New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice

High Plains Reader – “Catch 23: You Don’t Have to Go Home (But You Can’t Work Here)”

By Richard Schaan on November 20, 2008

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines truth as “the state of being the case—fact.” Flip the page to the word fact and you will find “the quality of being actual—actuality.” For actuality it says “the state of being actual—fact, reality.” Actual?  It says: “not false.” Even with a dictionary, truth can be hard to find.

In the case of 23 men from India who await a key decision on their fate inside the Cass County jail, the facts may be uncertain, but they do know that there are actual walls surrounding them and actual guards standing between them and freedom. And if you believe the story of how these men ended up where they are today, this reality is nothing new.

And what a story it is. Whoever invented the term “storyline” must have never encountered a tale like this. If they had, it would be called a story-square because of its multiple sides, multiple angles. The only way to cover something this complex is to break it down, one side at a time.

The Tale of the 23

The men locked in Cass County jail were all recruited, along with hundreds of others, in India by a firm working on the behalf of the Mississippi based company Signal International. They were brought to the U.S. to work as welders and pipe fitters on rebuilding projects following Hurricane Katrina. These are two facts that both the workers and Signal agree on.

The stories diverge however, when the workers tell about the promise of permanent residence, a green card, which was made to lure them into paying $20,000 for the chance to work in the U.S. They borrowed from relatives, sold their land, and cashed in life savings for one shot at the American dream. Then they arrived, and according to their story, the nightmares began.

“They trapped us in their labor camps and used us like slaves,” wrote Christopher Glory in a letter written in jail and released to the press.

The men allege that upon arrival they discovered that their visas were H-2B guest worker permits, a temporary status instead of the green cards they had expected. They also claim that they were forcibly held in the camps, which were overcrowded and unsanitary.

“They forced us to eat rotten food, making us sick, and would tell us, ‘You are animals, you eat what we give you, or don’t eat,’” Glory wrote.

Though the men were paid standard local wages for their jobs, a ten month permit would allow them to earn just enough to break even by the time they paid off both the recruiter and the $1050 monthly rent for a bed in the windowless bunker they shared with 24 other workers.

They were also at the mercy of their employers, who could deport them at any time and without compensation for lost wages and recruitment fees.
“When we protested, they attacked us with guns,” Glory wrote.

After six workers were detained for deportation by Signal employees, several of the others contacted Sacket Soni, the executive director of the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice. Soni helped 100 of the 290 men to leave the camp and to file a trafficking complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

Soni said the men marched on foot from New Orleans to Washington, D.C. to put pressure on the DOJ to investigate the case and to allow them “continued presence,” a temporary visa status that allows victims of trafficking to work in the country while the investigation is still ongoing.
“The workers in Fargo are victims and witnesses in this investigation,” Soni said.

In the nation’s capital, the workers went on a 30-day hunger strike and also garnered the support of 18 members of Congress, including two-time presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), who sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey requesting he “take the steps necessary to ensure the workers’ continued presence so that DOJ can continue this important investigation of modern-day slavery, human trafficking, and forced labor and bring these traffickers to justice.”

Despite these efforts, the men were denied continued presence status and 23 of them broke off from the rest of the group to seek employment at an ethanol plant in Casselton, ND.  On Oct. 29 they were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for allegedly using false documents to obtain employment in the U.S.

They remain in custody as they await their Jan. 12 trial date.

Signal International’s Side

Following the workers’ filing of a trafficking complaint with the DOJ, Signal International released an official statement that tells a much different story.

According to the statement, “Signal spent over $7 million constructing state of the art housing complexes for these workers.” They also state that the facilities contained a mess hall catered with Indian cuisine and recreational facilities with “big screen televisions, pool tables and computers with Internet access.”

Further stating that “a few of the workers whom Signal had recruited” made allegations about the living conditions in the work camp, the company added that the “vast majority of the workers” were satisfied with their employment and that these workers “hope that Signal continues this program.”

While Soni said the DOJ investigation is ongoing, Signal International stated that their “employment practices and facilities have been inspected by representatives of the Department of Labor, the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of State.”

Also claiming to have invited journalists to tour their facilities, Signal asserts that the collective conclusion of all these entities was “that Signal’s practices and facilities are fully compliant with the law and that its facilities are more than adequate.”

Brad Crocker of The Mississippi Press wrote “An investigation by The Mississippi Press last year revealed cramped quarters, but no squalid conditions or signs of mistreatment workers alleged.”

The Raw Story

An Apr. 13, 2007 story by Lindsay Beyerstein and Larisa Alexandrovna of the investigative news website rawstory.com sheds some light on the differences between the workers’ allegations and Signal’s official denials.

Beyerstein and Alexandrovna write about Michael Pol, a Mississippi sheriff’s deputy who “is also the president of Global Resources, Inc., a placement firm that recruits Indian workers to fill jobs in the US.”

In an interview with Signal’s camp manager, James Sanders, the writers discovered that Sanders was initially told by Pol that the men would pay only $2,000 in recruitment fees to Global Resources Inc., not the $15,000 to $20,000 they had been charged by Pol.

The rawstory.com article also states that “Signal demanded that Pol refund half the money that each worker had paid. When he refused, Signal terminated Pol’s contract.”

The Fargo Prosecutor’s Case

Three weeks ago, an early morning raid resulted in the arrest of the 23 workers in Casselton. On Wednesday, a prayer vigil to support the prisoners was held in front of the downtown post office. Rev. Jeff Sandgren of Olivet Lutheran led a prayer, and organizer Barry Nelson made a statement to the assembled media.

“In no way are we here to criticize local U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley, who is only doing his job in a case that is separate from the original situation these men were put into,” Nelson said.

In an earlier interview, Wrigley’s Assistant U.S. Attorney, Nick Chase, spoke about the case to make it clear that their current prosecution is not related to the DOJ’s investigation of Signal.

“I don’t believe or disbelieve the allegations against Signal International. But those allegations, from two or three years ago, in another district, involving another company, do not necessarily justify the alleged conduct in the current case we are proceeding with,” Chase said.

While Chase did say the DOJ was contacted early on, he also stated that they were not looking for permission to continue their prosecution.
“It wasn’t really for them to green light or not,” he said.

He also added that he has been involved in many immigration cases and that false promises by recruiters are unfortunately the norm for many of the defendants facing deportation.

“If you show me an illegal immigrant, I will show you someone who has been exploited thousands of times,” he said.

Christopher Glory’s Letter

The last few paragraphs of the letter read as follows:

“All my life I heard about America. ‘It’s god’s land.’ Even in God’s land you can be treated like an animal. Instead of punishing me, America should punish Signal International and the recruiters, so that what befell me does not happen to anyone else.

“Please don’t pray for me to get out of here, for me to be released soon, or for my legal papers. Please just pray for me to be brave, and that my spirits don’t go down so I can stay in this fight. I know it is not going to be easy.

“Don’t spend your time trying to release me. Spend your time to fight so that the Department of Justice sees the truth.
The truth will set us free.”

Backers rally for Cass 23

Patrick Springer

The Forum – 11/20/2008

The 23 itinerant workers from India who have spent 22 days in the Cass County Jail are victims of human trafficking in the eyes of their supporters and illegal immigrants in the eyes of prosecutors.

More than 20 supporters of the Cass 23 gathered Wednesday in subzero weather to offer prayers and pleas on their behalf in front of the Federal Building in downtown Fargo.

A short time later, federal prosecutors filed a motion seeking re-evaluation of their status as indigents, arguing the $69,000 they collectively drew in their last paychecks might make them ineligible to receive public defenders.

The activities Wednesday were the latest in the maelstrom of rhetoric and legal actions that have ensued since the workers were arrested Oct. 28 at the offices of a local contractor.

The defendants, who speak three or four different Indian dialects, worked as welders and pipe fitters at the ethanol plant under construction near Casselton.

The men are skilled tradesmen who travel abroad to support their families. All are from a region of north India that converted to Christianity centuries ago.

Some worked in the Middle East before coming to the United States to help rebuild the Gulf of Mexico following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

They entered the country with legal temporary work visas, but are accused of later obtaining counterfeit Social Security cards and falsely claiming U.S. citizenship.

The men and their advocates contend they were lured by false promises that they would obtain permanent legal residency and would be able to work legally to support their families back in India.

When they got here they found a different situation, said Barry Nelson, an organizer of Wednesday s prayer vigil. They found out their green cards they were promised were in fact guest worker passes.

Initially, 500 guest workers came from India to work repairing oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico at yards in Texas and Mississippi. Of those, 250 remain in the United States, including the 23 jailed in Fargo.

The workers, some of whom traveled to Washington and went on a hunger strike to press their case, have asked for legal status allowing them to remain in the U.S. pending the outcome of a criminal investigation into the human trafficking allegations.

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has written justice officials to urge that they grant the Indian workers continued presence protection so they can help with the U.S. Department of Justice s ongoing criminal investigation of their reportedly appalling treatment.

Advocates have filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of the workers, claiming they were victims of an exploitative recruiting scheme by Signal International, a marine contractor that builds and repairs oil rigs.

The men paid up to $20,000 a sum that is the equivalent of two or three generations of labor in north India to come to the United States with promises of gainful employment and permanent legal residency.

Instead, they were placed in overcrowded labor camps where they were unable to leave and subject to a campaign of psychological abuse, coercion, and fraud designed to keep them captive employees of Signal, the lawsuit claims.

Signal declined The Forum s requests for comment Wednesday. Earlier, the company has called the allegations baseless and unfounded, and said several federal agencies, including federal labor officials, found them in legal compliance.

The Criminal Section of the Justice Department s Civil Rights Division has an open and ongoing investigation into the matter, Jamie Hais, a Justice spokesman, said Wednesday. Nothing to add beyond that.

Drew Wrigley, U.S. attorney for North Dakota, reiterated Wednesday that his office was aware of the allegations of human trafficking as well as the Department of Justice s criminal investigation before filing charges.

We re not moving ahead with our investigation without the full knowledge of the Department of Justice in Washington, he said. Human trafficking allegations of people facing illegal immigration charges are not uncommon, he added.

The Rev. Jeff Sandgren, a pastor at Olivet Lutheran Church in Fargo, was one of those who turned out for the prayer vigil. He believes the workers came to the United States believing they were on track to have permanent residency to enable them to work legally.

I have absolutely no doubt that these folks came with the best of intentions, Sandgren said. These folks were brought here under false pretenses.

Sandgren happens to be Wrigley s pastor, and each describes the other as a good friend. Both men have spoken about their divergent views of the case. Each credits the other with being sincere in his beliefs.

But they don t appear to agree on much else concerning the Cass 23.

Readers can reach Forum reporter Patrick Springer at (701) 241-5522

Indian Justice ’08

A blog in which Indian Workers’ Congress supporter, ally, and advocate Bincy Jacob travels first to Delhi for an event targeting Supreme Court Advocates in India, then to visit workers’ families in Kerala. Please visit!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT SAKET SONI — 504 881 6610

New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice

ICE Raid Targets, Snares Human Trafficking Victims

Victims Demand Access to Their Legal Counsel, but ICE Refuses

Oct. 29, 2008—Over 20 Indian Guest Workers who triggered a high-profile federal investigation into human trafficking were targeted this morning by a raid carried out by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency near Fargo, North Dakota. Despite workers’ repeated demands for their attorneys, ICE blocked workers’ access to their legal counsel, outraging national experts and advocates.

The workers were among approximately 500 individuals trafficked to the United States after Hurricane Katrina by Gulf Coast employer Signal International, LLC. Workers were subjected to forced labor in Mississippi and Texas labor camps. They escaped the labor camps earlier this year to come forward and report human trafficking to the Department of Justice. The workers triggered a major criminal trafficking investigation, which is still open, filed a federal class action lawsuit in New Orleans against Signal International, LLC, and labor recruiters in the U.S. and India, and staged a hunger strike in Washington, DC, to push for the prosecution of Signal.

“It is an outrage that workers who courageously came forward at great personal risk to cooperate with the Department of Justice in a federal trafficking investigation were targeted by ICE and then denied access to their own legal counsel,” said Marielena Hincapié, Executive Director of the National Immigration Law Center. “This is yet another example of immigration enforcement run amok. ICE terrorizes and detains workers rather than targeting bad employers,” added Hincapié.

Upon realizing that they were being targeted by ICE, the workers presented letters explaining they were victims and witnesses to the federal crime of human trafficking. The letter listed their attorney’s name and contact information. They communicated that they did not want to be questioned without legal counsel. ICE summarily refused the workers’ requests and questioned them individually without attorneys or interpreters.

“Why isn’t ICE spending national resources investigating criminal traffickers, instead of targeting and terrifying the victims?” asked Saket Soni, Director of the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice. “Since these workers have come forward to report Signal International, LLC, to the Department of Justice, they have faced ICE surveillance, ICE arrests, and now an ICE sting operation.”

U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley held a news conference today, briefing the press on the ICE sting operation. Wrigley omitted to mention that workers were cooperating in a DOJ investigation into human trafficking.

‘Never Again,’ Again

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/opinion/21sun2.html

Hurricane Gustav gave the state of Louisiana a test for which it had three years to prepare. There were thousands of poor, sick, disabled and elderly people who could not get out on their own. They needed to be rescued with dispatch, and sheltered in safety and dignity.

One simple test. The state flunked.

Three years to the week after Hurricane Katrina’s landfall, Louisiana executed a fundamentally unfair evacuation plan and did it badly. It relied on dividing the population into separate streams: People with their own cars were directed to shelters run by parishes, churches and the Red Cross. People with medical problems not requiring hospitalization were taken to special shelters. Sex offenders had a shelter to themselves.

All those without a car or a ride were taken on state buses to four state-run warehouses. It was in these shelters, including two abandoned stores, a Wal-Mart and a Sam’s Club, that thousands of working-poor New Orleanians got a sickening reminder of Katrina.

Evacuees said they had had no idea where they were going; bus drivers would not tell them. When they arrived, there were not enough portable toilets, and no showers. For five days there was no way to bathe, except with bottled water in filthy outdoor toilets. Privacy in the vast open space — 1,000 people to a warehouse, shoulder-to-shoulder on cots — was nonexistent. The mood among evacuees was grim, surrounded as they were by police officers and the National Guard, with no visitors or reporters allowed.

“We didn’t want to evacuate into a prison,” Lethia Brooks told the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice, an organization that accompanied the evacuees, inspected the shelters and collected hundreds of stories into a report sharply critical of the state’s response.

Gustav ended up being no Katrina, and the week of suffering was not as severe as the deathly mayhem of three years ago. But residents had every right to expect far better treatment than they received. After a week of indignities in crowded, unsanitary shelters, many returned home with their fragile finances in turmoil. They had been forced to buy extra basics while out of their homes, and September rent was due.

The secretary of Louisiana’s Department of Social Services, which was responsible for the shelters, resigned after this scandal and one involving problems with food stamp distribution.

Now, many poor residents are vowing “never again,” as in, “Never again will we get on the bus to be warehoused. We’ll ride out the next storm.” In New Orleans, disaster is never far away, and government incompetence cannot be allowed to undermine a swift, sure evacuation. Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration should move quickly on a better plan that does not expose the poor to differential, substandard treatment.

No Shelter from the Storm

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/opinion/07sun2.html

When a disaster hits, saving lives comes before anything else, even when those lives don’t have the right immigration papers. That is why the Department of Homeland Security called off its agents when Hurricane Gustav bore down on New Orleans. Just days after staging the biggest workplace raid ever, not far away in Mississippi, the agency promised there would be no raids or checkpoints to slow the evacuation of the Gulf Coast.

The decision was practical and humane, but it was not enough to persuade many immigrant workers to accept help in evacuating. They feared that immigration agents would arrest them at Red Cross shelters.

Staff members at the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice, an organization of black and Latino laborers created after Hurricane Katrina, said they pleaded in vain for written assurances from the Red Cross that undocumented immigrants would be safe in its shelters.

The Red Cross has a long-standing policy of impartiality; it never asks evacuees about their legal status. But the workers’ center wanted something more reassuring. It asked the Red Cross to state in writing that its volunteers would be educated about the open-door policy, and that immigration agents would not be allowed to enter shelters for raids or investigations.

With the storm rolling ever closer, and the authorities ordering people to flee, no letter came. The Red Cross issued a general restatement of its impartiality policy — after the hurricane passed.

The Red Cross argues, rightly, that it cannot keep law-enforcement officials from doing their jobs if they have legal warrants. But it does have an internal policy stating that officials without warrants are not allowed into its shelters. The workers’ center says that a simple public statement of that policy would have been enough to persuade its members to get on the bus. Instead, with mere hours to spare, more than a thousand people decided they could not take the chance of being picked up. Though short on money and access to cars, they cobbled together their own evacuations.

This storm, thankfully, did far less damage than Katrina. But other storms still loom, and thousands of scattered workers are still lying low. And the federal government and the Red Cross still lack what should be an ironclad public policy: that during all phases of a disaster, from evacuation to shelter to return, victims without papers need never be afraid of accepting life-saving help.

Our friends from Jobs With Justice have posted some great photos from today’s rally on their photo site.

“We Have Only Begun to Fight”

Collective statement by the Indian Workers’ Congress, read by Sabulal Vijayan

June 11, 2008

Today, after 29 days, we are suspending a hunger strike that has brought us more power than any group of H2B guest workers in the United States has ever had. We began our fast on May 14 in front of the White House to expose the ugly reality of the guest worker program. We demanded action against the criminal trafficking ring of Signal International and its US and Indian recruiters. We demanded that the Department of Justice grant us freedom from the terror of deportation and give us continued presence in the United States so that we can participate in the criminal trafficking investigation against Signal International.

Because of the power of our hunger strike, 18 members of US Congress have written to the Department of Justice to demand continued presence on our behalf. The chairs of two committees in the US House of Representatives have also urged the Department of Justice to take this case of human trafficking very seriously. Congressman Dennis Kucinich has committed to holding hearings into abuses of guest workers by Signal International and companies like it. Our allies from Jobs With Justice and the labor movement have written more than 9,000 letters to US Congress on our behalf.

We have the confidence to suspend our hunger strike today because we have faith in these allies to fight alongside us until the traffickers are brought to justice.

But our victory today is not yet complete. On March 6 we took courage in our hands and escaped Signal’s labor camps. We could have disappeared, but we chose to come forward to report the company to the US Department of Justice. We sacrificed our ability to work and be with our families for the sake of bringing Signal and its recruiters to justice. We risked our lives with a hunger strike for the sake of future workers.

Why did we do this? Because we thought we were in the land of liberty, because we had faith in the Department of Justice. We expected the DOJ to follow the laws that Congress has enacted to protect people like us. We demanded what the US law demands: that survivors of human trafficking be given the legal protections necessary to pursue justice without fear.

But the DOJ ignored us. They refused to act on our behalf. Our requests for basic protections under the law, for continued presence in the US, were ignored. We were subjected to surveillance operations by immigration authorities, and humiliating and terrifying interviews.

Because of the Department of Justice, our lives are on hold. We are paralysed. We live in constant terror of deportation. We cannot work. We cannot see our families. We cannot provide for our families. We are listening to our children grow up over long distance phone calls. We have not been able to attend the funerals of our mothers and fathers in India. Because of the DOJ’s inaction, our lives are in limbo.

Meanwhile Signal International is not on hold. Their business is not in limbo. They continue their operations in the Gulf Coast, they continue to get government contracts and make profits while we sit paralyzed. The Department of Justice lets a criminal trafficker carry on its business – while the workers who had the courage to report Signal crimes are treated like criminals.

But others are listening to our call for justice. Eighteen US Congressmen and three committee chairs have heard this call and supported us. Organized labor has heard this call and supported us. The civil rights community has heard this call and supported us. Faith leaders have heard this call and supported us.

We have faith in our allies and place our hopes in their hands. We believe that with the help of US Congress, organized labor, and civil rights and faith leaders, our power will continue to grow until the Department of Justice until it offers us the protection we need to bring the traffickers to justice and to protect all future workers.

So after 29 days we suspend our hunger strike – to give the Department of Justice time to wake up to the calls of 18 members of Congress, and leaders in the religious, civil rights, and faith community. We are waiting.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich speaks before an audience of 150 workers and supporters today at the Department of Justice rally. Details here:

NEW ORLEANS WORKERS’ CENTER FOR RACIAL JUSTICE

www.neworleansworkerjustice.org

*** JUNE 11, 2008 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ***

Indian trafficking survivors suspend hunger strike on Day 29 after huge political gains

Workers celebrate support, vow to fight on as allies hold solidarity rallies in 10 US cities

WASHINGTON, DC – On Wednesday, June 11, 2008, about 150 Indian labor trafficking survivors and supporters rallied at the US Department of Justice headquarters, where the workers suspended their hunger strike on Day 29 after an unprecedented outpouring of support from US Congressmen and leaders from labor, civil rights, and religious communities.

“Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act because we recognized that modern day slavery exists and that workers trafficked into the United States should be able to place their faith in the United States justice system,” US Congressman Dennis Kucinich said at the rally, one week after he and 17 Congressional colleagues sent a letter to the Department of Justice urging legal protections for the workers while it investigates their case. “Today, we must make sure we don’t betray their faith in us.”

Indian Member of Parliament S.K. Kharventhan (Tamil Nadu, Congress Party) also pledged his support to the workers after flying from India to meet with them and attend the rally, saying: “This issue needs to be taken up as an international crime in India. I pledge my support to you. Meeting with you personally has opened my eyes to the seriousness of the problem and the fact that the Indian government should help you bring the traffickers to justice.”

“After 29 days, we are suspending a hunger strike that has brought us more power than any group of H2B guest workers in the United States has ever had,” said Sabulal Vijayan, an organizer with the Indian Workers’ Congress. “We have the confidence to suspend our hunger strike today because we have faith in these allies to fight alongside us until the traffickers are brought to justice.”

The vast support for the workers’ fight for justice against the labor trafficking chain of Signal International and its recruiters was clear from the speakers at Wednesday’s rally, which included:

• US Congressman Dennis Kucinich
• Indian Member of Parliament S.K. Kharventhan, Tamil Nadu, Congress Party
• Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickeled and Dimed
• Rev. Graylan Hagler, Senior Minister, Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ
• Jon Hiatt, General Counsel, AFL-CIO
• John Cavanagh, director, Institute of Policy Studies
• John Flynn, President, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers
• Sarita Gupta, Executive Director, Jobs With Justice
• Indian Workers’ Congress organizer Sabulal Vijayan
• Saket Soni, director, New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice

In addition, labor rights group Jobs With Justice held solidarity actions in 10 cities across the US on Wednesday: Atlanta, GA; Boston, MA; Portland, OR; Knoxville, TN; Richmond, VA; Chicago, IL; Salt Lake City, UT; New York, NY; Los Angeles, CA; and San Francisco, CA. Last week, Jobs With Justice members wrote over 9,000 letters to US Congress in support of the workers.

“But our victory today is not yet complete,” Vijayan added, referring to the Department of Justice’s failure to release the labor trafficking survivors from the terror of deportation by granting them continued presence in the US, as requested by Rep. Kucinich and his 17 colleagues.

“We live in constant terror of deportation. We cannot work. We cannot see our families. We cannot provide for our families. We are listening to our children grow up over long distance phone calls. Because of the DOJ’s inaction, our lives are in limbo,” Vijayan said.

After the workers broke the fast in a ceremony blessed by Rev. Graylan Hagler and other faith leaders, a delegation of ten workers’ allies went into the Department of Justice and met with Constituent Relations Associate Director Julie Warren, who agreed to set a meeting between the workers and the DoJ Civil Rights Division for the week of June 16th.

“Scripture says: ‘Is this not the fast which I choose to loose the bonds of wickedness, and to let the oppressed go free?’” Rev. Hagland said, before he and other clergy distributed pieces of bread to the workers. “That is what we’re standing here to do, to loose the bonds of wickedness, and to let the oppressed go free.”

The hunger strike followed nearly 18 months of organizing by the workers, who paid US and Indian recruiters up to $20,000 apiece for false promises of permanent residency and green cards. Instead they received 10-month temporary H2B guest worker visas and worked at Signal’s Gulf Coast shipyards under deplorable conditions. A total of 20 workers participated in the strike, five of whom were hospitalized. One of them, Paul Konar, fasted for 23 straight days before being stopped by health problems.

The workers escaped Signal’s labor camps in March 2008 and made a 10-day “journey for justice,” largely on foot, from New Orleans to Washington, DC. They launched their hunger strike on May 14 to demand temporary legal status in the US, Congressional hearings into abuses of guest workers, and talks between the US and Indian governments to protect future guest workers.

“The Department of Justice, like the Indian government, has remained cold while these workers have taken extraordinary risks to open the world’s eyes to the reality of guest worker programs,” said Saket Soni, workers’ advocate and director of the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice. “This suspension of the hunger strike gives them both one last chance to fulfill their responsibility to combat the brutal reality of human trafficking.”

The Indian Workers’ Congress is an affiliate of the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice.

Read statements and see pictures from the rally at our blog: nolaworkerscenter.wordpress.com.

CONTACT: Stephen Boykewich, Media Director, New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice, spboykewich@gmail.com, US Mob. +1-504-655-0876

www.neworleansworkerjustice.org