A federal indictment charging 24 individuals with human trafficking in relation to unauthorized workers in Georgia is the first under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) new labor exploitation program.
The program, headed by ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), is a shift in focus towards employers who exploit non-citizens through fear of being deported, a Nov, 29 release by ICE said. This includes submitting employees to dangerous conditions, charging exorbitant fees for basic food and shelter, and providing little or no pay for work.
"Unauthorized workers should never be afraid to report unlawful labor practices such as substandard wages, unsafe working conditions, and other forms of worker exploitation,” Acting HSI Executive Associate Director Steve Francis said in the release.
The indictment detailed the charges against the 24 individuals and described brutal conditions on several Georgia farms.
“Exploitation of the workers included being required to dig onions with their bare hands, paid 20 cents for each bucket harvested, and threatened with guns and violence to keep them in line,” the release said. “The workers were held in cramped, unsanitary quarters and fenced work camps with little or no food, limited plumbing and without safe water. The conspirators are accused of raping, kidnapping and threatening or attempting to kill some of the workers or their families, and in many cases sold or traded the workers to other conspirators. At least two of the workers died as a result of workplace conditions.”
The charges result from Operation Blooming Onion, an investigation by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), the release said.
“By focusing on exploitative employers, HSI is protecting the American labor market, the conditions of our country's workplaces, and the dignity of the individual workers,” Francis said.
