US farms made $200m via human smuggling and labor trafficking operation

In June 2021, a farm worker from Mexico who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, was transported through a trafficking network from Monterey, Mexico to work on farms in the southern US state of Georgia.

They paid 20,000 pesos, around $950 to the traffickers that they were loaned from their mother, taking frequent trips to Monterrey, Mexico, back and forth, before being told it was safe to leave and they were finally transported across the border.

Initially, the worker was told they would be working on a blueberry farm, but was sent to a corn farming operation instead.

The worker started work daily at 3 or 4am and worked until 3 or 4pm with just one 15-minute lunch break, making just $225 for 15 days of work. They heard rumors that the contractor had several workers die under them due to exploitation and the worker claimed that Haitian immigrants were also brought into the same network.

The contractor the worker said he worked under, JC Longoria Castro, was one of two dozen defendants indicted on federal conspiracy charges in October 2021 based on findings from a multi-year long investigation into a massive human smuggling and labor trafficking operation based in southern Georgia that extended to Florida and Texas.

The investigation, Operation Blooming Onion, found the conspirators forced workers to pay fees for transportation to the US, food, and housing through the H2-A work visa program, while withholding their travel and identification documents and forcing them to work for little to no pay in inhumane living conditions.

The two dozen conspirators made $200m from their operation, laundering the money through land, homes, over a dozen vehicles, the purchase of a restaurant and nightclub, and through a casino. Over 100 workers were freed from the operation.