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Costa Rican Illegals Arrested
at Wal-Mart Construction
Site in Pennsylvania
The arrest of 125 illegal
immigrant workers at a
construction site a new Wal-Mart
distribution centre in Scranton,
Pennsylvania, making headlines
in Costa Rica. The illegals
included an undisclosed number
of Costa Ricans.
All 125 workers arrested in the
raid will be deported,
Immigrations and Customs
Enforcement officials said. The
workers from Mexico and Central
America were detained Thursday
at the site outside Pottsville,
about 80 miles northwest of
Philadelphia.
"Employers who knowingly hire
illegal aliens, and those who
utilize false documents to gain
employment, face significant
criminal and administrative
charges," said John Kelleghan,
acting special agent-in-charge
for the immigration agency in
Pennsylvania.
Some of the 125 workers, who are
from Mexico, Costa Rica, El
Salvador, Guatemala and
Honduras, used fake documents to
obtain employment with
subcontractors, officials said.
The arrests came after search
warrants were executed for six
companies at the site.
The Pennsylvania job site
remains shut down, Wal-Mart
spokesman Marty Heires said
Friday. He did not know when
construction would resume.
Agents obtained the search
warrants after learning that 10
workers employed by Destin
Drywall & Paint were using
Social Security numbers that did
not match their names.
Another three used Social
Security numbers that were never
issued by the government,
according to an affidavit
unsealed Friday at U.S. District
Court in Scranton.
Houston-based Destin has worked
on Wal-Mart projects around the
country, said office manager
Cindy Wyman. She said the
company verifies that employees
are permitted to work in the
United States.
"As far as I know, their Social
Security numbers are good,"
Wyman said of the Pennsylvania
workers.
A Wal-Mart spokesman has said
the detained workers were not
employed by Wal-Mart but by the
subcontractors. Wal-Mart's
contracts with the companies
require that they follow local,
state and federal employment
laws, the company said.
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