Three defendants involved in a H-2A visa worker labor trafficking scheme, called “modern-day slavery” by prosecutors, have been sentenced, bringing the case to a close.
Late last week, the Department of Justice announced sentences against 48-year-old Margarita Rojas Cardenas, 61-year-old Nery Rene Carrillo-Najarro, and 44-year-old Brett Donavan Bussey for their involvement in a labor trafficking operation out of Georgia, primarily run by illegal aliens.
“Federal labor programs are not a playground for criminals. Let these sentencings send a clear message: if you exploit workers, commit fraud, launder money, or abuse programs designed to help people, my office will find you and hold you accountable,” Labor Department Inspector General (IG) Anthony D’Esposito said:
This scheme preyed on vulnerable individuals and corrupted a lawful worker program for illegal profit. Alongside our law enforcement partners, we will continue rooting out fraud, protecting American workers, and ensuring bad actors face the full weight of justice. [Emphasis added]
Cardenas was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison, while Carrillo-Najarro received 40 months in prison and Bussey received 10 months in prison for their roles in the scheme.
According to prosecutors, the Patricio transnational criminal organization (TCO) — named after its matriarch, Maria Leticia Patricio — operated a massive forced-labor trafficking scheme dating back to 2015 that used the H-2A visa program to traffic foreign workers from Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras into farm jobs in Georgia.
The H-2A visa program allows farms to bring an unlimited number of foreign workers to the United States every year to take American agricultural jobs. The program is rife with abuse and fraud, with companies using it to import cheaper, more compliant foreign workers.
According to prosecutors, the Patricio TCO raked in more than $200 million from the forced labor trafficking scheme. As part of the scheme, the group sought to traffic more than 71,000 foreign workers to the U.S. using the H-2A visa program.
The Patricio TCO would secure H-2A visas for foreign workers, demand they pay them unlawful fees by keeping their immigration paperwork from them, require them to work in harsh conditions for little-to-no pay, make them reside in brutal living conditions, and would threaten them with deportation if they disobeyed orders.
In some cases, the indictment states, the trafficked foreign workers were required to dig onions in Georgia farms with their bare hands and were paid only 20 cents for each bucket harvested, all while being threatened with violence.
The various Georgia farms that contracted the trafficked foreign workers reside in Atkinson County, Bacon County, Coffee County, Tattnall County, Toombs County, and Ware County.
Members of the Patricio TCO laundered their millions in profits from the scheme through home and land purchases, cars, businesses, and casinos, the indictment alleges. Over the course of the investigation, prosecutors said three members attempted to intimidate witnesses to lie to a federal grand jury.
“This case is an outstanding example of the extensive collaboration with our partner government agencies, which led to these convictions,” U.S. Attorney Margaret Heap said. “The work carried out by these professionals has had a direct impact in protecting vulnerable people and preserving the American dream for those who pursue it.”
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected].
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