Nine owners and managers of more than 12 7-Eleven stores were arrested today for knowingly hiring and mistreating illegal immigrants in a scheme that made millions. Department of Homeland Security seizures added up to $1.3 million, making it the largest criminal immigration forfeiture in U.S. history.
8 men and 1 woman, all from Pakistan or the Philippines, mistreated, overworked, and underpaid more than 50 illegal immigrants from their own home countries in a scheme that crossed New York and Virginia, Reuters.com reports.
According to CNN.com, the defendants forced their employees to work more than 100 hours per week, in addition to taking up to 75% of their pay, which was obtained with stolen social security numbers, for 13 years. The employees were also required to live in boarding houses their employers owned; the employers lived on Long Island.
In a statement to the AP.com and other members of the press, U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said that “the defendants not only systematically employed illegal immigrants, but concealed their crimes by raiding the cradle and the grave to steal the identities of children and even the dead…these defendants ruthlessly exploited their immigrant employees, stealing their wages and requiring them to live in unregulated boarding houses, in effect creating a modern day plantation system.”
The case came to light when employees, despite the threat of deportation and the dangerous situation with their employers, went to the police. Whistle-blowers may not be prosecuted, according to the New York State Police. 7-Eleven is reportedly cooperating with authorities.