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Documented on the original SlaveryMap (2008–2016). We don’t have a verifiable source on file yet. Know one?
What happened
A federal judge in Denver recently awarded the men $7.8 million in what immigration experts described as the largest judgment of its kind in the country. That ruling came after the contractors offered no defense to charges that they deducted smuggling fees, rent and cleaning charges from the workers' paychecks and used the threat of violence to make sure the men complied. A GRAND-JURY INDICTMENT In the fall of 2004, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents began surveillance on the camp. They documented dozens of men living there in cramped, filthy conditions. But they also saw the men coming and going in their own cars, and talking on telephones. A grand jury indicted Moises and Maria Rodriguez and their son, Javier Rodriguez, on charges of harboring and transporting illegal immigrants. Federal authorities seized the property and more than $128,000 in cash. When they searched the two mobile homes near the barracks, they found two pistols and ammunition. In 2006, Moises and Maria Rodriguez each served nearly a year in jail and were then deported to Mexico. Javier Rodriguez - an American citizen - also pleaded guilty in the case and was sentenced to home detention. Family members who answered the door at his apartment in Brighton last week said he did not want to be interviewed for this story. While the workers told investigators they were being mistreated and were being held against their will - at least psychologically - federal prosecutors did not pursue charges of involuntary servitude against the Rodriguezes. The reason was simple: The surveillance tapes showed the workers coming and going, and it would have been difficult to convince a jury that they couldn't have escaped. "We have a higher burden of proof in the criminal matter than in the civil matter, and we would have to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt," said Jeffrey Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver.
Response and intervention
In a fenced-in compound on the edge of the Weld County town of Hudson, the five men lived in fear - not of the authorities, who could kick them out of the United States, but of the man who arranged to smuggle them into America, who gave them a place to live and found them jobs and who signed their paychecks, but who they said carried a gun to keep them in line. They eventually banded together, filing a federal lawsuit against Moises and Maria Rodriguez. For their cooperation, the men were granted temporary visas allowing them to stay in the United States - but they were told they could be deported once the case was concluded. The men themselves reported the incident.