3 Illegal Aliens Sue Sears, Allege Amnesty Violations

Attorneys for three illegal immigrants filed federal discrimination complaints Monday against Sears, Roebuck & Co., charging that the Latinas were wrongfully fired because they could not prove they were in the country legally.

The women, Alicia Zamora Chacon, 30; Maria de Lourdes Placencia 20, and Yesenia Vargas, 18, all of East Los Angeles, said they are eligible for amnesty and claimed that they were singled out for criticism on the job merely because they were illegal immigrants from Mexico.

The anti-discrimination provisions of the new federal immigration law prohibit such firings if undocumented workers declare that they are eligible for legalization and intend to apply for it.

In filing the complaints with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, lawyers for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice said the firings in February at the retailer’s Boyle Heights store were contrary to those federal immigration guidelines.

Sears officials were told of the women’s amnesty applications but chose to “look it in the face and said, ‘We don’t care,’ ” said E. Richard Larson, MALDEF’s vice president for legal programs.

Sears officials, who could not be reached for comment late Monday, have maintained that it has been company policy for many years to hire aliens only if they could prove legal residence in this country.

Under the immigration law signed last November, illegal aliens may apply for residency if they have lived in the United States since before Jan. 1, 1982. One of the law’s major provisions is sanctions against employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens.