When it comes to housing, guestworkers aren't treated like "guests" of the United States at all. In fact, they are frequently forced to live in squalor. Many find themselves held captive by unscrupulous employers or labor brokers who confiscate their passports, restrict their movements, extort payments from them and threaten them with arrest and deportation if they attempt to escape.
Under federal regulations, employers hiring H-2A workers must provide them with free housing. The housing must be inspected and certified in advance as complying with applicable safety and health regulations.
In practice, the quality of housing provided to H-2A workers varies widely and is often seriously substandard, even dangerous.
H-2B workers have even less protection. There are no general federal regulations governing the conditions of labor camps or housing for H-2B workers. State and local laws also generally do not cover housing for H-2B workers. In practice, this means that H-2B workers are often provided housing that lacks even basic necessities, such as beds and cooking facilities.
Because the Department of Labor has failed to promulgate any regulations, employers that choose to provide housing to H-2B workers (and most do, for reasons of practical necessity) are permitted to charge rent. The rent — often exorbitant — is generally deducted from the workers' pay. This often results in workers earning far less than they expected and sometimes substantially less than the minimum wage.
In addition, housing for both H-2A and H-2B workers is often located in extremely isolated rural locations, subjecting workers to other kinds of difficulties. In most instances, workers lack both vehicles and access to public transportation. As a result, they are totally dependent upon their employers for transportation to work and to places like grocery stores and banks. Some employers charge exorbitant fees for rides to the grocery store. Much of the housing provided to workers lacks telephone service, isolating workers even further.
These conditions not only create daily hardships for guestworkers, they increase employers' already formidable power over them.
Hernan was one of six Mexican H-2B workers who traveled to the United States in September 2006 under a contract that called for them to work in the forestry industry in Arkansas. Upon arrival, their employer asked for their passports and visas to "make copies" but never returned them.
Instead of Arkansas, they were taken to a sweet potato farm in Louisiana and left there to work. As it turned out, they were doing H-2A work on H-2B visas and for an employer who had not applied for their visas. Under the law, H-2A workers have more rights and benefits than H-2B workers.
The Mexicans lived in an abandoned two-story house with no door on the hinges and no glass, except for a few broken shards, in the windows.
No Electricity
"There was no electricity when we first lived there," Hernan said. "There was no heat. There were a few mattresses but no blankets. There were only a few pieces of furniture. At night we would push them against the window frames to keep the air out because there was no glass. We told the company we could not sleep well enough at night to even work. When it rained the house leaked. We had to find corners in the house to hide so we would not get wet.
"We were picking sweet potatoes and were paid by the bucket. The first week we were not paid. The second week we were paid $70. We had been working every day from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m., with 30 minutes for lunch. We had to find a ride to Wal-Mart to get bedding. We hardly had enough money."
Eventually, the original contractor returned to Louisiana because he heard the workers were complaining about low wages and wanted their passports back so they could go home. The contractor told them that anyone who didn't like the work could give him $1,600 and he would return their passports. The workers did not have the money, so they left without telling the contractor — without money and without their passports. Their wives in Mexico began receiving threats from the contractor, who has left messages at a community phone saying that their husbands must each pay him $2,000 or he will report them to immigration for deportation or incarceration. These six workers are now trying to find a way to get their legal documents returned to them.
A group of about 20 guestworkers from Thailand recently faced an equally desperate situation. According to a lawsuit filed on their behalf by Legal Aid of North Carolina in February 2007, they each paid $11,000 to obtain agricultural jobs. Recruiters told them, falsely, that they would have employment for three years earning $8.24 an hour. When they arrived in August 2005, one of the men acting as a labor broker confiscated their passports, visas and return airplane tickets.
Initially, they were housed in a local hotel, three men to a room. After a few weeks, the number of rooms was reduced, so that they were living five to a room. Eventually, they were moved to buildings behind the house of the labor broker, where they shared one bath. Some workers had to sleep on the floor. After a few more weeks, their employer began to reduce their food rations, leaving them hungry.
Throughout their stay, the Thai workers were told they would be arrested and deported if they escaped. On several occasions, according to the lawsuit, the labor broker and his son displayed guns to the workers.
Watched By Guards
Less than two months after their arrival, some of the workers were taken to New Orleans, where they were put to work demolishing the interiors of hotels and restaurants ruined by the flooding from Hurricane Katrina. They lived in several storm-damaged hotels during their stay, including one that had no electricity or hot water and was filled with debris and mold. It had no potable water, so the workers were forced to use contaminated water for cooking.
During their stay in New Orleans, the workers were guarded by a man with a gun. They also were not paid for the work, so they had no money to buy food. Some were eventually taken back to North Carolina. The men who remained in New Orleans managed to escape with the help of local people who learned of their plight. The other workers also escaped after their return trip.
In 2003, a group of women from Hidalgo, Mexico, traveled to Cocoa, Fla., on H-2A visas to harvest tomatoes. They did not know they would be locked up. "El patron would put a lock on the gate where our trailers were, and he or a trusted worker were the only ones who could open it," one of the women told the Palm Beach Post. Another said, "After a time, they would not let us communicate with other people. Everything was locked up with a key."
The Hidalgo women were lucky enough to find lawyers who could help them hold their employer accountable through a class action lawsuit (the settlement of which is confidential). But too often, workers do not have access to legal assistance and must choose between continuing to endure such deplorable abuses or attempting to escape into a foreign land without passports, money, contacts or tickets home.
These are not isolated cases. Time and again, advocates for guestworkers hear these stories.
When it comes to housing, guestworkers aren't treated like "guests" of the United States at all. In fact, they are frequently forced to live in squalor. Many find themselves held captive by unscrupulous employers or labor brokers who confiscate their passports, restrict their movements, extort payments from them and threaten them with arrest and deportation if they attempt to escape.
Under federal regulations, employers hiring H-2A workers must provide them with free housing. The housing must be inspected and certified in advance as complying with applicable safety and health regulations.
In practice, the quality of housing provided to H-2A workers varies widely and is often seriously substandard, even dangerous.
H-2B workers have even less protection. There are no general federal regulations governing the conditions of labor camps or housing for H-2B workers. State and local laws also generally do not cover housing for H-2B workers. In practice, this means that H-2B workers are often provided housing that lacks even basic necessities, such as beds and cooking facilities.
Because the Department of Labor has failed to promulgate any regulations, employers that choose to provide housing to H-2B workers (and most do, for reasons of practical necessity) are permitted to charge rent. The rent — often exorbitant — is generally deducted from the workers' pay. This often results in workers earning far less than they expected and sometimes substantially less than the minimum wage.
In addition, housing for both H-2A and H-2B workers is often located in extremely isolated rural locations, subjecting workers to other kinds of difficulties. In most instances, workers lack both vehicles and access to public transportation. As a result, they are totally dependent upon their employers for transportation to work and to places like grocery stores and banks. Some employers charge exorbitant fees for rides to the grocery store. Much of the housing provided to workers lacks telephone service, isolating workers even further.
These conditions not only create daily hardships for guestworkers, they increase employers' already formidable power over them.
Hernan was one of six Mexican H-2B workers who traveled to the United States in September 2006 under a contract that called for them to work in the forestry industry in Arkansas. Upon arrival, their employer asked for their passports and visas to "make copies" but never returned them.
Instead of Arkansas, they were taken to a sweet potato farm in Louisiana and left there to work. As it turned out, they were doing H-2A work on H-2B visas and for an employer who had not applied for their visas. Under the law, H-2A workers have more rights and benefits than H-2B workers.
The Mexicans lived in an abandoned two-story house with no door on the hinges and no glass, except for a few broken shards, in the windows.
No Electricity
"There was no electricity when we first lived there," Hernan said. "There was no heat. There were a few mattresses but no blankets. There were only a few pieces of furniture. At night we would push them against the window frames to keep the air out because there was no glass. We told the company we could not sleep well enough at night to even work. When it rained the house leaked. We had to find corners in the house to hide so we would not get wet.
"We were picking sweet potatoes and were paid by the bucket. The first week we were not paid. The second week we were paid $70. We had been working every day from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m., with 30 minutes for lunch. We had to find a ride to Wal-Mart to get bedding. We hardly had enough money."
Eventually, the original contractor returned to Louisiana because he heard the workers were complaining about low wages and wanted their passports back so they could go home. The contractor told them that anyone who didn't like the work could give him $1,600 and he would return their passports. The workers did not have the money, so they left without telling the contractor — without money and without their passports. Their wives in Mexico began receiving threats from the contractor, who has left messages at a community phone saying that their husbands must each pay him $2,000 or he will report them to immigration for deportation or incarceration. These six workers are now trying to find a way to get their legal documents returned to them.
A group of about 20 guestworkers from Thailand recently faced an equally desperate situation. According to a lawsuit filed on their behalf by Legal Aid of North Carolina in February 2007, they each paid $11,000 to obtain agricultural jobs. Recruiters told them, falsely, that they would have employment for three years earning $8.24 an hour. When they arrived in August 2005, one of the men acting as a labor broker confiscated their passports, visas and return airplane tickets.
Initially, they were housed in a local hotel, three men to a room. After a few weeks, the number of rooms was reduced, so that they were living five to a room. Eventually, they were moved to buildings behind the house of the labor broker, where they shared one bath. Some workers had to sleep on the floor. After a few more weeks, their employer began to reduce their food rations, leaving them hungry.
Throughout their stay, the Thai workers were told they would be arrested and deported if they escaped. On several occasions, according to the lawsuit, the labor broker and his son displayed guns to the workers.
Watched By Guards
Less than two months after their arrival, some of the workers were taken to New Orleans, where they were put to work demolishing the interiors of hotels and restaurants ruined by the flooding from Hurricane Katrina. They lived in several storm-damaged hotels during their stay, including one that had no electricity or hot water and was filled with debris and mold. It had no potable water, so the workers were forced to use contaminated water for cooking.
During their stay in New Orleans, the workers were guarded by a man with a gun. They also were not paid for the work, so they had no money to buy food. Some were eventually taken back to North Carolina. The men who remained in New Orleans managed to escape with the help of local people who learned of their plight. The other workers also escaped after their return trip.
In 2003, a group of women from Hidalgo, Mexico, traveled to Cocoa, Fla., on H-2A visas to harvest tomatoes. They did not know they would be locked up. "El patron would put a lock on the gate where our trailers were, and he or a trusted worker were the only ones who could open it," one of the women told the Palm Beach Post. Another said, "After a time, they would not let us communicate with other people. Everything was locked up with a key."
The Hidalgo women were lucky enough to find lawyers who could help them hold their employer accountable through a class action lawsuit (the settlement of which is confidential). But too often, workers do not have access to legal assistance and must choose between continuing to endure such deplorable abuses or attempting to escape into a foreign land without passports, money, contacts or tickets home.
These are not isolated cases. Time and again, advocates for guestworkers hear these stories.