BREAKING: U.S. DOJ busts sprawling modern-day slavery operation in fields of South Georgia

Posted on by Coalition of Immokalee Workers
Officials from the U.S. Justice Department, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. State Department, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and state and local law enforcement officers speak at a news conference in Waycross, Georgia, yesterday, Monday, November 22, to announce indictments in the case of U.S. v. Patricio et al.

U.S. Department of Justice indicts the “Patricio Transnational Criminal Organization (TCO)” on felony charges of “international forced labor trafficking,” money laundering;

54-count indictment paints picture of operation’s staggering scale: 24 arrests, 71,000 farmworkers over multiple years, more than $200 million in profits;

Quotes from indictment:

  • Patricio TCO “unlawfully charged Victims 52 and 53 fees that they could not afford, confiscated their identification documents to prevent them from leaving, forced them to work in fields digging up onions with their bare hands, only paid them twenty cents for every bucket they filled with onions, and threatened them with a gun to keep them in line…”

  • “… a member of the Patricio TCO, aided and abetted by Defendant Charles Michael King, and Defendant Stanley Neal McGauley, repeatedly raped, kidnapped, and tried to kill Victim #12…”

  • “… Victim 65 died from a heat stroke when he was outside working in the fields…”

Last month, we shared breaking news of the indictment of three farm labor bosses who had brutally exploited workers in the H-2A “guestworker” visa program as part of a major modern-day slavery operation on Florida farms.

Now, with Thanksgiving just days away – a holiday when families across the U.S. gather around tables full of lovingly-prepared food in celebration of our nation’s abundant harvests – a second modern-day slavery case in as many months involving agricultural guestworkers, this time based in South Georgia, is making headlines across the country.  From the U.S. Justice Department’s press release announcing the indictment:

WAYCROSS, GA:  … The newly unsealed, 54-count indictment in USA v. Patricio et al. details felony charges resulting from Operation Blooming Onion, an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. The multi-agency investigation, led by Homeland Security Investigations and other federal agencies, spans at least three years, and the 53-page indictment documents dozens of victims of modern-day slavery while spelling out the illegal acts that brought these exploited workers into the United States and imprisoned them under inhumane conditions as contract agricultural laborers, said David H. Estes, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.

“The American dream is a powerful attraction for destitute and desperate people across the globe, and where there is need, there is greed from those who will attempt to exploit these willing workers for their own obscene profits,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Estes. “Thanks to outstanding work from our law enforcement partners, Operation Blooming Onion frees more than 100 individuals from the shackles of modern-day slavery and will hold accountable those who put them in chains…”

The press release goes on to describe the unconscionable conditions workers were forced to endure, as well as the sophisticated money laundering operation alleged to have processed over $200 million in illegal profits:

… The conspirators are accused of raping, kidnapping and threatening or attempting to kill some of the workers or their families, and in many cases sold or traded the workers to other conspirators. At least two of the workers died as a result of workplace conditions. In the Southern District of Georgia, these activities were alleged to have taken place in the counties of Atkinson, Bacon, Coffee, Tattnall, Toombs and Ware as farmers paid the conspirators to provide contract laborers.    

The conspirators are alleged to have reaped more than $200 million from the illegal scheme, laundering the funds through cash purchases of land, homes, vehicles, and businesses; through cash purchases of cashier’s checks; and by funneling millions of dollars through a casino.

U.S. vs. the Patricio Transnational Criminal Organization (TCO) once again exposes the potential for extreme exploitation at the heart of the H-2A Program (for more context on the agricultural guestworker program’s sordid history, be sure to read our recent analysis of the H-2A Program – a labor system called “the closest thing I’ve ever seen to slavery” by U.S. Congressman Charles Rangel – here.)

We will be following developments in this massive and complex case of modern-day slavery in the months ahead.  For now, we are including below some of the most appalling examples of systematic exploitation in U.S. vs. Patricio TCO, taken directly from the 53-page indictment:

THE GRAND JURY CHARGES THAT: 

Introduction:

… A transnational criminal organization (the “Patricio TCO”), whose members and associates engaged in mail fraud, international forced labor trafficking, and money laundering, among other crimes, within the Southern District of Georgia, Middle District of Georgia, Northern District of Georgia, Middle District of Florida, Southern District of Texas, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and elsewhere.

…The Patricio TCO fraudulently used the H-2A visa program to smuggle foreign nationals from Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras into the United States under the pretext of being an agriculture worker. The Patricio TCO further sought to make money by exploiting these foreign workers and then laundering the illegal proceeds…

… In an effort to exploit foreign workers and cheat the system for financial gain, from at least 2015 and continuing through the return date of this Indictment, the Patricio TCO mailed multiple false Petitions to the United States government seeking over 71,000 foreign workers to enter the United States to work for an agricultural employer, and fraudulently caused the United States to issue thousands of H-2A visas to foreign…

… The Patricio TCO exploited these foreign workers by demanding they pay unlawful fees, by holding their identification documents hostage, by requiring them to perform physically demanding work for little or no pay, by requiring them to live in crowded, unsanitary, and degrading living conditions, and by threatening them with deportation and violence.

The Patricio TCO illegally profited over $200,000,000 from this illegal scheme.

MANNER AND MEANS

… 48. It was further part of the conspiracy that if a foreign worker could not afford the unlawful fees, conspirators would unlawfully require the worker to pay back a smuggling debt, resulting in debt-bondage.

… 50.  It was further part of the conspiracy that conspirators would force the foreign workers to work in agriculture fields in the United States for little to no pay in violation of the H-2A visa

… 52. It was further part of the conspiracy that conspirators would force the foreign workers to live in crowded, unsanitary, and degrading living conditions

53. It was further part of the conspiracy that conspirators would threaten the workers with deportation or violence if the foreign workers did not pay the unlawful fees, refused to work off their illegal smuggling debt, or contacted law enforcement.

54. It was further part of the conspiracy that conspirators would use foreign workers as a work force and sell or trade workers in exchange for money to other members of the organization…

OVERT ACTS

… 63.  In furtherance of the conspiracy and to effect the objects thereof, the defendants and others both known and unknown to the Grand Jury, committed one or more of the following overt acts, among others:

… q.  In or around November 2014, members of the Patricio TCO, aided and abetted by Defendant Delia Ibarra Rojas, Defendant Donna Michelle Rojas, a/k/a Donna Lucio, Defendant Margarita Rojas Cardenas, a/k/a, Maggie Cardenas, Defendant Rodolfo Martinez Maciel, Defendant Esther Garcia, and others, unlawfully charged Victims 52 and 53 fees that they could not afford, confiscated their identification documents to prevent them from leaving, forced them to work in fields digging up onions with their bare hands, only paid them twenty cents for every bucket they filled with onions, and threatened them with a gun to keep them in line.

… u. Between on or about July 12, 2018 and July 18, 2019, Defendant Luis Alberto Martinez, a/k/a, Chino Martinez, aided and abetted by Defendant Delia Ibarra Rojas, unlawfully sold approximately thirty workers to a conspirator in Indiana for $21,481.

v.  Between on or about September 14, 2018 and November 4, 2019, a member of the Patricio TCO, aided and abetted by Defendant Charles Michael King, and Defendant Stanley Neal McGauley, repeatedly raped, kidnapped, and tried to kill Victim #12

… y. On or about June 22, 2019, Victim 65 died from a heat stroke when he was outside working in the fields for Defendant JC Longoria Castro.

z. Between in or around March 2020 and April 2020, a member of the Patricio TCO, aided and abetted by Defendant Daniel Mendoza  and Defendant Stanley Neal McGauley, kidnapped  and  threatened to kill Victims  2, 8, 9, and 10, and threatened to harm their families in Mexico.

… cc. On or about September 6, 2020, Victim 66 died when he was cleaning a Patricio TCO labor camp that did not have air conditioning.

… ff. In or around April 2021 and May 2021, Defendant Enrique Duque Tovar, Defendant Jose Carmen Duque Tovar, aided and abetted by Defendant Maria Leticia Patricio, and others, unlawfully charged Victims 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, and 50 fees they could not afford, confiscated their identification documents to prevent them from leaving, put them to work in the fields harvesting crops, forced them to live in cramped, single room trailers with little or no food and limited plumbing, forced them to sleep in the same cramped trailer with a worker contagious with measles, and threatened them with violence and deportation.

… gg. In or around April 2021, Defendant Gumara Canela, aided and abetted by Defendant Maria Leticia Patricio, and others, unlawfully charged Victims 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 63 fees they could not afford, confiscated their identification documents to prevent them from leaving, put them to work in the fields harvesting crops, forced them to live in cramped, dirty trailers with raw sewage leaking into the trailers, threatened them with deportation, and detained them in a work camp surrounded by an electric fence.

hh. On or about April 19, 2021, Victims 15 and 16 escaped from Defendant Gumara Canela’s work camp with an electric fence. After their escape, Victims 15 and 16 hid in the woods and were rescued by federal agents.

Read the full indictment here.