3 men sentenced in Georgia forced farm labor investigation
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Three men have been sentenced to federal prison as part of a broad investigation into what authorities said was a wide-ranging conspiracy to bring workers from Central America to the United States for forced labor on south Georgia farms.
The three men were charged in separate but related cases related to a federal investigation dubbed Blooming Onion, prosecutors said in a news release. Authorities say the farm workers were brought into the U.S. on the H-2A agricultural visa program and then the men profited from their work by underpaying them and forcing them to live in substandard conditions.
“These men engaged in facilitating modern-day slavery,” U.S. Attorney David Estes said in a news release. “Our law enforcement partners have exposed an underworld of human trafficking, and we will continue to identify and bring to justice those who would exploit others whose labors provide the fuel for their greed.”
This “Eyes on Trafficking” story is reprinted from the Associated Press.
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