They called it “The Bullpen.” Farm workers were roped in from the street by recruiters and herded into the enclosed camp, where they worked during the day and slept in dirty, overcrowded bunks rife with bugs. Some, according to the workers' legal complaint, wrestled with grinding drug addictions and were sated periodically by dealers who would come by to sink them deeper into debt and dependency. Though reminiscent of any chain gang from the old South, this labor camp was in modern-day Florida, and these human chattel were harvesting vegetables that might have nourished your family.
A federal court has issued a record $11.8 million dollar award to 4,000 foreign guest workers who were employed by a Georgia forestry company in 2005. The guest workers came from Mexico and Guatemala on H-2B visas. Once lured to plant pine seedlings, the workers found that they would not be reimbursed for their travel or visa expenses and that their hours differed from their H-2B contracts. In addition, the records of the hours they did work were not properly kept.