According to a recently unsealed indictment revealed last week by acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia David H. Estes, 24 people conspired for three years to smuggle and coerce Mexican and Central American workers under brutal conditions to work on farms around the world including southern, central and northern regions of Georgia.
At a press conference in the Cay Building, Estes stood on a podium with federal law enforcement officers involved in solving the case. The 54-figure indictment entitled “USA v Patricio et al.” Estes called the “modern slavery”.
Operation blooming onion
After receiving a tip from a human trafficking hotline in November 2018, federal officers from Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of State diplomatic security, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation began investigations on several agricultural organizations registered under the agent Maria Leticia Patricio. Officials found that since 2015 these organizations had conspired to bring more than 100 foreign workers to the United States, exploited them and detained them in inhumane conditions. The inter-agency investigation came to a head on November 17 at 6 a.m. when 200 federal officials issued more than 20 search warrants in three jurisdictions and a dozen confiscation warrants against financial institutions.
Estes called “Operation Blooming Onion” the “largest law enforcement organization that has ever proceeded on this particular crime.”
The smuggled workers mostly worked on onion farms, digging with their bare hands and paying only 20 cents for each bucket. The conspirators forced the workers, although they earned very little, to pay for transportation, food and housing.
According to the indictment, the network of organizations took advantage of the H-2A program, which enables U.S. employers or U.S. agents who meet certain regulatory requirements to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary agricultural jobs. When the workers arrived they were referred to as “contract farm workers”.
Estes noted that the investigation could expose the fraud as part of a larger conspiracy and shed light on a bigger problem: the abuse of the H-2A program on a massive scale.
“I think this investigation has identified some things that need to be investigated,” said Estes.
In the indictment, Patricio is accused of “sending several false petitions to the United States government asking over 71,000 foreign workers to come to the United States to work for an agricultural employer, and he has those.” United States fraudulently issued thousands of H-2A visas to foreigners ”. Citizens. “
Patricio is a U.S. citizen, according to the indictment, and has served as the registered agent for 10 individual Georgia agribusinesses. With these companies now disbanded, Patricio is one of 24 conspirators charged with forced labor, which could be life-threatening in prison, and other charges, each of which could result in up to 20 years in prison, along with fines.
H2A program fraud
“There could be others [victimized by the fraud committed by the conspiring organizations under the H2A-program]”Said Este. “The investigation is ongoing.”
The 24 conspirators earned more than $ 200 million over three years from the illegal program, which laundered funds through cash purchases of land, houses, vehicles, and businesses, as well as cash purchases of cashier’s checks. Millions of dollars have been funneled through a casino. Farmers who owned land in southern Georgia District – particularly In Counties Atkinson, Bacon, Coffee, Tattnall, Toombs, and Ware – were charged with paying the conspirators to provide contract labor.
The indictment states that the conspirators threatened them with weapons, torture and deportation if a worker got out of line. The conspirators kept workers in cramped, unsanitary quarters and fenced labor camps with little or no food, limited sanitation, and no clean water. The conspirators are charged with raping, kidnapping and threatening or attempting to kill some workers or their families, and in many cases they have sold the workers to other conspirators or traded the indictment.
The conspirators tried to keep their operation going even as federal authorities approached. In late 2019, three conspirators attempted to intimidate and persuade a witness to lie to a federal grand jury and deny any knowledge of the illegal activities of the conspiratorial organizations.
“It’s very worrying,” said Estes. “Of course we have victims here. So we are very concerned about going out and making sure we can all set i and t dots and get the victims to safety as soon as possible, while at the same time continuing our investigation so that we can eventually prosecute and convict individuals . “
If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, call the human trafficking hotline at 1-888-373-7888.
Drew Favakeh is a public safety and public health reporter for Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at AFavakeh@savannahnow.com.
