The following article is significant in that it cites the the 2000 law that
protects individuals from slavelike working conditions. More recently, the
Protecting Victims of Trafficking Act was re-authorized in 2002 and the question
has often been to what extent does the law protect and encourage MSFWs that find
themselves in slavelike conditions to come forward. From the article below we
see that at least in the state of New York the federal law was used to both
encourage the victims to come forward as well as prosecute the perpetrators.
This is the classic case where MSFWs are provided with transportation across the
country and then told that they must work and pay off the cost of
transportation, housing, etc to the new employer until the debt is paid off. It
is not clear in the article if an offer of citizenship was made by the
government to the encourage victims to come forward, but it certainly does set a
precedence for protection under the trafficking laws for MSFWs that find
themselves working under slavelike conditions.
Four sentenced in migrant worker scam- The Associated Press
Illegals came forward to report conditions
BY CAROLYN THOMPSON
BUFFALO - A farm labor contractor accused of recruiting undocumented Mexicans to
western New York farms and forcing them to work for little or no pay was
sentenced Thursday to nearly four years in prison.
Maria Garcia's husband and two sons also were sentenced in a case that began
when some of the workers escaped the family's control and sought help.
Prosecutors said Garcia, 54, and her son Elias Botello, 29, would approach young
illegal aliens near the Arizona border and promise them good pay in return for
work picking produce. The family is from Mission, Texas.
The workers described being driven in the back of a van with blacked-out windows
for three days to labor camps in Albion and Kendall and told they were not free
to leave until they paid off enormous debts.
The indictments, returned in 2002, were among the first in the state brought
under a 2000 federal law that protects illegal aliens from slavelike working
conditions.
"We were fortunate because the victims, who were themselves illegal aliens,
actually came forward," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Gretchen Wylegala.
Victims are often fearful of having their illegal status discovered, she said.
In a plea agreement last December, Garcia admitted to one count of forced labor
in exchange for a 46-month sentence. Botello, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy
to commit forced labor, was sentenced to 37 months.
Another son, Jose J. Garcia, received a 14-month term for alien harboring and
her husband, Jose I. Garcia, was given one year of probation on the same charge.
"The Garcias are a hardworking family of American citizens who admitted a very
narrow set of facts and are strong and proud and will move on with their lives,"
said public defender Timothy Hoover.
Hoover accused the government of granting some of the Garcias' accusers U.S.
citizenship in exchange for their cooperation.
"The U.S. taxpayers are subsidizing benefits being given to these illegal
aliens, many of whom continue to break the law," he said. "That's not anything
we can control but it's something the taxpayers should be concerned about."
The Garcias - along with several growers from Genesee and Orleans counties who
relied on the family for workers - are named in a related civil suit seeking
back wages for the workers.
"The law says employers are responsible for assuring that the workers receive
their wages . . . Our position is the growers really turned a blind eye to what
was happening," said Daniel Werner, who represents 10 former workers in the
class action suit.
An attorney for the farmers said they, too, are victims.
"They really are good, upstanding growers who are leaders of their communities,"
attorney Christine Cooper said. "They can't believe they're even attached to
this."
Papers filed in the criminal case indicate the workers were told they owed the
Garcias $1,000 to $1,800 for transportation to New York, as well as additional
money for food, housing, electricity and daily rides to the fields. As many as
50 workers were packed into housing built for no more than 20.
Maria Garcia, the papers indicate, cashed their checks and deducted what she
said she was owed.
"The workers were confined in unsanitary and overcrowded housing located in
isolated, rural areas, and were subjected to verbal abuse, threats and guards to
prevent the workers from leaving, all in order to maintain a cheap and compliant
work force," the documents said.


John Ruiz
Assistant Director, Systems Development and Policy Administration
Migrant Health Coordinator
National Association of Community Health Centers, Inc.
7200 Wisconsin Avenue Suite 210
Bethesda, MD 20814
(301) 347-0442
(301) 347-0459 FAX
(202) 365-0154 Cell Phone
jruiz@...
www.nachc.com


"Youth is the gift of nature but age is a work of art."
- Garson Kanin

Mark your calendar now for the NACHC CHI in Miami, Florida. Watch NACHC website
at www.nachc.com for further program and registration information as it becomes
available.