Six People Charged in Human Trafficking of 400 Thai Farm Workers

You may not think slavery still exists, but in many ways it still does both inland and abroad.  A federal grand jury in Honolulu has indicted an Israeli national, three Los Angeles residents representing Global Horizons Manpower Inc., and two Thai labor recruiters for engaging in a conspiracy to commit forced labor and document servitude.

The defendants are accused of forcing the labor and services of approximately 400 Thai nationals.  The defendants allegedly brought the Thai nationals to the United States from Thailand from May 2004 through September 2005.   In that time they worked on farms across the country under the U.S. federal agricultural guest worker program.  If convicted, the defendants face between 10 and 70 years in jail.

According to the FBI, the defendants enticed the Thai nationals to come to the U.S. with false promises of lucrative jobs.  But in reality, they would force them into labor at farms in Washington and Hawaii.  The defendants arranged for the Thai workers to pay high recruitment fees, which were financed by debts secured with the workers’ family property and homes.  After arrival in the U.S., the defendants confiscated the workers’ passports and failed to honor the employment contracts.  The defendants kept the Thai nationals working by threatening to send them back to Thailand, knowing they would face serious economic harms created by the debts.