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Your Favorite American Apparel T-Shirt Was Possibly Stitched by an Undocumented Worker
Photo by Melle Music via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
While it might not be surprising that American Apparel has made the headlines once again for their business practices, it is a touch ironic that the company who is behind the "Legalize L.A." movement for immigration reform revealed today "that the government has found that 1,800 of its employees are either illegally working in the U.S. or potentially illegal to work," according to USA Today.
Representing about one-third of the LA-based clothing company's workforce, the 1,800 are divided into two camps: 1,600 who were identified by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as being unauthorized to work, and 200 for whom their status could not be verified. American Apparel says "it was not found to have willingly hired illegal workers."
The fate of the employees who cannot provide proof of eligibility to work is to lose their jobs with American Apparel, however, the investigation "led to no mass arrest or deportation of employees."
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