New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Million Express Manpower Inc. recruited 22 Thai workers from Bangkok to work in the agriculture industry in the United States promising them H2A Visas, three years worth of work, and travel/living expenses. The recruiters required each worker to pay up to $11,000 in fees and confiscated their passports and tickets as collateral for payment. Upon arriving in the United State they were forced to work on Howell Farms in North Carolina until they were relocated to New Orleans. In New Orleans they worked on renovating hotels destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The trafficking victims were forced to live in the dilapidated hotels while they were renovating them.
Location
United States · New Orleans, Louisiana · 2008 (location generalized to protect survivors)
Response & intervention
No criminal charges have been filed against the traffickers
Hector Linares of the Southern Poverty Law Center and Lori Elmer a Legal Aid for North Carolina's Farm Worker Unit. A civil lawsuit has been filed on behalf of the Thai workers, who have also received T-Visas.
See intervention
Southern Poverty Law Center North Carolina's Farm Worker Unit
Documented on the original SlaveryMap (2008–2016). We don't have a verifiable source on file yet — use “Report a problem” below to add one.