Class Action Lawsuit Filed in Georgia Over Alleged H-2A Visa Farm Worker Exploitation Scheme

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A proposed human trafficking class action accuses three individuals and MBR Farms of forcing and misleading migrant farmworkers into farm labor and pine straw raking in southeastern Georgia, in particular during the 2021 blueberry harvest season. 

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The 56-page case alleges Maria Leticia Patricio, Enrique Duque Tovar, Jose Carmen Duque Tovar and MBR Farms have violated federal human trafficking, racketeering and labor laws by exploiting the H-2A visa program since at least 2015 to transport migrants to a Pearson, Georgia farm and force them to work in dangerous conditions for little to no pay while living in substandard housing and suffering ongoing abuse. 

More specifically, the alleged traffickers misrepresented to proposed class members the material terms and conditions of their employment, and have even charged the plaintiffs and other migrant farmworkers fees that have never been reimbursed, the suit claims.

According to the complaint, the defendants—who, with the exception of MBR Farms, were indicted along with numerous others in October 2021 on charges “arising out of the same scheme that gave rise to this lawsuit”—have laundered their profits from the alleged H-2A migrant worker labor scheme, including through the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tampa, Florida. 

“As a result of Traffickers’ actions, Plaintiffs and other class members suffered significant economic and psychological harm,” the filing says, alleging MRB Farms “conspired” with the individual defendants in the apparent labor exploitation scheme. 

The lawsuit describes Patricio as “the leader of a transnational criminal organization whose members and associates engaged in a variety of federal crimes in Georgia, Florida, Texas, Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala.” Her co-defendants, brothers, are alleged to have “supervised and managed” foreign workers who entered the United States under the H-2A program. The case alleges the Duque brothers confiscated or held the foreign workers’ identification documents to prevent them from leaving. 

According to the lawsuit, Patricio and the Duque brothers, along with other individuals, mailed or electronically transmitted numerous false job orders to the Georgia Department of Labor (GADOL) and H-2A petitions to the federal government in search of 70,000 foreign workers to enter the country to work for agricultural employers. This alleged “effort to exploit [workers] and cheat the federal immigration and visa laws for financial gain” began as far back as 2015 and fraudulently caused the U.S. to issue thousands of H-2A visas, the suit states.

Per the complaint, the defendants exploited proposed class members by demanding that they pay illegal and excessive fees for the chance to come to the United States on an H-2A work visa and work in the country. They also lied to the workers by falsely assuring that once they were in the U.S., they would be paid under the terms of a contract and be provided with transportation, housing and food, and that their visa, border crossing and transportation fees would be covered, the case says. 

When payday came for the workers, they were compensated in cash and without pay stubs that accurately listed their wages, hours worked, deductions or earnings, the suit alleges. 

All told, the defendants and their co-conspirators have pulled in more than $200 million from the alleged labor scheme and laundered the money through “cash purchases of land, homes, vehicles, and businesses,” and through cash-bought cashier’s checks. The defendants have also funneled millions in cash deposits through the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tampa, the case alleges. 

The lawsuit looks to cover all H-2A temporary foreign workers employed pursuant to temporary labor certifications issued to defendant Enrique Duque Tovar. 

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