Man who ran Lexington agriculture company sentenced to federal prison for labor trafficking
COLUMBIA — Dozens of people in Mexico were lured to South Carolina to work for a Lexington County agricultural labor company where they were forced to work long hours, denied the pay they had been promised and had their passports and immigration documents confiscated by their employer, according to statements in federal court June 13.
One prosecutor described their situation as a “lockdown” with an employer threatening workers with a firearm and locking doors on workers housing. Several workers reportedly escaped, some hiding in bushes as they waited for a ride to pick them up.
Around 55 people were lured in to work for Balcazar Nature Harvesting, which provided seasonal harvesting labor to South Carolina farms. The company was run by Enrique Balcazar, a Mexican national, but was under the name of his 21-year-old daughter Elizabeth as she is a U.S. citizen.
Judge Sherri Lydon sentenced Enrique to 40 months in federal prison for labor trafficking as well as confiscating the workers' passports and immigration documents. He will likely be deported to Mexico after his release.
Elizabeth was sentenced to three years of supervised release for her role in recruiting workers under false pretenses. Her attorney, Will Lewis of the Columbia-based Richardson Thomas law firm, said she will not serve a prison sentence because she provided substantial assistance to investigators.
The judge also ordered that Balcazar Nature Harvesting, which is under Elizabeth's name, pay more than $500,000 in restitution toward the 55 victims. One of the victims will receive $11,000 from Enrique. Funds from Enrique's seized bank accounts will also be credited toward the restitution payments.
The family's company was started in 2021. Since Elizabeth was a U.S. citizen and her father was not, she traveled to Mexico to recruit workers under the H-2A program, which allows temporary agricultural employment in the U.S. for foreign workers.
Many of the workers came to America for seasonal jobs to support their families back in Mexico, said assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Fisher Sherard, who prosecuted the case alongside assistant U.S. Attorney Elliott Daniels.
She shared a quote from one of the victim's statements saying, “I came to the United States to work hard and support my family.” She added that they had waited patiently for visas to enter the country to work legally.
But once they arrived, things were not as promised.
Workers were promised they would make at least $11 an hour and work from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday. Instead, they were paid less than what they were promised and forced to work from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and sometimes even wake up at 3 a.m. to be driven to Charleston to work at a tomato farm.
Around $100 a week was deducted from their pay for their two daily meals, which were typically chicken with rice and beans.
Their passports and visa paperwork were confiscated, and they were threatened with deportation if they didn't do as they were told, prosecutors said.
Enrique would brandish a firearm, and even shoot as a threat to workers, according to court records.
The workers complained of filthy living conditions with flies, bedbugs and roaches. At one point, locks were put on the doors of the housing camp, prosecutors said.
Daniels read a victim statement saying they “felt like prisoners.”
“I made some mistakes,” Enrique told the judge.
His attorney Stanley Myers of the Columbia-based law firm Moore Bradley Myers shared Enrique's upbringing, telling the court that Enrique moved to the U.S. with his family when he was in fifth grade. He dropped out of school in sixth grade and started working on a peach farm. He's now married and has four children.
“He knows what he did was wrong,” Myers said.
Myers said Enrique did confiscate visas, but did so as he needed to be accountable for the workers. If someone were to leave the property, the company would need to contact law enforcement, Myers said.
For his daughter Elizabeth, she was 18 years old when her father asked her to start the company under her name and travel to Mexico since he could not re-enter the country.
Following her arrest in late-2021, Elizabeth provided information to investigators about her father's operation. Her attorney said Elizabeth had done the right thing, but was getting penalized as her father would be sent to prison and likely deported after his release.
“I just ask for you to give me one more chance,” Elizabeth told the judge, adding that she wanted to turn her life around and go back to school.
Lydon is also requiring Elizabeth complete 100 hours of community service, requesting that it be done with an organization offering services to immigrants to “make right” of the situation.
This “Eyes on Trafficking” story is reprinted from its original online location.
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EYES ON TRAFFICKING
This “Eyes on Trafficking” story is reprinted from its original online location.
ABOUT PBJ LEARNING
PBJ Learning is a leading provider of online human trafficking training, focusing on awareness and prevention education. Their interactive Human Trafficking Essentials online course is used worldwide to educate professionals and individuals how to recognize human trafficking and how to respond to potential victims. Learn on any web browser (even your mobile phone) at any time.
More stories like this can be found in your PBJ Learning Knowledge Vault.