Six Accused of Human Trafficking in U.S.

(AP)  Six recruiters were accused of luring 400 laborers from Thailand to the United States and forcing them to work, according to a federal indictment Thursday that the FBI called the largest human trafficking case ever charged in U.S. history.

The indictment alleges that the scheme was orchestrated by four employees of labor recruiting company Global Horizons Manpower Inc. and two Thailand-based recruiters. It said the recruiters lured the workers with false promises of lucrative jobs, then confiscated their passports, failed to honor their employment contracts and threatened to deport them.

Once the Thai laborers arrived in the United States starting in May 2004, they were put to work and have since been sent to sites in states including Hawaii, Washington, California, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah, according to attorneys and advocates.

Many laborers were initially taken to farms in Hawaii and Washington, where work conditions were the worst, said Chancee Martorell, executive director for the Los Angeles-based Thai Community Development Center, which represents 263 Thai workers who were brought to the U.S. by Global Horizons.

A woman who answered the phone at Global Horizons' Los Angeles office refused to take a message seeking comment Thursday.

The six defendants include Global Horizons President and CEO Mordechai Orian, 45; Director of International Relations Pranee Tubchumpol, 44; Hawaii regional supervisor Shane Germann, 41; and onsite field supervisor Sam Wongsesanit, 39. The Thailand recruiters were identified as Ratawan Chunharutai and Podjanee Sinchai.

They face maximum sentences ranging from 10 years to 70 years in prison, according to the Department of Justice.

Orian wasn't home when the FBI attempted to arrest him in Los Angeles on Thursday, and his surrender is being negotiated, said FBI Special Agent Tom Simon.

Two were arrested Thursday morning in Los Angeles and Fargo, N.D., said Simon. Another Global Horizons employee was expected to turn himself in, and the United States will work with Thailand's government to apprehend the remaining two suspects.

"There are more people living in forced labor today than when President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. As long as this is true, the FBI will continue to pursue organizations and individuals involved in human trafficking," Simon said.

Honolulu immigration attorney Melissa Vincenty said the indictment against Global Horizons is a major blow to labor trafficking nationwide.

"Global was the big fish in all of this. It's a pretty big case, with hundreds and hundreds of workers," said Vincenty, who represents 56 of the Thai laborers. "They're all over the United States."

[wyodutch]

Someone said... "But now who is going to pick our fruit and vegetables?"
.
It's pathetic, that some people are so cheap, they would sacrifice our national identity for a head of lettuce.

[alancontact]

But now who is going to pick our fruit and vegetables?

[wyodutch]

Here's the FACTS:
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1. The average farm worker makes $9.06 an hour, compared to $16.75 for non-farm production workers.
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2. The average American household spends only about $1 a day on fresh fruits and vegetables.
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3. Labor costs comprise only 6 percent of the price consumers pay for fresh produce. Thus, if farm wages were allowed to rise 40 percent, and if all the costs were passed on to consumers, the cost to the average household would be only about $8 a year.
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4. Mechanization could offset higher labor costs. After the Bracero Mexican guestworker program ended in the mid-1960s, farm worker wages rose 40 percent, but consumer prices rose relatively little because the mechanization of some crops dramatically increased productivity.

[magnumdr]

This is a big problem. Our Government had better start enforcing our border laws better. This problem all is about money. If this keeps on happening the USA will become a third world Country, there will be poverty everywhere and there will be no middle class of people here. There will be only the rich and the poor, think about this? It can happen.

[alancontact]

You don't have a clue.

[addnarm]

its people like you that make this hell on earth.

[nmfaxman]

Turn them into slaves to pay their victims back.
Eye for an eye.