On Thursday, recruiters at U.S.-based Global Horizons Manpower Inc. were charged with bringing 400 laborers from Thailand to the United States under false pretense and forcing them to work in deplorable conditions.
According to the federal indictment Global Horizons partnered with recruiters in Thailand to lure hundreds of workers here with promises of lucrative jobs. Once the laborers arrived, their passports were confiscated and they were threatened with deportation if they protested.
The FBI says the laborers began arriving in May 2004 and were sent to farms in Hawaii, Washington, California, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.
The indictment also states that the defendants detained a group of Thai workers at Maui Pineapple Farm, demanding an additional fee of $3,750 to keep their jobs with Global Horizons.
Those charged were 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 Thai recruiters were Ratawan Chunharutai and Podjanee Sinchai.
If convicted, all of the defendants face sentences ranging from five to 70 years in prison.
FBI Special Agent Tom Simon told the Associated Press: “In the old days, they used to keep slaves in their places with whips and chains. Today it's done with economic threats and intimidation.
The workers were brought here under the H2-A visa program which places foreign workers on U.S. farms.
Global Horizons, which is located in Beverly Hills, California, makes the following statement on their website: “Global Horizons, Inc. thinks globally and acts locally with a post-9/11-worldview, one which understands that economies cannot continue to grow and prosper without an ample, qualified and legal workforce. Too, it understands the aspirations of countless workers who dream of having better jobs in better places, but who wish to return to their country of native origin when they've completed the job. This fulfills both the economic and security needs of the host country.”
Comments
Interesting piece but the headline promises a connection between this and lax immigration laws. There is none in this piece. In fact, it speaks to law enforcement doing its job and a company that broke them. How do lax laws apply here? It would be interesting to hear those facts rather than a mere editorialized headline over a dog-bites-man story about corporate lawbreaking.
"H2-A visa program which places foreign workers on U.S. farms. " I am taking it, that this is the lax immigration law that allowed these people to get there unchecked and unsupervised, with no one looking out for them, visiting them, their living conditions, their working conditions..etc... It may not state it boldly, but I got the jist.
We do not need more economic immigrants in the U.S. we have plenty of Mexicans here.
I just hope they are all deported.
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I am more interested in the Air Jordans for $33 advertised in the comment section than this piece of crap article.
Yet you're constantly reading douchebag.
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What the hell is wrong in the head of all these "globalizers" . They have become the laughingstock of the world and show no dignity whatsoever.. You want cheap labor, get your sorry behinds and leave to the host country .. dirtbags
do you realize that the majority of those hiring cheap illegal labor are REPUBLICANS?
Why do you think republicans are never for putting employers of illegal aliens in prison? BECAUSE IT'S THEM AND THEIR BUDDIES HIRING ILLEGALS!
Dave, finish the story, please! What happened to the Thai illegals? Were they deported by DHS? No! 10 to 1 they've been allowed to remain in the U.S. as they don't have felonies on their "records".
they were stoned to death, happy now? Now you can sleep happily.
lol anonymous.... you got it backwards, it is democrat liberals who want the illegal aliens here, it is the republicans who want to stop the illegals on our borders, it is the republicans who have forced the issue, while you libtards, just let them flow in because all you see is more voters.
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