Global Horizons Denies Human Trafficking Allegations
The FBI calls its case against Global Horizons, a labor recruiting company that brings Thais into the U.S. to work as farmhands, the largest human-trafficking case in U.S. history. The workers labored in Hawaii and on the Mainland. Global's head, Mordechai Orian, an Israeli, is behind bars on Oahu awaiting trial.
Global Horizons says that the worker accusations are motivated by green cards and living on the government dole. The workers themselves are not interviewed, but their advocate, Chanchanit "Chancee" Martorell, executive director of the Thai Community Development Center in Los Angeles, portrays the workers, who come from a country that is corrupt from top to bottom, as ignorant naifs who had no idea that they were going to wind up with a path to U.S. citizenship and government payments because of their accusations.
The above linked article says that expat executives aren't worried about the corruption in Thailand affecting them. This writer remembers back to the 1980s when a top executive of a large and prosperous American company responded to my question about expanding to other Asian countries to follow up on their outstanding success in Japan, which was experiencing a boom at the time. The executive said that the company had chosen Thailand to expand into, subsequently lost a ton of money there and withdrew from the country. He emphatically remarked, "They saw us coming! They saw us coming!" (Yes, he said it more than once, with feeling.)
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The Garden Island
by Léo Azambuja
A labor-recruiting company at the heart of what the FBI calls the largest human-trafficking case in U.S. history has denied allegations of exploiting hundreds of workers imported from Thailand to work on farms on Kaua‘i, throughout the state and on the Mainland.
As the criminal case against Global Horizons Manpower Inc. heads to trial in a couple months, more lawsuits may stack up.
The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission made a determination finding Global Horizons and farms across the U.S. guilty of violating workers’ civil rights and discriminating against them based on their nationality, said Chanchanit “Chancee” Martorell, executive director at the Thai Community Development Center, based in Los Angeles.
The Thai CDC helped 263 Thai workers file complaints with the EEOC, including several against Kaua‘i Coffee. Martorell said the EEOC will be demanding $3.5 million in compensation. If Global Horizons and the farms do not agree to pay up, the EEOC will take them to court, Martorell said.
Read more . . .
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Links:
Thailand as corrupt as ever [Personal Thailand]
The road to corruption in Thailand [UPI Asia]
Thai Widespread Scams Aimed at First Time Visitors [Flickr]
Corruption in Thailand [Travelfish]
Farmers Vulnerable to False Charges of Human Trafficking [HPI]
Israeli says not guilty of 'largest human trafficking case in U.S. history' [Haaretz] (Israel publication)
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