Forced Labor2023
Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 2023
United States
Motel manager manipulated young woman's homelessness addiction and custody issues to compel hotel housekeeping labor and sexual compliance Accused: Georgia motel manager.
1 source
The data
Documented cases
Every case on SlaveryMap, drawn from public sources and shown with its location deliberately generalized to protect survivors.
1,631documented cases
112countries
1981–2025years covered
631 of 1,631 cite a source · Updated
Forced Labor
Matching cases
Showing 1–24 of 63
Forced Labor2023
Fresno, California, United States, 2023
United States US
H-2A farmworkers employed by Rancho Nuevo Harvesting in California, including Fresno County, experienced violations involving substandard housing, inadequate or spoiled food, unsafe transportation, failure to pay required transportation and subsistence costs, and failure to meet the H-2A three-fourths pay guarantee.
1 source
Forced Labor2023
Seattle, Washington, United States, 2023
United States
Micronesian couple brought an 18-year-old relative to the US with promises of education, then forced her into domestic servitude and hard labor while withholding her documents. Accused: Edk Kenit and Choimina Lukas of Longview, Washington.
1 source
Forced Labor2023
Stockton, California, United States, 2023
United States
A couple hired workers from India through false job ads promising good wages, then forced them into unpaid domestic labor in their home, physically abusing them and threatening consequences if they tried to leave. Accused: Satish Kartan and Sharmistha Barai of Stockton, California.
1 source
Forced Labor2022
West Palm Beach, Florida, United States, 2022
United States
Farm labor contractor ran criminal enterprise compelling Mexican H-2A workers into forced labor across five states Accused: Owner of farm labor contracting company.
1 source
Forced Labor2019
Cicero, Illinois, United States, 2019
United States US
From 2009 to 2019, a woman in Cicero, Illinois, helped at least ten undocumented Guatemalan immigrants enter the US illegally, then forced them to work to pay off debts she demanded, threatening them with deportation and separation from their children.
1 source
Forced Labor2017
West Palm Beach, Florida, United States, 2017
United States US
A Cuban man living in Palm Beach County smuggled three Cuban women into the US through Mexico in 2016 and 2017, then forced them to work in Palm Beach County strip clubs to pay smuggling debts of more than $10,000 to $26,000. He beat the women and threatened them and their families.
1 source
Forced Labor2015
New York, New York, United States, 2015
United States
Nail salon workers earning as little as $3/hour. Immigration documents held threatened with deportation Accused: Salon owners operating chain.
1 source
Forced Labor2011
Century City, California, United States, 2011
United States US
Although the FBI had been investigating Global Horizons for a number of years, when an arrest warrant was served on Orian, it appeared to come as a surprise. Although he was on a business trip to Texas when federal agents descended on his Malibu home, his wife said they handcuffed her and by her account acted aggressively without any justification. Orian denies all the allegations against him, and expressed hope that he would be released on bond by Wednesday, despite a prosecution request that he be held until the end of legal proceedings. Orian was formally charged on Sep. 1 in what federal officials described as the biggest human-trafficking case ever brought by the U.S. government. On Sep. 2, Orian "deceived and evaded federal FBI agents for approximately 24 hours by providing sporadic misleading and conflicting information concerning his location, willingness to surrender in Dallas, and failing to report," government lawyers stated in documents filed with the federal court. They further charged that Orian "flew to Hawaii on another flight to avoid contact with federal agents at the airport." Today Orian is sitting in a Honolulu jail awaiting Judge Leslie Kobayashi's decision on a government request to deny Orian's release on one million dollars bail secured on his exclusive West Moonshadows Drive home in Malibu. Susan Cushman, assistant U.S. attorney for Hawaii, has filed documents stating that Orian is a flight risk, noting that he had used 26 different aliases and four different Social Security numbers in the past. Multiple Court Cases Cushman's request to keep Orian locked up until trial also described numerous violations of the law, according to a filing delivered to the Honolulu court on Sep. 9. Cushman provided the court with a copy of a 2003 report, "Migrant Workers in Israel - A Contemporary Form of Slavery," published by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network and the International Federation for Human Rights. It states that Orian, an Israeli national, took 3,000 dollars from each of 19 Chinese workers for the "privilege" of working in Israel for two years. "By the end of February Mr. Orian owed each of the workers between 2-3 months wages," the report concluded. "Instead of paying the workers, he sent ten armed guards to surprise the workers in their sleep, beat them and drive them to the airport, where they were forcibly deported." In another document filed by Cushman, U.S. Department of Labour Judge William Dorsey concluded on Nov. 30, 2006 that Global Horizons Manpower, Inc. had "willfully and fraudulently represented it had contracts with Taft Farms" in Bakersfield, California to obtain temporary work visas for more than 200 workers between Aug. 1, 2003 and Apr. 30, 2004. Dorsey found that the company had neither a contract nor jobs for the 200 workers. Unable to find them paid employment, Global Horizons fired the workers "for poor performance, when in fact, they were terminated for lack of work," Dorsey wrote in his final decision. He ordered that Orian be barred for three years from bringing guest workers into the U.S. On Sep. 7, 2007, Philipda Modrakee, a U.S. Department of Labour investigator, filed a report on 156 Global Horizons workers employed at the Maui Pineapple Farm in Hawaii. Modrakee estimated that Global Horizons owed 459,256 dollars in fines for failure to pay wages at the minimum rate and on time, for illegally deducting money from the workers' paycheques for housing, and for failing to provide them with transportation to their work sites.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Forced Labor2011
Dorchester, Massachusetts, United States, 2011
United States US
The trafficker compelled two girls, a 15 year-old and a 16 year-old, into prostitution – and he collected the profits that resulted. The trafficker allegedly used his cellphone to take pictures of the two girls and then posted the images on the website, backpage.com, in an advertisement offering sex with the girls in return for a fee. The Trafficker allegedly drove the girls to hotels and motels in Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk counties where they engaged in sex with johns who had arranged a meeting through the trafficker using the telephone or email. The trafficker also allegedly had sex with the 15-year-old girl several times, prosecutors alleged.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Forced Labor2011
Evans, Georgia, United States, 2011
United States US
A Georgia couple accused of harboring illegal aliens for commercial advantage and then laundering the proceeds was arrested November 2011 following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Criminal Investigations Division and the Columbia County Sheriff's Office. An alleged scheme involving more than $400,000 earned by an Evans couple through the use of illegal immigrants brought the husband and wife before a federal judge Monday. Hugo Diaz, 43, and Blanca Miranda de Diaz, 42, of Evans, Ga., appeared in federal court after being indicted by a federal grand jury. The indictment also charges four of the illegal aliens with unlawful entry into the United States. The indictment charges Hugo and Blanca Diaz with four counts of harboring illegal aliens and one count of money laundering conspiracy. Hugo is also charged with 10 counts of money laundering. Each of these crimes carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of proceeds from Diaz's crimes, including multiple parcels of real estate in Georgia and South Carolina, as well as 10 vehicles. The indictment says the couple sheltered the immigrants, then used five Suntrust bank accounts to spend the illegally gained money. That earned them one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and nine counts of money laundering. Authorities did not say if the illegal imigrants worked for Diaz, who owns De La Fuente construction in Grovetown, according to the Better Business Bureau. One of the transactions listed in the indictment include a wire transfer to someone in Mexico with the last name Diaz De La Fuente. Other transactions include a $173,380 over-the-counter withdrawal to an Augusta law firm handling a real estate transaction and a $50,000 over-the-counter withdrawal for a pool company. The indictment includes a forfeiture list of property the U.S. government intends to seize as alleged gains from the conspiracy. Those properties listed are one on Grace Avenue, two Augusta homes on the 2900 block of Aylesbury Drive and 100 block of Clark Street, and several lots in the Green Acres subdivision on Metz Drive in North Augusta. Ten vehicles, including a 2008 Lexus sedan, several pickup trucks and 15-passenger van, are also on the forfiture list. The defendants went before U.S. Magistrate Leon Barfield, who explained through an interpreter their legal rights and the charges they faced. All the defendants pled not guilty; they will remain in federal custody pending a case resolution. The Diaz couple face up to 10 years in prison for each count of the indictment.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Forced Labor2011
Kansas City, United States, 2011
United States US
Abrorkhodja Askarkhodjaev, 32, from Uzbekistan pleaded guilty in October to four charges. He contended his marriage to an Independence woman had been real, and not a sham engineered to win him a permanent U.S. residency card. The woman testified that she married him in exchange for $5,000 and never consummated the relationship. She later pleaded guilty to a federal marriage fraud charge. Askarkhodjaev brought more than 1,000 foreign laborers to the Kansas City area by fraudulently manipulating a complex work visa program. He and his co-conspirators negotiated contracts with some of Kansas City’s finest hotels and resorts to put those laborers to work. Watching his pennies, he larded fees for uniforms, housing and transportation onto his workers’ paychecks and had some of them working for less than $1 per hour. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Ortrie Smith ordered that he be deported when his sentence is completed. Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/05/09/2863391/12-year-sentence-handed-down-in.html#ixzz1M3qqKaXJ Askarkhodjaev managed a scheme that lured foreign workers to Kansas City with promises of good jobs in hotels and other service industries. Prosecutors say more than 1,000 workers were instead treated as slaves, warned that their temporary visas could be pulled and suffered threats of harm to their families. The workers, mainly from the Philippines, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, paid thousands of dollars to Giant Labor to come to the U.S. with temporary visas. But once they arrived, they lived in small, sparsely furnished apartments, had no access to their mail and were charged so many fees that they sometimes owed the company money. The enterprise illegally made more than $6 million, prosecutors said. Eleven other people were charged in the case, which prosecutors say was one of the largest labor racketeering schemes ever uncovered in the U.S. According to the indictment, Askarkhodjaev owned and operated a labor leasing company, Giant Labor Solutions, at 607 Westport Road in Kansas City. Through Giant Labor and a dozen other businesses that he associated with or controlled as part of the criminal enterprise, Askarkhodjaev secured fraudulent labor leasing contracts from clients in the hotel/resort, casino, and construction industries in Missouri, Kansas, Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, South Carolina and Wyoming. The criminal enterprise allegedly used illegal aliens as part of its workforce to fulfill labor contracts for housekeeping, cleaning services and other duties. Giant Labor’s workforce was predominately comprised of foreign nationals, the indictment says, who either entered the United States illegally, overstayed their visas, or did not have legal authorization to reside or work in their specific locations within the United States during their term of employment. http://kansascity.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/kc052709.htm
5 sourcesArchive 2008–2016
Forced Labor2010
Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 2010
United States US
The following news story from the AJC provides the story, Atlanta News 4:10 p.m. Thursday, March Man arrested on sex trafficking charges By Kristi E. Swartz The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Federal agents have arrested a 25-year-old Louisiana man accused of taking minors from Atlanta to Birmingham for prostitution. More Atlanta/Fulton news » * Rainy Sunday on the way * Civil rights icon in hospital * Murder-suicide possible cause of deaths of former state Sen. Schaefer and husband * Four indicted on tuition reimbursement scheme * Atlanta/South Fulton * North Fulton Dmarcus Antwain Ward, 25, of Minden, La., was indicted on charges of sex trafficking of minors and transporting them for the purposes of prostitution, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. Ward was indicted last week before a federal grand jury in Atlanta. Ward is accused of taking two minors to Birmingham and back to Atlanta – between Sept. 2009 and Nov. 7, 2009 – to have them engage in prostitution in both cities, according to U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “We are committed to aggressively prosecuting anyone who exploits children through sex trafficking,” Yates said Thursday. The sex trafficking charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. The transportation charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Each count also carries a fine of up to $250,000. The FBI has formed the Metro Atlanta Child Exploitation Task Force in efforts to stop human trafficking in the area.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Forced Labor2010
Hawaii, United States, 2010
United States US
News story below: http://www.khon2.com/mostpopular/story/Owners-of-Aloun-Farm-Indicted-on-Human/F0B-S_6AlU6b95Op_qDHBg.cspx * o Developing Stories o Earthquake in Haiti o First Video o Hawaii News o Wake Up 2day o National News o World Report o Business News o Government News o Education News o Health News o Entertainment News o Action Line o Product Recalls o News Tips o Slideshows o Most Popular o Odd News Side Navigation * News o 2010 Winter Olympics NEW! o Developing Stories o Earthquake in Haiti o Hawaii News o Wake Up 2day o World Report * KHON2 Alerts o Mobile Local News o SMS Alerts o Weather Alerts o Email Alerts * Marketplace o Contests o Find a Job o Lifestyle Guides o Travel Deals * Features o Akamai Living o Be Green 2 o Elderhood Project o In Sickness & In Health o Lokahi Project * Only on KHON2 o Action Line o Dollars and Sense o Hawaii's Most Wanted o Hawaii's Kitchen o Love Your Pet o Navy News o Ron's Resolution NEW! o Supergeeks * Community o Community Calendar o KHON2 on Facebook o KHON2 on Twitter o Site Comments o User Content * Games o Jeopardy! o Mahjong o Fruity Flip Flop o Thunder Alley o Connect Four * Programming o FOX on Demand o CW o Wheel Of Fortune o Oprah o Dr. Phil o Regis and Kelly * Inside KHON2 o News Tips o Talent Profiles o Employment o Order a News Story o Advertise on KHON2 o Contact KHON2 o KHON2 on KSSK o FCC Compliance Owners of Aloun Farm Indicted on Human Trafficking Charges Last Update: 8/28/2009 12:19 pm Print Story | ShareThis Set Text Size Small Set Text Size Medium Set Text Size Large Set Text Size X-Large The Justice Department announced the indictment of three men charged in human trafficking conspiracy for exploiting Thai farm workers in Hawaii. Alec Souphone Sou and Mike Mankone Sou, owners of Aloun Farm in Hawaii, and Thai labor recruiter William Khoo were charged yesterday for engaging in a conspiracy to commit forced labor and visa fraud. The charges arise from the defendants' alleged scheme to coerce the labor and services of Thai nationals brought by the defendants to Hawaii to work under the federal agricultural guest worker program. Both Sou defendants are also charged with conspiring to commit document servitude. If convicted, Alec and Mike Sou each face maximum sentences of 15 years in prison and Khoo faces a maximum of 10 years in prison. According to the indictment, Alec Sou, Mike Sou and William Khoo conspired and devised a scheme to obtain the labor of 44 Thai nationals by enticing them to come to Aloun Farm in Hawaii with false promises of lucrative jobs, and then maintaining their labor at the farm through threats of serious economic harm. They arranged for the Thai workers to pay high recruitment fees, which were financed by debts secured with the workers' family property and homes. The indictment claims significant portions of these fees went to the defendants. After arrival at Aloun Farm, the Sou defendants confiscated the Thai nationals' passports and failed to honor the employment conracts. The Sou defendants maintained the Thai nationals' labor by threatening to send them back to Thailand, where they would face serious economic harms created by the debts. The indictment charges that the defendants engaged in a visa fraud conspiracy by making false representations in documents filed to obtain employment-based visas. The case of being investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
1 sourceArchive 2008–2016
Forced Labor2010
Hudson, Colorado, United States, 2010
United States US
Moises and Maria Rodriguez, were agricultural contractors who brought illegal immigrants to America and forced them to live as virtual prisoners as they worked off their debts. In this case there were 5 men who were contracted out to a local organic farm. The men were held in debt bondage - Rodriguez contended that each man owed him money for smuggling them into the U.S. - he put the price somewhere between $1,100 and $1,300. He charged them $100 a month for rent, $96 a month for a transportation fee, and money for bathroom cleaning - even though most of the toilets didn't work and the one that did was filthy. He charged them Social Security taxes but didn't turn that money over to the federal government. In addition they lived in fear of retribution should they flee and their housing was awful.
1 sourceArchive 2008–2016
Forced Labor2010
Kansas City, Missouri, United States, 2010
United States US
A Missouri man recruited workers from the Dominican Republic with false promises of hotel jobs in the Kansas City area, knowing they would not be paid the promised wages, that many would be sent to factory jobs in Alabama, and that threats of deportation would be used to keep them working.
1 source
Forced Labor2010
Lakeland, New York, United States, 2010
United States US
The state and federal investigators intervened. The NY Labor Religion Coalition wants to meet with Dan O’Hara (NY State Fair Director) over these allegations and they want the State Labor Department to get involved. The United States Department of Labor has confronted Karageorgis who said intends to pay them; however, he does not have the funds as of now. However, when he was arrested he had three wads of cash in his pocket. The case was dismissed because Karageorgis says he will pay the workers.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Forced Labor2010
Stevenson St. between 6th and 7th streets, United States, 2010
United States US
Just noticed today. rows and rows of sewing machines locked inside a building with no windows and door is gated inside with gray metal doors on the outside. Mostly Chinese women are working there. And just around the corner is the Appellate Court and the Federal Building.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Forced Labor2009
Berrien, Cass, Kent, Newaygo, Ottawa, Oceana, Muskegon and Van Buren, Michigan, United States, 2009
United States US
The U.S. Department of Labor levied fines totaling more than $36,000 against eight growers in Michigan for violations of migrant housing and child labor laws — including an allegation of a 6-year-old picking blueberries — and retailers have already discontinued doing business with some of the companies. Two blueberry growers, Adkin Blue Ribbon Packing Co., South Haven, and Jawor Bros., Ravenna, were assessed penalties of $2,584 for child labor violations after the investigation allegedly found children under 12, including a six-year-old, picking in the fields.
2 sourcesArchive 2008–2016
Forced Labor2009
Fort smith, Arkansas, United States, 2009
United States US
The girl told police she got involved when another minor female, who said she was being prostituted by the trafficker, told her she could make up to $100 for each man she had sex with, a police report states. One teenage girl told investigators she was given gas money to drive Trotter and another underage girl to different locations where they were paid to have sex, while yet another teenage girl told police the trafficker took her to a residence one night where she was paid to have sex with five men. One teenage girl interviewed by police denied being prostituted by the trafficker, instead, her "job" was to hand out condoms to the men to "protect the girls." The trafficker admitted introducing the girls to men who paid them for sex, but denied taking any money the girls were paid for sexual acts when she was interviewed by investigators, a police report states. The girls were threatened when they tried to stop being prostituted, and the trafficker took 1/2 of all money earned.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Forced Labor2009
Hollywood, California, United States, 2009
United States US
Benny and Nissan Pirian (owners of Celebrity Carwash, Five Star Carwash and Hollywood Carwash) and Manuel Rayes (owner of Vermont Hand wash) are up against a maximum of 80 years in prison, over $136,000 in fines each and 176 counts of criminal misconduct, witness intimidation, grand theft, brandishing a deadly weapon (used bat and machete after workers joined union), failure to pay wages (they often paid less than half of minimum wage), hiring minors, operating without workers' compensation insurance, denying workers meal and rest breaks, giving the works recycled water and failure to comply with wage orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission. Many workers also suffered numerous cuts and burns from the dangerous machinery and chemicals used in the carwashes.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Forced Labor2009
Houston, Texas, United States, 2009
United States US
Unknown at this time as the ranch where the slavery occurred has not been located.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Forced Labor2009
Idaho, United States, 2009
United States US
Rachele Bromley was arrested in May after posting a Craigslist advertisement for erotic massage involving her 16-year-old daughter. The advertisement did not openly solicit sexual favors, but ultimately resulted in a sexual-battery-of-a-minor conviction for a 40-year-old Nampa man and former Canyon County sheriff's deputy named Aaron Hundersmarck.
1 sourceArchive 2008–2016
Forced Labor2009
Johnston County, North Carolina, United States, 2009
United States US
A recruiter from Million Express Manpower, a former labor contracting company out of Mount Olive, NC, lured 30 Thai men to work in Johnston County, North Carolina with a promise of earning $16,000 a year for 3 years. The recruiter charged a fee of $11,000 for each man to "secure" their job abroad. Once they arrived, the labor contractor confiscated their passports and visas. "After about a week living in a motel in Benson, they were moved to a small storage building in Dunn, behind the home of Seo Homsombath, a native of Laos who is president of Million Express." "Homsombath at first contained the men by telling them that, without passports, police would arrest them if they left the property. Later, he showed them a gun, according to both Asanok and the lawsuit. A relative or employee was always at the house to guard them, Asanok said."(Asanok is one of the Thai workers who sued Million Express) "Homsombath delivered food, but it often wasn't enough for all 30 men, Asanok said. They had no kitchen, so they cooked outside on a portable gas burner. By mid-October the farm work ran out, and Homsombath took the workers to New Orleans, the lawsuit says. They spent a few weeks in a condemned hotel, badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina, without electricity or clean water. During the day, the lawsuit says, they demolished parts of the hotel they lived in. Asanok said he spent his days tearing down walls and hauling piles of destroyed carpet out of the hotel." "The Thai workers, including Asanok, say they were never paid for their work in New Orleans. Some were so broke, the suit says, that they trapped and ate pigeons." "Thai Workers Sue North Carolina Contractor" - http://www.humantrafficking.org/updates/601 "Workers: Promise became Prison" - http://www.newsobserver.com/100/story/551923.html "Low Pay and Broken Promises Greet Guest Workers" - http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/28/us/28labor.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Low%20Pay%20and%20Broken%20Promises%20Greet%20Guest%20Workers%20&st=cse This case is also mentioned in Kevin Bales and Ron Soodalter's book, "The Slave Next Door"
3 sourcesArchive 2008–2016