https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... orgia.html
In the US, some employers/corporations have recently been caught abusing temporary guest workers within the H-2A Visa program. Americans can't be found to do the work or don't want to- so people from Mexico or central America are relied upon for agriculture more often than not. Some are rumored to have been forced to dig for onions with their bare hands under threat of gun violence and confined to work camps with electric fences. With more limited access to food and potable water. Earning just 20 cents for each bucket harvested. 2 people died on the job during the 3 years this was investigated.
Many victims in question were charged unlawful fees for transportation, food, and housing. On top of not getting paid what they were promised, it'd appear they were billed for the privilege of staying. Beyond agriculture, they were used for lawn care, construction, and repair tasks. The employers confiscated their passports/documentation as leverage to deter them from wanting to escape. Around $200 million was made from this slavery operation.
Thoughts on these developments? Was it predictable or even inevitable that some corporation or other individuals would be there willing to exploit desperate people to entrap them even further into bad circumstances? Is there a problem with the H-2A framework itself, such that it needs to be abolished/changed for something better?
Under the current status quo, people participating in the H-2A program have to remain employed by the employer that sponsored them to keep legal status with regards to their immigration. A major flaw is that H-2A employees can't just quit or leave for another employer if they'll get deported. So employers that sponsor migrant workers appear to have more free reign to do whatever they want or will with them.
