R.H. Meyer

Famous first words: "We're shocked and appalled that contractors employed by us may be hiring illegal aliens"

Well, Wal-Mart does it again. Just when you think they can't sink any lower, we find that they are routinely employing illegal aliens to mop and clean there stores. With over 9 million Americans unemployed, the worlds biggest tightwad contracts with "fly-by-night" cleaning services who use illegal aliens rather than pay American workers a living wage to clean Wal-Mart stores.

Recently, we've heard democratic presidential candidates pandering to some Hispanic voters in the southwest suggesting that immigrants legal and illegal are doing the work Americans don't want to do and suggesting amnesty for illegals. Well, I got news for them. There are plenty of American citizens, of all ethnic backgrounds who are perfectly willing to perform the work being done immigrants. We're just not willing to do it at starvation wages! We're not willing to live eight to a room. We're not willing to labor sixty or more hours per week without overtime benefits or a decent heath care program. We're not willing to work in dangerous conditions unnecessarily jeopardizing our safety or long-term health. And, when we're subjected to abusive treatment by our employers, we want to have recourse. In other words, we're not willing to be treated like chattel.

"Investigators told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity that they gathered recordings from wiretaps that indicate Wal-Mart executives knew the company's subcontractors used illegal workers." (yahoo.com news)

It appears that Wal-Mart, and its cleaning contractors, have once again demonstrated through their actions that they believe these conditions desired by American workers are unreasonable, so they once again break the law to get huddled-masses-yearning-to-be-free who are willing to do anything they're told just to avoid deportation. Profiting on, and perpetuating, the misery and suffering of others. How low can a wealthy corporation sink?

It's sad when illegal refugees from despotic countries like Mexico, the banana republics of Central America and the former soviet block countries end up suffering incarceration and deportation. For the most part, these are good and decent folks looking for a fair shake. The real criminals are the slime-bucket corporations like Wal-Mart that lure these people here under the false promise of a "better life." Rather than arresting, jailing, and deporting these folks, it would be better to run them through Marine Corps boot camp, give each of them an M-16 and airdrop them home to "take care of business!"

It's time for the Justice Department to focus on the real criminals in these cases. It's time high ranking executives and board members of corporations that intentionally, knowingly or with criminal negligence, hire illegal aliens to GO TO JAIL!  No more meaningless fines, no more excuses.  Incarceration like any other criminal is what's called for here.

Wal-Mart: Bringing you low prices by breaking immigration and labor law!

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Copyright © 2003 R.H. Meyer - All rights reserved.