Enrique Balcazar, 37, and Elizabeth Balcazar, 21, operators of Balcazar Nature Harvesting, LLC (BNH), were sentenced in Federal court for using the H-2A agricultural visa program to import forced labor. Enrique received 40 months in prison along with fines, and his daughter received time served and fines. BNH was fined approximately $508,000 in restitution to … Continued
Mauritson Farms, a winery, settled with the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) and 21 alien farmworkers for retaliation. The aliens had the audacity to complain to their boss about unfair wages and unsafe working conditions. After working for three years at the winery, the aliens met with Cameron Mauritson, manager at the winery, and … Continued
If it was not clear yet, the H-2A program is having a slavery moment. First Pick Farms LLC is accused of trafficking foreign workers to their Michigan blueberry farm and using threats of force to coerce them to work. The foreign workers were brought to the United States to work in North Carolina. One night, … Continued
By Jared Culver
Modern slavery continues in the United States as the border crisis is exposed as the current slave trade pipeline. A Georgia couple, Efrain Gonzalez, 40, and Estella Gonzalez, 34, were indicted on 16 counts, including labor trafficking conspiracy, forced labor, and alien smuggling. The couple forced foreign victims to work at two restaurants. For all … Continued
Another day, another story of slavery in the American immigration system. Here, MBR Farms is alleged by class plaintiffs to have been using the legal H-2A program for agricultural workers as their personal trafficking pipeline. MBR Farms owners and operators have been indicted for labor trafficking and an assortment of other crimes, as well. The … Continued
The casualties in the raging war on workers keep piling up. The latest slavery example comes from Beantown where the owner of Stash’s Pizza was arrested for forced labor by illegal immigrants. The allegations in this case are horrific and include actual violence, threat of violence, and wage theft, to force people to work for … Continued
Here we go again…again. Maybe you thought indentured servitude and forced labor were only found in the agricultural sector of our immigration system, but now we have a nurse filing a lawsuit and seeking a class action certification against her employer. This employer is Health Care Facility Management which is doing business and known as … Continued
Second verse, same as the first. H-2A agricultural workers from Mexico are suing their domestic employers for unpaid wages. Allegations include failure to reimburse for the costs of obtaining their visas (as had been promised), the promised wage rate in their contract not matching what they were actually paid, and failure to pay overtime. Additionally, … Continued
Winter has been coming for many executive actions that occurred during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and the cruel cold winds of judicial review have reached Title 42, the vehicle used to quickly expel migrants from Canada and Mexico due to risk of Covid spread. Senior District Judge Emmet Sullivan rejected government claims of … Continued
