Wal-Mart Settles Immigration Probe

Bentonville, Ark., By agreeing to pay $11 million in fines, Wal-Mart Stores has put an unpleasant incident in the past. By paying the fine, Wal-Mart settled a federal probe into its use of illegal immigrants as janitors in 21 states. The retailer avoided criminal charges.

The contractors who employed the cleaners, however, pled guilty to criminal immigration violations and paid a total of $4 million in fines. The retailer was raided in October 2003 in an investigation that began in 1998. The raids at 60 Wal-Mart stores led to the arrest of 352 alleged illegal immigrants.

“Today we are acknowledging that our compliance program did not include all the procedures necessary to identify independent floor-cleaning contractors who did not comply with federal immigrations laws,” Wal-Mart general counsel Tom Mars said in a written statement. “We will use this as an opportunity to improve and be a better, more tightly run business as a result,” he added.