NEW YORK (17
June 2013) - Federal authorities seized 14 7-Eleven stores in Long Island and Virginia,
and arrested nine owners and managers for allegedly exploiting immigrants from
the Philippines and Pakistan.
More
than 50 illegal immigrants were recruited and paid using the stolen Social
Security numbers of American citizens, including children and deceased
individuals. They were made to work for 100 hours a week but were only paid for
a fraction of that time, and were forced to live in substandard housing owned
by the operators of the convenience stores, the authorities said.
Loretta E.
Lynch, the United States attorney in Brooklyn, whose office helped investigate
the case said that the defendants “ruthlessly exploited their immigrant
employees,” forcing them to live in unregulated boardinghouses and “creating a
modern-day plantation system.”
Ms. Lynch said,
however, that the employees “were not innocent victims in this scheme,” but added
that they had been abused. Agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement interviewed
some of the illegal immigrants and, for now, are treating them as potential
witnesses and are not seeking to deport them.
A spokesman
for 7-Eleven Inc., Scott Matter, said in a statement that the company would
“take aggressive actions to audit the employment status of all its franchisees’
employees” and was cooperating with federal authorities.
Full account
available at http://globalnation.inquirer.net/77969/us-7-11-stores-rapped-for-exploiting-filipinos