Workers Protesting Wage Theft Greeted by ICE at DOL Doorsteps
DOL Chief refuses to meet with workers but ICE arrives to conduct surveillance

Over a hundred workers arrived at the steps of the Department of Labor on May 1st to report an egregious case of wage theft.  They expected to be greeted by the new director of the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division, Frank McGriggs. Instead, they were greeted at DOL’s doorstep by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agent William Watson.
Because of the ICE surveillance, several members of the Congress of Day Laborers decided not to speak publicly about their wage theft cases.  Workers were marching to push for a new era of labor law enforcement in New Orleans and are members of the Congress of Day Laborers, a project of the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice.

Counsel for the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice intervened and overheard the ICE agent describing the peaceful May 1st solidarity march including over 100 workers accompanied by a brass band as a “protest against ICE” that looked like it “could turn violent.”

“I rebuilt New Orleans after Katrina – but my employer stole thousands from me,” said one member of the Congress of Day Laborer who asked that his name not be used.  “They tell me there are labor laws in this county that protect me from abuse. But how can I report violations of labor law if ICE blocks the doors to the Department of Labor?”
“ICE sent a clear message to hundreds of workers today,” said Saket Soni, Executive Director of the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice.  “If you face labor exploitation, report it at your own risk. You will be surveilled. You may be deported.”
Workers came to get a public commitment from the DOL that their cases of wage theft would be investigated seriously.  Workers previously reported two egregious cases involving violations of the Davis Bacon Act by contractors receiving federal funds.  Workers were robbed by employers who received federal contracts to build affordable housing in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Newly appointed Wage and Hour Division (WHD) Chief Frank McGriggs refused to come out of the building to communicate publically to workers that they were welcome at DOL.

When he was later confronted about the chilling effect of ICE’s presence in the doorway of the DOL, he continued to insist that the DOL’s doors were always open.
In point of fact, over 100 day laborers consulted after the incident reported that they would not bring wage theft cases to the DOL and would not enter the building given ICE’s presence there.

Workers attempting to enter the building in the past two weeks also found that DOL would not allow workers to enter without photo identification, in effect excluding undocumented workers and homeless and low-income American workers without documentation from the building.

In a conversation with Workers’ Center Counsel, DOL’s regional public affairs director Elizabeth Todd said, “If ICE wants to stand in the doorway of our building, there’s nothing we can do about it.”

“We’re disappointed that DOL is allowing ICE to police its house.  We thought the federal laws protected all workers,” said one of the day laborers who asked that his name not be used.  Soni added: “The federal authorities are facing a crisis of confidence in the community.  They need to demonstrate that workers who come forward to report labor exploitation will be protected not punished.  A system where the immigration laws are enforced will ensure that employer retaliation continues and labor standards continued to drop.  This is bad for all workers in the city.”

“Just a day after The Department of Homeland Security issued its new directive to ICE on worksite enforcement, today’s situation in New Orleans exemplifies why the DOL and DHS need to rethink national priorities so that workers facing abuse can come out of the shadows and report abuse,” said Marielena Hincapie, Executive Director of the National Immigration Law Center.

Background: Workers have recently reported federal wage violations on two projects: the Savoy Apartments, formerly the Desire housing project (the contractor is Greystar Development and Construction); and the Walnut Square Apartments Project (contractor Walton Construction).  Workers also face wage theft while working on the Oak Villa Apartments, contracted to Harris Builders, LLC.  Greystar and Walton received Federal and State funding in order to build affordable housing, and then robbed the workers of their salaries – in violation of the Davis Bacon Act and federal labor law.

# # #

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday April 20^th, 2009

Contact:

Jacob Horwitz (504) 452.9159

Guestworkers Sue Mississippi Labor Brokers, Expose Captive Worker Racket

Labor Broker Kingpins Defrauded U.S. Government to Run Lease-a-Worker Racketeering Ring

Temporary H-2B guestworkers filed a class action lawsuit today against major Mississippi labor contracting kingpins Brian and David Knight. The lawsuit alleges that Five Star Contractors LLC and Knights Marine & Industrial Services, Inc. fraudulently imported workers from Brazil, Mexico, and the Philippines to a surveilled Mississippi labor camp in order to run a lease-a-worker racket in violation of federal law. The workers, who are welders and pipefitters, have been deadlocked in a fight for their dignity since they were brought to Mississippi in November 2007. The workers are members of the Alliance of Guestworkers for Dignity, a project of the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice.

The workers’ suit exposes companies Five Star and Knights Marine, detailing the way that contractor kingpins Brian and David Knight “manipulated the H-2B guestworker program and defrauded the U.S. government and vulnerable migrant workers to generate a large pool of easily exploitable workers for on-call labor at Gulf Coast shipyards.”

Lured by false promises, workers paid thousands of dollars in illegal recruitment fees to agents of the U.S. companies. They were also pressured to turn over the deeds of their homes to the agents. “I plunged my family into debt to raise $7,000.00 for the visa,” said Miro Saucedo, a class representative. “We were desperate. They promised us American dreams but we arrived into a nightmare.”

The guestworkers’ civil suit vividly recounts the nightmare: “Upon arrival in Mississippi, they were transported to a surveillance labor camp consisting of windowless portable metal buildings while they waited weeks to be leased out. They waited weeks without work as their debts grew and they became increasingly desperate for Five Star and Knights Marine to comply with their contractual promises to workers and the U.S. Government.” Miro Saucedo, a class representative, said: “Five Star and Knights Marine held us hostage to hope of jobs that didn’t exist.”

Stripped of their dignity in the labor camp, workers fought back to demand that the companies comply with their promises to them and the U.S. government, but Five Star and Knights Marine took advantage of the rules of the H-2B guestworker program—which renders guestworkers completely dependent on their sponsoring employer for legal status, employment, and housing—to further coerce and threaten the guestworkers.

When worker Moises Santos submitted a petition on behalf of the workers, he was fired in retaliation for organizing. Santos later filed claims with the National Labor Relations Board. In a watershed victory, Santos won $13,000.00 in back wages.

“Subcontractors like Five Star manipulate the H-2B program year after year, creating a glut of easily exploitable workers who are on-call and desperate for work,” said Jacob Horwitz, an organizer with the Alliance of Guestworkers for Dignity.

The workers seek a declaration that their rights have been violated and an award of damages for Defendants’ unlawful conduct, including violations of the Federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §201 et seq., as well as for breach of contract, common law fraud, and breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing. The guestworkers seek this relief to make them whole for damages they have suffered and to ensure that they and other H-2B guestworkers will not be subjected by the Defendants to such illegal conduct in the future.

“The defendants’ actions are illegal and immoral – but not uncommon,” said Saket Soni, Director of the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice. “The Department of Labor signs off for employers who commit fraud and lease workers out of labor camps with full impunity. We need the Obama Administration to take a lesson in courage from these workers. We need them to crack down on companies no matter how powerful they are. The Obama Administration needs to protect workers, and needs to protect U.S. labor law.”

The workers are represented by lawyers specializing in employment and class actions: Jason J. Thompson and Kevin J. Stoops of Sommers Schwartz PC; Robert A. Alvarez of Jose Sandoval PC; Edward J. Tuddenham, Esq; Matthew L. Turner of Turner & Turner, P.C.; and Brent McBride of McBride Law Firm, PLLC.

###

Guestworkers Launch Strike To Expose Tennessee Employer Who Violated Federal Law

Prominent labor broker defrauded US government to import guestworkers and lease them across the South; H2B visa workers were made to work on military bases

NASHVILLE, TN — Guestworkers trapped in Nashville came forward today to expose the racket of prominent labor broker who defrauded the U.S. government to import workers and lease them across the South. Workers launched a strike, charged the employer with illegal retaliation against organizing, and demanded that the Department of Labor investigate the employer for fraud.

Workers are members of the Alliance of Guestworkers for Dignity, a membership organization of guestworkers across industries in the South.

The labor broker, Gary Lang, submitted fraudulent applications to the U.S. government, claiming that workers would be working for his company, Cumberland Environmental Resources, Inc., on site in Brentwood, TN. He swore to the U.S. government that he had these jobs and he could not find U.S. workers to fill them.

Workers from Peru, Bolivia, El Salvador, and Costa Rica paid thousands in recruitment fees to Cumberland’s agents for the jobs. When the workers arrived, they learned that the jobs they had been promised did not exist.

Workers languished for weeks, sometimes months, waiting for the work they were promised.  “We drowned our families in debt to pay thousands of dollars in recruitment fees to Cumberland’s agents,” said Miguel Angel Jovel, one of the workers.   “Cumberland held us hostage to the hope of jobs that didn’t exist.”

Finally, instead of providing the promised jobs, Cumberland leased the workers out to other contractors across the South.  These included contractors working on local, state, and federal government worksites.  Workers were employed on Maxwell Airforce Base in Alabama, Camp Lejuene in North Carolina, Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville, Veteran’s Hospital in Nashville, and universities across the South including University of Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, University of Kentucky, David Lipscomb, and others.

Workers filed an Unfair Labor Practice complaint, charging that Cumberland illegally retalited against their efforts to organize.

“Cumberland violated their contract with us — and with their own U.S. government,” said Tomas Arias. “When we asked to see our contracts, Cumberland refused.”

When workers asked for a meeting Cumberland, Cumberland threatened workers with termination and deportation, interrogated workers about their organizing efforts, and attempted to force workers to sign away their right to organize in closed-door meetings.  When workers stood up for their dignity and rights and pressed for a meeting, Cumberland retaliated by firing them.

Workers and advocates called on the Department of Labor to investigate Cumberland’s fraud.

“Companies like Cumberland benefited when the Bush Administration passed its midnight guestworker  regulations days before leaving office. The message to employers was: relax, we just made it easier for you to import and exploit foreign workers,” said Saket Soni, Director of the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice. “The White House and the Department of Labor need to throw the Bush regulations and replace them with real protections for all workers,” said Soni.

The Bush Administration’s H2B regulations, which came into effect just days before President Obama took office, have drawn widespread outrage from workers and advocates.

Clergy, labor, and civil rights leaders endorsed the workers’ strike and their call for justice on Wednesday. Tennessee AFL-CIO president Jerry Lee expressed “shock” at Cumberland’s practices.

“Shame on Cumberland, and shame on our system for letting the employer exploit these workers,” Lee said. “At a time when joblessness is at its highest point worldwide, this employer uses the guestworker program to exploit foreign workers and undermine American workers. And when the workers bravely speak out, the employer attacks the workers for organizing.”

“That’s not America,” Lee said. “Or at least it shouldn’t be.”

Rep. Ellison, rights groups show support for jailed Indian workers

by Dan Gunderson, Minnesota Public Radio
December 17, 2008

Twenty-three men from India jailed in Fargo are getting support from human rights advocates and members of Congress.

St. Paul, Minn. - The workers are charged with having false documents and they say they are victims of human trafficking.

Seven of the men entered guilty pleas Wednesday in federal court in Fargo. They will be turned over to Immigration officials who will decide if they should be deported.

Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison and other supporters started a 24-hour fast this afternoon to show support for the jailed workers.

The men came to the U.S. on worker visas as welders and pipefitters in the wake of hurricane Katrina. The workers say they promised to pay $20,000 each and in turn were told they would get permanent U.S. citizenship.

Saket Soni, with the New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice, said dozens of workers came from India only to discover their visa expired in 10 months.

“It was impossible to recover $20,000 in earnings in 10 months, so these workers essentially were held in forced labor,” Soni said. “They were held in involuntary servitude in the labor camps of Mississippi and Texas.”

Earlier this year, the men walked away from their jobs and filed a complaint with the U.S. Justice Department.

Signal Corporation, the company the workers allege held them against their will, issued a press release calling the claims baseless and unfounded.

The workers asked for something called continued presence. That would keep them from being deported while their claims were investigated.

In October, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement arrested 23 of the Indian workers at an ethanol plant under construction near Fargo.

Their worker visas were expired and ICE said they were using false documents. The Fargo company that hired them is not under investigation.

The jailed workers case has attracted the attention of human rights advocates and members of Congress including Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison.

Ellison joined labor and religious leaders Wednesday in Minneapolis for a 24-hour fast to show support for the jailed workers.

“You know, we should go after the main movers who are the traffickers,” Ellison said.

In this particular case, the U.S. Attorney made the point these workers broke the law.

“Well the trafficker broke the law too,” Ellison said. “And if we don’t deal with the trafficker aren’t we just going to get more trafficked individuals? I think the emphasis may not be in the right place.”

Ellison said Congress passed laws to protect immigrant workers who claim they are victims of trafficking. He questions whether those protections are being adequately honored by the U.S. Justice Department.

The U.S. Attorney’s office and the federal Public Defenders office declined comment on the case.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Tim Counts also declined to comment on the case of the 23 Indian workers jailed in Fargo.

But he did agree to talk about the issue of human trafficking. Counts said last year 156 people were arrested in the U.S. on charges of human trafficking.

He said workers brought to the U.S. on temporary visas are vulnerable. Counts added that sometimes their passports are taken away, they’re forced to work long hours and told their families will be harmed if they don’t stay on the job.

Counts said human trafficking is not just a big city problem.

“One of our most significant cases happened in a small town in South Dakota where a couple had brought people in from the Philippines on temporary visas, but when they got here they were held as virtual slaves,” Counts said.

He also said that investigation can be difficult because workers often don’t understand their rights or don’t know where to go for help.

Soket Soni of the New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice said that’s one reason the case of workers jailed in Fargo is important. He said if the workers are sent to prison or deported, it will have a chilling effect on other human trafficking investigations.

“If this group of workers does not get continued presence then we believe many more workers will never come forward,” Soni said. “Because, what is the basis for trusting that the protections that congress turned into law will actually be enforced?”

Soni says the immigrant workers are only asking for enforcement of those worker protection laws already in place.

Broadcast Dates
* All Things Considered, 12/17/2008, 4:50 p.m.

FBI probes treatment of Mexican workers in La.

By JOHN MORENO GONZALES – 19 hours ago

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The FBI confirmed Wednesday it was investigating allegations that a Louisiana farmer fired shotgun blasts over Mexican guest workers’ heads, exposed them to pesticides and paid them less than minimum wage.

The abuse allegations were outlined in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday by immigrant rights organizations on the workers’ behalf.

The lawsuit accuses Charles “Bimbo” Relan, owner of Bimbo’s Best Produce, of forcing the workers to toil in strawberry fields in Amite, La., about 75 miles northwest of New Orleans. Relan also confiscated the workers passports so they would not flee, the lawsuit claims.

“We worked hunched over for hours, doing backbreaking work. He treated us like animals. We were not human beings,” said former worker J. Jesus Martinez-Hernandez, one of 13 plaintiffs.

Hours before the lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court, FBI spokeswoman Sheila Thorne said authorities were investigating possible civil rights violations in the case. She declined further comment.

Relan didn’t immediately return a telephone message seeking comment.

According to the lawsuit, Relan oversaw fieldwork carrying a shotgun and fired it over workers’ heads “on occasion.” He also shot a stray dog to death that workers had befriended, according to the lawsuit.

Relan did not spray the pesticides on workers, but in a proximity that “vapors from these pesticides came into contact with plaintiffs’ skin and mouths,” according to the lawsuit.

The Mexican workers were in the country legally under the H2A visa program, which enlist foreigners to do seasonal farm work for at least minimum wage. Immigrant rights groups have criticized the program for weak worker protections.

In February, some of the workers walked off the job without their passports, and protested near the farm with the help of immigrant rights organizers. Local television station WWL-TV covered the protest, and shot video of Relan cursing and denying the accusations. He later handed a bundle of passports to the protesters.

All the workers have left the farm. Many had been there for as long as three seasons.

Some of the men are now scattered across the South, and have received permission to stay in the country as law enforcement witnesses. Others are back in Mexico, said Saket Soni, director of the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice.

“Bimbo’s violations are egregious, but not uncommon,” said Soni, whose group helped the workers file the suit. “Thousands of guest workers across the South are subjected to severe exploitation.”

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and legal fees. It claims Relan violated the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the H-2A employment contracts of the workers.

• http://www.wwltv.com/video/news-index.html?nvid218183&she1

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT - SAKET SONI, 504 881 6610, saketsoni@hotmail.com

New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice

GUESTWORKERS SUE MAJOR LOUSIANA GROWER FOR LABOR TRAFFICKING, SLAVE-LIKE CONDITIONS

H-2A farmworkers who escaped involuntary servitude return to take employer to court for violations of federal law

Mexican guestworkers who were subjected to involuntary servitude in the strawberry fields of Louisiana from 2006 to 2008 today brought major civil litigation against their former employer, Bimbo’s Best Produce and Charles “Bimbo” Relan.

In Israel Antonio-Morales et al.  v. Bimbo’s Best Produce, the guestworkers claim that  Charles “Bimbo” Relan violated federal laws inluding those prohibiting  forced Labor; trafficking with respect to peonage, slavery, involuntary servitude, or forced labor; and subminimum wages.

The workers were recruited in Mexico to work in Louisiana on temporary H-2A visas  as strawberry pickers for Charles “Bimbo” Relan and his company, Bimbo’s Best Produce.  Upon their arrival in Amite, Louisiana, Relan illegally confiscated their passports in order to prohibit them from escaping from his fields.  He held the workers in forced labor, subjecting them to humiliation and degrading treatment.  “He treated us like animals. We were not human beings to him,” said Guestworker Plaintiff J. Jesus Martinez-Hernandez.  “We worked hunched over for hours doing backbreaking work.  If we tried to rest, he would threaten to call immigration and deport us.  And he had our passports - so we could not escape.”   Workers are members of the Alliance of Guestworkers for Dignity, a membership organization of guestworkers in the Gulf Coast and a project of the New  Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice.

The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, details how Relan “subjected [the workers] to a scheme of psychological coercion, threats of serious harm, and threatened abuse of the legal process to maintain control over them and force them to continue laboring in his strawberry fields,” and asserted that he “exploited his physical power and control and took advantage of the workers’ geographic, linguistic, and cultural isolation,” and “took advantage of the rules of the structure of the H-2A guestworker program - which renders guestworkers are completely dependent on the sponsoring employer for legal status, employment, and housing - to further coerce and threaten the guestworkers.”

“These kinds of abuses are unconscionable, but not uncommon,” said Saket Soni, Director of the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice. “Employers have consistently manipulated the U.S. guestworker program to subject workers to involuntary servitude in Louisiana and across the South.”

As detailed in the complaint, Relan made brutal and theatrical demonstrations of his power over the guestworkers, firing his shotgun over their heads, spraying them with pesticides, and physically assaulting at least one worker.  The complaint also details how Relan threatened the workers with unlawful arrest, eviction, and deportation and paid below the federal minimum wage.

“The workers wanted to escape, but felt they had no choice but to work for Relan,” said Daniel Castellanos, organizer with the Alliance of Guestworkers for Dignity.  When  members of the African American and immigrant communities of New Orleans came forward to offer workers their protection, workers escaped involuntary servitude.

Relan is also the subject of an FBI criminal investigation into human trafficking crimes, opened earlier this year after workers brought his crimes to the attention of federal authorities.  Some of the guestworkers were granted “continued presence” in the United States as cooperating witnesses to the FBI’s investigation, basic protection and legal status granted to victims of trafficking who cooperate with US federal authorities to bring their traffickers to justice.

“These guestworkers have come forward to file litigation at a time when a new administration needs to hear their message,” said Soni.  “Workers need U.S. laws enforced for their protection - and federal authorities need to go after employers like Bimbo Relan.  If change is really coming in Washington, it needs to include these workers.”

The New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice brought the litigation on behalf of the workers.  Workers’ claims also include violations of the minimum wage (FLSA); breach of contract; and battery.  Community members who assisted workers in escaping involuntary servitude included New Orleans residents Ted Quant (a longtime labor organizer and professor), Damien Ramos, and Gerald Lenoir, Director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration.

For further information about the civil litigation please contact:

Jennifer Rosenbaum, Counsel, New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice - (615) 423-0152, jjrosenbaum@gmail.com

Nov. 20, 2008

A century-and-a-half after the Emancipation Proclamation, these United States of America are still sick with the grossest kind of exploitation—slavery. We have come a long way in terms of human decency, but not nearly far enough.

The U.S. Bureau of Public Affairs defines human trafficking as “modern-day slavery, involving victims who are forced, defrauded or coerced into labor or sexual exploitation.  Annually, about 600,000 to 800,000 people—mostly women and children—are trafficked across national borders, which does not count millions trafficked within their own countries.”

On the global scale, the issue is far more severe. Slavery in Niger only officially became illegal in 2003, and even then, an estimated 8 percent still remain in bondage. The trafficking of sex slaves is even more appalling. A report by DePaul University’s International Human Rights Law Institute said an estimated 30,000 women (some as young as six) die annually from abuse, torture, neglect and disease, as a result of sexual slavery worldwide.

Sex slavery and bonded servitude may seem like opposite ends of the slavery spectrum, but slavery is slavery, no matter how you look at it. The willful exploitation of another human being should simply not be tolerated.

Signal International

Right now, 23 Indian men sit in the Cass County Jail, as a result of human exploitation. Their story began in Pascagoula, Miss. where they were employed by Signal International as welders and pipe-fitters to help in the post-Hurricane Katrina rebuilding effort.

The Cass County 23, along with a couple hundred other Indian workers, claim that they paid $20,000 to come to the United States and work for Signal International in exchange for permanent resident status. They said that the promise of a green card was not kept, and that they were given only temporary worker visas. Once could argue that a language barrier is accountable for this discrepancy, but that seems far-fetched.

The Indian men of Signal International said the living conditions were unspeakable, and that they were mistreated, abused, and threatened with deportation. Through a long and perilous series of events, including an Immigrations raid, 30-day hunger strike, and a grievance with the U.S. Department of Justice, these men ended up dispersed throughout the country.

Their visas were null and void, having left the worksite, and they remained stranded in the U.S., without money or legal status. Twenty-three of them found employment at an ethanol plant near Casselton. On Oct. 29 they were arrested by Immigrations, and have resided in the Cass County Jail ever since.

The Cass 23

India has an estimated 40 million bonded laborers within its borders. How cruel that these men should spend such a horrendous amount of cash in the name of a better life, only to be tricked and trampled on by the boot of America.

Maybe if we spent more time and effort investigating companies that utilize such questionable hiring tactics, and less time investigating the employees, we might stumble upon an important piece of the puzzle.

Men like the Cass 23 had no intention of being illegal aliens. They were promised the world, and when it didn’t pan out, they were left with no choice but to break immigration laws. Who is to blame here? Why are we spending so much time and effort incarcerating victims of human trafficking, instead of seeking out American employers who force the situation upon them?

In a 2006 report (under the direction of George W. Bush), called the Assessment of U.S. Government Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons, necessary steps to combat human trafficking are listed.

“In the September 2005 Assessment, four recommendations were made for improving the U.S. Government’s efforts to combat TIP [Trafficking in Persons]:

- The U.S. Government, its state and local partners, and nongovernmental organizations (“NGOs”) need to improve their ability to find and rescue victims.

- The U.S. Government should conduct more research to determine an accurate estimate of the scope of the trafficking problem in the United States, including both domestic and foreign victims.

- The U.S. Government should attempt to measure the impact of its anti-trafficking activities both domestically and internationally, including, for example, enhancing U.S. embassies’ abilities to monitor and evaluate anti-trafficking projects, requiring grantees to provide self-assessments of their anti-trafficking projects, and conducting more site visits.

- The U.S. Government should ensure that its Task Forces are well-functioning and should encourage states to adopt and aggressively implement their own anti-trafficking laws.

This notion of helping victims of human trafficking was apparently ill-achieved under Bush’s reign. Perhaps now, with a new, promising president, we can reach a new age of human decency. Don’t let us down, Barack.

As for the Cass 23, that is in our hands. We urge everyone to learn as much as they can about this case, and to take action. Write some senators. Stand on a soapbox. Do whatever it is you do, but do something. They stand trial on Jan. 12. If we don’t do something now, it could be too late by then.

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.”

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