From the SDIRC Communications Coordinator:
Due to the messages that have been circulating regarding immigration raids at Walmart, the store released a statement yesterday in English and Spanish. Our intent in providing some clarity on this issue is to avoid the spread of and the deepening of the fear that already exists within the immigrant communities, and we do not intend to speak for Walmart.
If there are cases of immigration officials, be they Border Patrol or ICE, apprehending people in any store, we must receive reliable, first-hand information from eye-witnesses, or through any other form of documentation such as pictures or video, in order to take any type of action to hold these stores accountable. We encourage all people to document and report human and civil rights violations whenever they are witnessed.
Statement from Walmart:
As of March 9, 2010
The rumors circulating via text message, and other means, about Walmart coordinating or supporting immigration raids in our stores are not true. These rumors are baseless and inaccurate. We think it’s unfortunate that such unsubstantiated rumors are spread.
On immigration reform, our position is clear. We believe reform is needed. We are committed to working with all interested parties – lawmakers, employers, and consumers – to make comprehensive reform a reality.
En Español:
Debido a los mensajes que han circulado sobre supuestas redadas en las tiendas de Walmart, la tienda publicó una declaración para aclarar los acontecimientos. Nuestro intento como el Consorcio de Derechos del Inmigrante en San Diego es de clarificar estos rumores para hevitar que creesca el temor que ya existe dentro de las comunidades inmigrantes, y no estamos tratando de hablar por las tiendas de Walmart.
Si es que hay oficiales de inmigración sea de la Patrulla Fronteriza o de ICE, tenemos que recibir información de fuentes legitimos como testigos o por alguna otra forma de documentación como fotos o video, para poder tomar acción. Siempre recomendamos que se reporta cuando hay violaciones de los derechos humanos o civiles.
Declaración de Walmart
9 de marzo del 2010
Los rumores que están circulando por medio de mensajes de texto, y otros medios, indicando que Walmart esta apoyando o coordinando redadas contra inmigrantes en nuestras tiendas son falsos. Estos rumores son erróneos y sin fundamento. Pensamos que es lamentable que estos rumores sean propagados.
Nuestra posición sobre la reforma migratoria es clara. Creemos que la reforma es necesaria. Estamos comprometidos a colaborar con las partes interesadas, legisladores, empleadores y consumidores, para que la reforma migratoria se convierta en realidad.
This statement was reposted from http://walmartstores.com/pressroom/news/9692.aspx?l=en.
Popularity: 95% [?]
Twitter
Facebook
Flickr
YouTube
I am a US citizen but my parents when they came into this country were illegal. We have grandparents that came here illegally and because of them we have a Right in the US. So if Walmart does this they are forgetting about there ancestors. This would be like the days in Germany
where ambushes were done in stores and in peoples home. We are better than that.
My teenager daughter was stopped and question at a WalMart in San Diego North County yesterday 3/18/10 and I personally know of 2 other people who have been harrassed at 2 different WalMarts in the North County area. Therefore, these so-called “rumors” are true.
Can your daughter call us so that we can speak to her about this?
Well walmart keeps on denying these rumors, but they are not rumors at all. I have family in Panorama city, ca and they were about to walk in into a walmart, when all these people were running out sayin ICE was in there……what does wal-mart have to say about that…. Join our boycott starting March 20!!
If you personally saw this happening, please call us or send us an email so we can reach you. It has been confirmed that these rumors are lies that were created by a human rights group in order to get people to boycott Walmart.
how can you be sure that they are only rumors? have you checked every story that has been mentioned.It has happende before where no one wanted to believe that acts against human rights were happening but infact they were. Has history not taught us that fact. Look at what happened when the us was at war with japan, did the united states not put japenese into camps?
To Ana: A group in Georgia admitted that they made up the rumors, so we can actually say they are not just rumors, but lies. Also, we work with human rights and legal organizations, and so far, at least in San Diego, not one single eye-witness has come forward saying they saw a raid was taking place. The groups we work with actually did try to follow up with the reported raids by sending human rights observers out to the stores mentioned and they could not confirm that a raid took place. Raids are long operations, and there would be families separated, which means there would be witnesses, and so far not one witness has come forward, at least not in San Diego. We get messages and calls from other parts of the country, and nobody else from across the country has confirmed anything either.
That does not mean that ICE or Border Patrol isn’t visiting stores because we know they do this, but there has been no evidence of any raids taking place in stores.
Please read these articles that explain how these Wal Mart rumors began.
Origen de los Mensajes
On the Continued Spread of Raids Rumors
I am a student attending Mount Diablo High School in Concord, California. I am concerned about the hoax that is said to be done about Wal-Mart allowing immigration to take immigrants. How are you so sure that the media isn’t just trying to cover up Wal-Mart so that Wal-Mart wouldn’t look bad in front of everyone. I know some people that went to Wal-Mart and immigration took them away just for going. These people who were taken had families to support and did no wrong. The only wrong that any hard working immigrant has done is cross the border illegally, but that is it. Most people think of immigrants as criminals and try to find a way to take them out of the country when they don’t know a single thing about them.
Wal-Mart should know that their best customers are immigrants and all they have done is buy products from Wal-Mart because they are “cheaper”. I understand that you say that stores are not allowed to be alongside immigration then, why did a father of 3 young children get taken by immigration right after he had dropped off some flowers for my father and went to pump gas in his car at a gas station? If stores are meant to be safe for immigrants then why are they scaring them away with some hoax? Why did the gas station let them take a father away if he was just pumping gas and having the gas station get more money? Shouldn’t we all be safe no matter what? Shouldn’t stores be trying to keep a good reputation than letting it get destroyed by a couple of hoax?
My concern about Wal-Mart is that they are doing nothing to stop the media from telling people that the immigration will come and take all those who are undocumented? If Wal-Mart was such a good store then why are they trying to scare everyone away? The real question here is, is Wal-Mart a racial store? Does Wal-mart really care about its customers or does it only care about “kicking” immigrants out of the country? What should we the people do so that Wal-Mart would stop being a racial store? Should we boy-cot Wal-Mart so that it would learn a lesson about letting media say what they want about their companies and stores?
To Cristina, see my response to Ana. It’s been confirmed that the rumors were made up by youth organizers in Georgia, which actually means they are lies and not just rumors. It was a really bad way of trying to organize a boycott. If you have further questions, you can call a group based in Georgia who have contacts with the youth who invented the rumors.
Here is their website http://www.glahr.org and here is their phone number (770) 457-5232 .