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Feds Charge 6 In Forced Labor Of 400 Thai Workers, Largest Human-Trafficking Case In U.S. History
HONOLULU — Six recruiters were accused Thursday of luring 400 laborers from Thailand to the United States and forcing them to work, according to a federal indictment that the FBI called the largest human-trafficking case ever charged in U.S. history.
The indictment alleges that the scheme was orchestrated by four employees of labor recruiting company Global Horizons Manpower Inc. and two Thailand-based recruiters. It said the recruiters lured the workers with false promises of lucrative jobs, then confiscated their passports, failed to honor their employment contracts and threatened to deport them.
Once the Thai laborers arrived in the United States starting in May 2004, they were put to work and have since been sent to sites in states including Hawaii, Washington, California, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah, according to attorneys and advocates.
Many laborers were initially taken to farms in Hawaii and Washington, where work conditions were the worst, said Chancee Martorell, executive director for the Los Angeles-based Thai Community Development Center, which represents 263 Thai workers who were brought to the U.S. by Global Horizons.
A woman who answered the phone at Global Horizons' Los Angeles office refused to take a message seeking comment Thursday.
The six defendants include Global Horizons President and CEO Mordechai Orian, 45; Director of International Relations Pranee Tubchumpol, 44; Hawaii regional supervisor Shane Germann, 41; and onsite field supervisor Sam Wongsesanit, 39. The Thailand recruiters were identified as Ratawan Chunharutai and Podjanee Sinchai.
They face maximum sentences ranging from five years to 70 years in prison, according to the Department of Justice.
Orian wasn't home when the FBI attempted to arrest him in Los Angeles on Thursday, but his surrender is being negotiated, said FBI Special Agent Tom Simon. Orian's attorney, Alan Diamante, didn't return a phone message seeking comment.
Two were arrested Thursday morning in Los Angeles and Fargo, N.D., said Simon. Another Global Horizons employee was expected to turn himself in, and the United States will work with Thailand's government to apprehend the remaining two suspects.
"In the old days, they used to keep slaves in their places with whips and chains. Today it's done with economic threats and intimidation," Simon said.
Honolulu immigration attorney Melissa Vincenty said the indictment against Global Horizons is a major blow to labor trafficking nationwide.
"Global was the big fish in all of this. It's a pretty big case, with hundreds and hundreds of workers," said Vincenty, who represents 56 of the Thai laborers. "They're all over the United States."
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Donnie Fowler: Game On. Overturning California's Climate & Energy Laws the Second Front for Billionaire Koch Brothers & Texas Oil (Prop23)
OPPONENTS OF PROP23 IN CALIFORNIA FACE A DAUNTING NEW OPPONENT
San Francisco, September 2
Late Thursday night, those who support progress on climate & energy policy received bad news that we expected, but did not want to believe would actually happen.
The billionaire Koch brothers, one of clean energy's most effective national opponents and funders of the increasingly influential Tea Party, contributed their first $1 million in the fight to overturn California's climate and energy laws in this year's election. No doubt there is more to come. Reports on September 2nd also showed that Tesoro Oil Corp. contributed $1 million to bring the total that they, Valero Energy, and other out of state oil companies have given to win Proposition 23 to more than $8 million. That's more than most races for senate and governor in other states.
An impressive coalition of public health, environmental, and clean tech leaders has spent the last few months fighting against Proposition 23 in California, the statewide ballot initiative that will overturn a slew of climate and energy policies -- from the state's cap on carbon pollution to its 33% renewable energy requirement to building efficiency and low carbon fuel standards. The Clean Economy Network published a report in July, "Going Backwards", that combines with other studies to lay out the real threat to investments we have made and companies we have started.
Unfortunately, we have now reached the point where everyone must get into this fight in a real way or the other side's tens of millions of dollars will convince Californians to vote for Prop23. This is not theory. The oil and coal companies have won in Washington and now have opened a second front in California. Polling makes it absolutely clear that Californians are evenly divided on turning back progress for clean tech because of their anxieties about a continuing weak state economy.
And the Koch's, as a New Yorker article two weeks ago made clear, are avowed and aggressive opponents of anything that threatens their oil refining empire. Brothers Charles and David Koch own virtually all of Koch Industries, a conglomerate whose annual revenues exceed a hundred billion dollars. They operate oil refineries in Alaska, Texas, and Minnesota, and control some four thousand miles of pipeline. Koch Industries also owns Brawny paper towels, Dixie cups, Georgia-Pacific lumber, Stainmaster carpet, and Lycra, among other products. Forbes ranks it as the second-largest private company in the country.
The University of Massachusetts at Amherst's Political Economy Research Institute named Koch Industries one of the top ten air polluters in the United States. And Greenpeace has issued a report defining the company as a "kingpin of climate science denial." The report showed that, from 2005 to 2008, the Kochs vastly outdid ExxonMobil in giving money to organizations fighting legislation related to climate change, underwriting a huge network of foundations, think tanks, and political front groups.
So now, with 31 days until early voting starts on Prop23 in California and only 60 days until the election, talking needs to turn into action. That means if you live in the state, tell your friends and vote early. It also means raising the money to deliver our story to California's voters.
After losing in the U.S. Senate this summer, climate & energy supporters can't afford to have the clock turned back in California.
Those who think one state does not matter -- and who hold out hope that wavering Senators will find courage in a post-election "lame duck" session on energy -- do not understand that a loss in California will create momentum and political risk that none of these politicians will resist.
So here's the proposition: Take a stand. Here. Now.
We can say that our competitive spirit and innovation apply to public policy and politics in a way that moves things forward. We can tell the oil and coal companies that enough is finally enough.
Because we have to. It's in the economy's interest. It's in our country's interest. And, yes, it's in our planet's interest.
---
No on 23!
Stop the Dirty Energy Proposition
www.stopdirtyenergyprop.com
The Success of California's AB32, the Bipartisan 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act
www.cabrightspot.com
From Twitter 09-02-2010
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