Arrests at Wal-Mart
The ongoing construction project at the Grand Forks Wal-Mart store was shut down today after "three or four" illegal aliens were arrested and led out of the store in handcuffs. Word is that the arrests took place last night and the arresting officers seemed to know exactly who they were looking for and where in the store they would be found. This is not the first time that illegals have been found working on Wal-Mart construction sites in North Dakota. It happened in Dickinson and Bismarck last year. The latter of those two incidents involved two illegal immigrants who were charged with molesting two 13-year-old girls. That incident led to all Wal-Mart construction sites in the state being temporarily shut down. No word yet on when construction will be started again on the Grand Forks Supercenter. This bad news story will surely sour the day for Wal-Mart locally. They just opened the new Thief River Falls Supercenter today and I'm sure they aren't very thrilled to see this story pop up on the radar.
Update - 5/19/2006
The Say Anything blog linked to this post a little over an hour after I first posted it. Cool!
Update - 5/20/2006
Looks like the Grand Forks Wal-Mart wasn't the only Wal-Mart with illegal alien troubles this past week...check this out.
Update - 5/21/2006
I'm a little late in putting this link up, but the Herald had a short article in Thursday's paper about the arrests...read it here. Sounds like the illegal immigrants were arrested at a local hotel (I believe the Lakeview Inn and Suites on 32nd Avenue) instead of in the actual Wal-Mart store like I had previously reported. By the way, it looks like most construction at the store is still at a standstill. I wonder who technically shut down the worksite, Wal-Mart or the Feds?
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12 comments:
well, if they are not thrilled, maybe they should be sure that their contcators are hiring people that are here illegally...
I can't help but agree with you, ben. However, I do think that it is the fault of the contractors more than anyone...shame on them and shame on the whole state contractor system which has let this happen repeatedly over the last year or so.
GFG, you wanna subcontract for me? I was half-heartedly chasing this thing yesterday but none of the flacks at Immigration and Customs Enforcement could get back to me. Damn useless public affairs.
Nice work, by the way.
Let's hurry up and pull the plug on GF Walmart in general...
Who was the contractor? Are they local? Were they paying cash to save $$$ on payroll taxes, etc?
My gut says it's an out of town contractor that got the bid over a local contractor because they were cheaper.
I agree with a previous poster, I despise Walmart. The irony is the so-called working class are the demos that support the store. Then they turn around bitch about illegal labor, and jobs going over sees.
agreed...Wal-Mart has like 10 jillion dollars a year in annual profits. While it is a contractor problem, Walmart easily has the resources and ability to screen contractors and people who work in their stores. They simply want the cheapest possible everything, no matter what the social cost in the long run.
What a bunch of Bull $hit blaming WalMart. Wait until they raid Canad Inn site. Will it be Grand Forks's fault? After all they invited Canad here.
A little different, would'nt you say...the company hired the contractors, and they should have some responsibility as to who is working on the stores. Granted, the contractor is ultimately responsible, but WHY is it that EVERY time we hear about illegals being arrested on a construction site it is "ALWAYS WAL-MART" (oh, sorry...is that trademark infringement?)
Prove it!
Prove what?
Actually, the last time we had a big illegal alien bust it was at that Chinese restaurant. But I bet that sumbitch smuggler was a Wal-Mart shopper!
Oh yeah, looks like Guy is getting to be like a real reporter.... Filing corrections! No malice intended. That's just the way it is, sometimes.
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