

In March, Tyson Foods and three of its managers were acquitted by a federal jury in Chattanooga, Tenn., of conspiring to smuggle illegal immigrants to work at its poultry plants.r

The Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement led the recent raids of 61 Wal-Mart stores in 21 states, including the firm’s Bentonville headquarters, arresting 245 illegal immigrants. All are subject to being sent home.r

An employer can face civil and criminal penalties for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants or failing to comply with employee record-keeping regulations.r

Wal-Mart officials say they’re cooperating and emphasized that those arrested were members of night-cleaning crews hired through private contractors. The arrested workers came from 18 different countries — 90 from Mexico, 35 from the Czech Republic, 22 from Mongolia and 20 from Brazil.r

Wal-Mart said the firm hires more than 100 contractors to furnish workers to clean 700 of its stores. Federal law enforcement officials said Wal-Mart higher-ups had direct knowledge of the immigration violations. They cited wiretap recordings of meetings among Wal-Mart executives, managers and contractors. Agents hauled away several boxes of documents from a mid-level manager’s office in Bentonville.r

The fact is, many immigrants work at jobs most Americans refuse to. All workers should be in this country legally. But in this case it appears the third-party contractors should be held accountable first and foremost. Wal-Mart employs 1.1 million workers in the United States, but the illegal workers were not Wal-Mart employees. r

Whether Wal-Mart is ever charged or any illegal activity is proven, the action heightened attention on immigation law reform. Congress is looking at several measures to grant legal status to illegal immigrants working in agriculture. Perhaps any bill should be expanded to meet the needs of other sectors.r

The border and immigration law recently introduced in Congress creates a temporary worker program that gives illegal aliens already in the United States a way to apply for legal status. It would require the documentation and background checks while fulfilling the need for workers. That makes sense to us.