3 men sentenced in Georgia forced farm labor investigation

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Three men have been sentenced to federal prison as part of a broad investigation into what authorities said was a wide-ranging conspiracy to bring workers from Central America to the United States for forced labor on south Georgia farms.

The three men were charged in separate but related cases related to a federal investigation dubbed Blooming Onion, prosecutors said in a news release. Authorities say the farm workers were brought into the U.S. on the H-2A agricultural visa program and then the men profited from their work by underpaying them and forcing them to live in substandard conditions.

“These men engaged in facilitating modern-day slavery,” U.S. Attorney David Estes said in a news release. “Our law enforcement partners have exposed an underworld of human trafficking, and we will continue to identify and bring to justice those who would exploit others whose labors provide the fuel for their greed.”

Javier Sanchez Mendoza Jr., 24, of Jesup, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in forced labor and was sentenced to serve 30 years in prison. Aurelio Medina, 42, of Brunswick, pleaded guilty to forced labor and was sentenced to five years and four months. Yordon Velazquez Victoria, 45, of Brunswick, received a sentence of 15 months after pleading guilty to conspiracy.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/immigration-business-central-america-slavery-human-trafficking-0d3234cc1f3b8380b17fe4f10fcece45

[pecosbob]

1. So how is this group any different from all the rest of the ag and livestock industries?

I guess no one in the Fortune 500 was profiting from this.

[DENVERPOPS]

3. Include

housekeeping in Rich Homes, hospitality corporations, laborers in building trades, cement workers, landscapers, The list goes on and on.......

It is estimated that TEN MILLION illegal aliens are here in the U.S. I would guess that it is a serious pool of workers for all of the above Corporations, and Uber Rich.........

In my lifetime, the Rich have always said: We can't find any Americans who will do those jobs.

And I have always said: Not for the wages what you want to pay them.

[Firestorm49]

11. Funny how they only hate immigrants when they're not

working for them.

[DENVERPOPS]

12. I would love to see ICE have a checkpoint at the gates of

several gated communities at West Palm & similar communities about noon, after all the maids, servants, ground keepers, gardeners were already at work. Then wait until the all leave for the day.....Or better yet, Mar a Lago.....

But instead they go after some piss ant little company the politicians don't care about.....

[DENVERPOPS]

2. Sounds exactly like how Trump

was staffing ALL of his "golf resorts" and Mar-a-Lago.........Seriously.

Remember when the FBI raided his one club, and found a printing machine with hundreds of blank Social Security Cards?????
And other raids found nothing but illegal Mexican and South American immigrant workers???????????

[Evolve Dammit]

6. Yes. And no indictments issued for that that I recall. Two tiered "justice."

[not fooled]

4. The reporting of this story is a joke

Where did the slaves work? Who profited?

Typical--go after the middleman while the wealthy landowners profit. I'm sure they have rigged the hiring practices so that as long as the "independent contractor" or whatever they call them does the actual hiring, the places where the slavery takes place can escape accountability. Nevertheless, the story could have named names and exposed the hypocrisy of the system. I get tired of reading stories with huge holes in coverage so that the forces driving the abuse of workers get to stay comfortably in the shadows.

[Kali]

9. my thoughts too

these guys were middlemen, who were the farm OWNERS?

[cbabe]

7. Follow the produce to the responsible corporation.

For example:

January 19, 2008

The News-Press
by Amy Bennett Williams
Fair Trade & Social Justice, Politics & Globalization
A day after one of the biggest slavery indictments in Southwest Florida history, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., visited the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and called for Senate hearings on farm conditions.

"This is not acceptable in the United States of America," Sanders said. "Consumers do not want their tomatoes picked by workers who are so grossly mistreated. We want congressional hearings so people can understand how slavery can take place here."

Sanders was joined by best-selling author Eric Schlosser ("Fast Food Nation&quot and Noelle Damico, national coordinator of the 2.3 million-member Presbyterian Church's Campaign for Fair Food. They urged Burger King to agree to a penny-per-pound rate increase for farm workers, as McDonald's and Yum! Brands (parent corporation of Taco Bell) have, following a campaign by the Coalition.

Sanders, a member of the Senate labor committee, released two letters: one to Burger King CEO John Chidsey, one to Reggie Brown, executive vice-president of Florida Tomato Growers Exchange also signed by Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio and committee chairman Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

Both letters urged participation in the rate increase, saying workers' pay has not gone up in two decades, that slavery cases have been brought successfully against people in the tomato industry and that workers' living conditions in Southwest Florida are "among the worst in the agriculture industry."

Sanders said the slavery case is just the extreme end of a spectrum of potential exploitation farm workers face.

https://www.organicconsumers.org/news/us-senators-call-pay-increase-tomato-pickers-other-farmworkers

[Baitball Blogger]

8. Deplorable. This is why they need a good

History lesson and a reminder of the consequences.

[The Jungle 1]

10. Cheating capitalism with undocumented workers is not enough anymore.

They want slaves!!!!!!
I have never understood why employers of undocumented workers are not arrested.

[CatWoman]

13. Brunswick, AGAIN

That's where the Armaud Arbery murder and trial took place.