Updated 2:45 p.m., Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Hawaii has been in the national news lately with news stories that allege farm workers to be in slave-like conditions. Not mentioned is the high motivation the workers often have to allege abuse and make it stick so that they may be granted legal status to live and work here.
Recent high-profile federal cases in Hawaii alleging abuse of immigrant farm workers are causing some worry for local farms that rely on foreign labor." — Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Farm owners should be concerned. If a worker's visa is about to expire, or the worker is here illegally, the word has gotten around in their circles that an allegation of human trafficking that gets into the legal system will gain them permission to live and work in the U.S., a green card in the not-too-distant future and a path to citizenship. Their spouses and children will also be allowed to join them in the U.S.
There's even pressure put on the employer to pay the workers extra "compensation," such as the Sou brothers paying their 24 worker accusers $8,000 each, a total of $192,000. According to Hawaii Reporter, the workers haven't actually received the money yet, although the Sous paid it some time ago. One of the Sou attorneys said in court last week that the brothers needed that money to defend themselves and requested immediate restitution, but it was not granted, at least not immediately.
Are these high payments benevolently meant as just compensation to put-upon workers who are usually pictured as ignorant babes in the woods? Or is it a calculated move by prosecutors or worker advocates to strip defendants of the money and will to fight the charges?
It's hard to imagine farmers or anyone else who employs foreign workers here illegally or on temporary visas feeling secure under these circumstances, unless they are ignorant of their vulnerability and what their workers may be capable of.
Links:
Local farms in labor bind [Honolulu Star-Advertiser]
Sou Brothers Plea Agreement Rejected by Judge [HPI]
The Sting — 2010 [HPI] Dr. Kioni Dudley explains why and how the former Aloun Farms Thai workers carried out a sting on the government and brothers Mike and Alec Sou, owners of Aloun Farms
T Visas [U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services]
T Visa [Wikipedia]
Unsubstantiated Abuse Claims Quickest Way to Green Card: Loophole to Quick U.S. Citizenship [Immigration Fraud]
U.S. citizens victimized by foreign national spouses who falsely charge abuse so that they can stay in the U.S. [Voice of American Immigration Fraud Victims]
T-Visa Laws and Trafficking "A T-visa gives temporary non-immigrant status to victims of 'severe forms of human trafficking' on the condition that they help law enforcement officials investigate and prosecute crimes related to human trafficking." [WomensLaw]
Poland 'exploiting Thai farm workers' [Bangkok Post] Farm worker advocate wants to force firms to pay 'compensation' to the 'victims'
