1. Three citrus contractors were sentenced to prison terms Wednesday for enslaving undocumented farm workers, threatening them with violence and holding them hostage over alleged debts.
The three men were convicted in June of involuntary servitude, harboring undocumented workers, interfering with interstate commerce by extortion and using a firearm.
Brothers Ramiro and Juan Ramos employed more than 700 farm laborers, many of them undocumented immigrants from Mexico.
They each were sentenced to 12 years and three months in prison and must forfeit real estate and personal property worth $3 million. Their cousin, Jose Ramos, was sentenced to 10 years, three months in prison.
Defense attorney Joaquin Perez said the Ramoses were scapegoats for a larger industry-wide problem.
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[Coalition for Immokalee Workers staff] member Julia Perkins said it was the fifth case that resulted in convictions on similar slavery charges in as many years. She accused the [Florida] state agriculture industry of looking the other way as contractors employ illegal aliens who have few rights. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/11/21/national/main530239.shtml
2. In a sweeping crackdown on undocumented workers, federal agents arrested more than 300 people at Wal-Mart stores in 21 states Thursday and raided the retail giant's world headquarters in Arkansas.
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The cleaning crews did not receive health insurance and were paid below the minimum wage, sometimes as little as $2 a day, a federal official said. http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2003-10-23-walmart-arrests_x.htm