WHAT A HEEL!: Lawyer Coerces Toys “R” Us To Award Illegal Immigrants Sweepstakes Prize
The Babies "R" Us division of Toys "R" Us ran a sweepstakes that awarded a $25,000 U.S. savings bond to the first baby born in 2007. The fine print made it clear that the baby’s mother had to be a legal resident of the US, and the winner was required to sign an affidavit of eligibility under the official rules. According to Toys "R" Us spokesperson Kathleen Waugh, such requirements are common in sweepstakes.
When company learned both parents of Yuki Lin, the first baby born at midnight New Year’s Day in Manhattan’s New York Downtown Hospital were illegal immigrants from China, the award went to runner-up in the drawing, Jayden Swain, born 19 seconds after midnight at Northeast Georgia Medical Center to a black woman whose mother describes as being "an American all the way."
Corporate lawyer Albert H. Wang was outraged, and unleashed an e-mail campaign on the Chinese couple’s behalf that got the attention of The New York Times. It mattered not to Wang or to The New York Times that Yuki’s parents are lawbreakers and that they were ineligible for the prize under the rules governing the administration of the sweepstakes. After all, why should sweepstakes rules be enforced when immigration laws are being broken with impunity.
So Toys "R" Us knuckled under to the corporate blackmail and awarded three $25,000 bonds – one to Yuki, one to Jayden and one to Yadira Esmeralda, born at Long Island’s Southside Hospital to a couple from El Salvador.
But Wang isn’t satisfied strong-arming Toys "R" Us into breaking its own sweepstakes rules. He has issued a blunt warning to the duly elected representatives of New York State: "any politician who says we should deport the parents, it would be the end of their political career."
The Stiletto remembers a time when only Mao made threats like that.
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