NEW ARTICLES FROM SLAVERY CASES IN WESTERN NY 2002

Contents

Uncle Tom's Cabin In Upstate New York
 New York Daily News
Editorial, June 24, 2002

Slavery in Sudan makes headlines. So does the ongoing debate over reparations for historical slavery in the United States. But how many New Yorkers know that slavery still exists right here in their home state? Yes, slavery.

That's the view of the Justice Department, which just indicted six people in Buffalo federal court on charges of forced labor, conspiracy and trafficking in human beings.

The victims: farm workers, who under state and U.S. law are denied most labor protections, including the right to organize and bargain collectively. Now, it turns out, some of them have lost their right to liberty, too.

The accused: Maria Garcia and five others, most of them her family members. She is one of the biggest farm labor contractors in western New York,supplying cheap workers to growers.

The indictment charges that last summer Garcia and her cohorts went to Arizona and enticed 41 Mexican men and boys - in the U.S. illegally - to come to New York to work. But then the "new hires" were crammed into locked vans for the long ride north. And they remained virtual prisoners while laboring on farms in Orleans and Genesee counties.

Garcia allegedly dunned the workers for their transport, room, board and other fees, leaving them in debt. Authorities said she enforced her will with physical threats and hired guards to prevent escapes. Fortunately, a few men got away and contacted the feds.

This is the first case under the anti-slavery provisions of the federal Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act of 2000. If convicted, the defendants face up to 20 years in prison.

The point here isn't merely that a few very bad people are exploiting farm workers. It's that thousands of New York farm workers have so few rights and little or no ability to protect themselves.

Ironically, Garcia kept most of the workers at her camp in Albion, about halfway between Buffalo and Rochester. Albion just happened to be the site of a May 2000 state Senate hearing on the conditions of farm workers. At the hearing, field hands pleaded for equality, while growers, including a large local operator, insisted that all was well with their workers. That same large operator has hired labor from Garcia.

In the end, the Senate failed to adopt any of the basic labor protections that are afforded all other employees - reforms that the Assembly repeatedly has passed.

Slavery was abolished in 1865. Unequal farm labor laws, which invite abuse, remain on the books. To New York's continuing shame.

Migrant-Camp Operators Face Forced Labor Charges
 By Steven Greenhouse
The New York Times, June 21, 2002

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/21/nyregion/21FARM.html

Six people who run migrant labor camps east of Buffalo were indicted this week on the unusual federal charge of forced labor, accused of virtually enslaving 40 Mexican workers and threatening them with physical harm if they tried to escape.

The United States attorney in Buffalo unsealed an indictment on Wednesday that said a ring of labor contractors threatened the migrants if they tried to escape before paying off more than $1,000 in debt for transportation, food, rent and electricity.

The indictment said several dozen Mexican migrants who were desperate for work were victims of an elaborate forced labor ring. The migrants, the indictment said, were transported from Arizona last summer in crowded, stiflingly hot vans that had no seats and inoperable windows. At times, one van carried 30 people, and the migrants were charged $1,000 for the trip.

When the workers arrived in New York, the indictment said, 30 of them were squeezed into a farmhouse in Albion, halfway between Buffalo and Rochester. In that house, 11 workers slept in a small room that had just three beds.

United States Attorney Michael A. Battle said the indictments were the first in the nation bringing charges of forced labor under the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act of 2000, which increased penalties for forced labor and involuntary servitude.

The defendants were also charged with trafficking for purposes of using forced labor, knowingly transporting illegal aliens and violating federal statutes that protect migrant and seasonal laborers.

Those indicted were farm contractors, who serve as middlemen providing farmers in the United States with low-cost labor from Mexico, Guatemala and other countries.

One of the migrants, Miguel, who refused to give his last name for fear of reprisals by the contractors' friends, said, "They threatened us that if we didn't work harder they would lock us in a small truck for a month without feeding us."

Miguel, who worked at a squash farm, said that in Arizona the contractors promised that he would be paid $500 a week in New York and would not have to pay for rent or electricity. He said that when he arrived in New York, one farm contractor told him that he would earn $5.15 an hour and that he would have to pay $30 a week rent and $10 a week for electricity.

Officials in the United States attorney's office said the contractors improperly withheld living expenses from the migrants, used guards to keep them from leaving, and warned that immigration officials would capture them if they left or spoke out.

Stuart Mitchell, chief executive of Rural Opportunities Inc., a nonprofit group based in Rochester that helps train and house farm workers, said there were 10,000 to 15,000 migrant farm laborers in western New York, with many living in unsatisfactory conditions.

"It is a desperate situation for thousands of people who are finding it difficult to find employment to feed their families," he said. "Farm contractors play a necessary role, but obviously it's open to great abuse."

The indictments accused Maria Garcia, her husband, Jose I. Garcia, and their sons, Elias Botello and Jose J. Garcia, with running a forced labor ring. The most serious charge, subjecting workers to forced labor, carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Another relative, Rogelio Espinoza, and a helper from Arizona, Sylvia Munoz Rubio, were also indicted.

The six defendants pleaded not guilty. Lee Hoover, a court-appointed lawyer for Maria Garcia, said, "There are a lot of allegations put forward, with not a lot of evidence to support them, and we look forward to vigorously representing Ms. Garcia."

After escaping, the workers contacted Farmworker Legal Services of New York, which contacted the Justice Department. The 10 workers who contacted the legal services group have been granted temporary visas to serve as witnesses in the case.

Justice sought for migrants
By SANDRA TAN
News Staff Reporter, Buffalo News
6/22/2002

Aspacio Alcantara used to work the farmland in the Dominican Republic, where conditions were so terrible that he abandoned the fields for the city and began organizing farmworkers for a living. When he came to the United States, he discovered that conditions weren't much better, particularly for those who had entered the country illegally in hopes of a better life. "I've had a calling to fight for justice," said the weathered-looking man who serves as director of CITA, a Spanish acronym for the Independent Farmworkers Center. "Once you take hold of your anger and overcome your fear, then you decide, this is your path."

Friday, Alcantara spoke at a news conference with the help of a translator, praising federal and state authorities for their persistence in indicting the Garcia family, accused of running forced labor camp operations in Orleans County. He and other members of the Justice for Farmworkers campaign also took the opportunity to highlight the plight of migrant workers and to again petition the state government to pass legislation, now stalled in the State Senate, that would include farm workers in the state's existing labor laws. "Without these changes," he said, "the cases of slavery, of injustice, are going to continue. And it's time now for those that feed us, that they be treated with dignity and more respect. That's why we're here today."

Since the 1930s, farm workers have been excluded from labor laws that guarantee most other employees basic rights to overtime pay, disability insurance, a mandatory day of rest and collective bargaining. Deputy Assembly Speaker Arthur O. Eve, D-Buffalo, the only area politician to stand with the workers on the steps of the federal courthouse in Buffalo, said he identified with the plight of farmworkers and sought more protections for them early in his career in the State Legislature. Most seasonal laborers in New York were primarily African-American in those days, he said, and since Hispanic workers have taken over much of the work, conditions have not changed for the better. Eve plans to call on the chairman of the Assembly Labor Committee to hold public hearings around the state regarding exploitation of migrant workers, in hopes of moving protective farmworker legislation forward.

Many growers have argued that such legislation would be too costly to farmers, who already are having an extremely difficult time making ends meet despite heavy government subsidies. These growers say they already battle slim profit margins and foreign competition, and don't see how the proposed legislation will allow them to stay in business.

Labor and religious leaders attending Friday's news conference said government leaders have an ethical and moral obligation to make sure that some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the state are protected from exploitation and inhumane working and living conditions. "If we don't get that legislation . . . God help us," said Joan Malone of the New York State Labor-Religion Coalition. "We'll be here next year, addressing another farmworkers crisis."

e-mail: stan@buffnews.com

Channel 4 News Buffalo Report
Friday June 21st, 2002.
Reporter Marie Rice, WIVB Buffalo.

A group called Justice for Farmworkers is calling for quick action on legislation that has lingered in the New York State Senate . It follows federal charges against labor camp operators charged with forcing workers into conditions of virtual slavery.

Justice for Farmworkers gathered on the steps of the federal court house today in Buffalo calling for laws that would give farmworkers equal labor rights.

Aspacio Alcantara, Director CITA "Give farmworkers the opportunity to have the same rights as others."

Justice for Farmworkers is outraged over revelations this week of alleged farmworker abuse in Orleans and Genesee Counties. Federal prosecutors charged Maria and Jose Garcia and her son with forcing a group of migrant workers into virtual slavery.

Gretchen Wylegala, Assistant US Attorney, "The circumstances of her employment of them was such that they did not feel that they could leave."

Deputy Assembly Speaker Arthur Eve is calling on the senate to pass legislation already passed in the assembly.

Deputy Assembly Speaker Arthur Eve, "I was very active in the sixties on the issue of migrant workers. Evidently it is time for us to look at that very seriously."

Right now farmworkers are excluded form labor laws guaranteeing the right to overtime pay, disability benefits, unemployment and collective bargaining.

Reverend Francis Mazur, Network of Religious Communities, "People should be able to organize. Every religious tradition respects that."

Joan Malone, New York State Labor Religion Coalition, "If the senate does not step up to the plate and do the right thing that they are supposed to do, God help us we will all be here next year with another farmworker crisis."

Deputy Assembly Speaker Arthur Eve wants to hold a public hearing here in Buffalo and the Western New York area with the assistance of the labor committees from both the New York State Senate and Assembly.

'A lot of guts' by escapees put them on path to justice
 By SANDRA TAN
News Staff Reporter, BUFFALO NEWS
6/21/2002

It all started with an escape. A group of six migrant workers made a break for freedom from what they described as a closely supervised forced labor camp in Orleans County. Unsure of where to go, and unable to speak any English, the desperate group of undocumented Mexican immigrants spent the night hiding in the woods. Fortunately for them, they eventually came across a Spanish-speaking resident who helped put them in touch with the Rochester office of Farmworker Legal Services of New York. "But for that, who knows what would have happened?" said Dan Werner, a lawyer in the New Paltz office. Somehow, word made it to another group of four escapees who joined the six others under the agency's protection. The agency, in turn, contacted federal authorities. "This took a lot of guts on the part of the workers to escape," Werner said, "and be willing to talk to us, and then the federal authorities." This week, Maria "Chavela" Garcia and two other family members were arraigned in! U.S. District Court on charges that they ran forced labor camp operations in Albion and Kendall, illegally and unsafely transported migrant workers from Arizona to Western New York, and engaged in green card and Social Security fraud. Garcia and five others were the first to be indicted by a federal grand jury under the new Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act, adopted by Congress in 2000. This case has stirred anger among area farmworkers' advocates, who say the migrant workers employed by the Garcias would not have been in such a desperate situation if more legal protections existed to prevent such workers from being subjected to inhumane treatment. "Such drastic things shouldn't have to happen for laws to change," said Bill Abom, area coordinator for Rural Migrant Ministries, part of the Justice for Farmworkers Campaign. Werner described the case as "the modern face of slavery." While such circumstances are not common in Western New York, he said, they are not rare, either. In fact, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, such treatment of workers may be uncovered more frequently as the Immigration and Naturalization Service cracks down on illegal immigration and tightens up its border patrols, he said. Such actions make it more costly for smugglers to bring Mexican workers over the border, Abom said, and that cost typically is transferred to the immigrant, who is told that he must work off his transportation debts before he can leave his employer. In the Garcias' case, the smuggled immigrants were recruited from Arizona and crammed into a van that had seats removed and windows that did not work, according to the indictment. Workers were told that they could not leave their camps until they paid off about $1,800 for their transportation from Arizona to New York, as well as other debts the defendants claimed the workers owed for rent and food, the indictment states. One migrant worker, who is planting cabbage on an Orleans County farm, said he signed on with the Garcias for a few weeks in 1993. "They would make us work under all conditions, whether it was raining or cold," said "Pancho," who spoke through a translator and asked not to be identified by his real name. "They obligated us to work." Abom, the translator, pointed out that farmworker contractors get paid a separate fee from growers and receive more money the faster a job is completed. Pancho said the Garcias cashed his paycheck and skimmed money off the top before giving him the rest. That treatment caused him to leave the group, he said. "I know that they weren't a very proper family in what they were doing," Pancho said. "I know this country is a country based on laws, and, sooner or later, it would catch up with them."

Farmworker advocates estimate that between 10,000 and 15,000 migrant workers make their living working on farms in Western New York. Pancho, 46, who said he was among the first group of Mexicans to look for migrant farm work in this area in the mid-1980s, described living conditions in the area as extremely poor overall. Typically, both male and female workers are crammed into old houses or trailers, many forced to share a single bathroom - when it works - and to sleep wherever there is space, he said. Neither the U.S. attorney's office nor Farmworker Legal Services of New York would disclose the location of the 10 escapees now serving as witnesses against the Garcias and their partners, though both groups said the victims are being treated well. Werner noted that the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act provides more legal protections for victims of severe trafficking operations. But the victims still have to prove that they would meet with serious harm if they returned to Mexico, he said. Farmworkers advocates have seized on the Garcias' indictment to highlight stalled policy and legislative proposals that would prevent high-profile incidents of forced labor trafficking! from occurring in the future. The Justice for Farmworkers Campaign has worked to bring attention to state legislation that would allow migrant workers to be included in existing labor laws, and allow them to form unions. Werner noted that many advocates for migrant workers have gotten nowhere in the last nine months because domestic terrorism threats have made legislators unwilling to look at broadening immigrant protections or immigration policies. But that does not change the need for farmers to have cheap, migrant labor available to work long days at a minimum wage of $5.15 an hour. Near the end of President Bill Clinton's administration, Werner said, growers and farmworker representatives worked out a compromise that would allow the legal immigration of workers in a way that would not subject the workers to abuse. Those discussions were interrupted when President Bush took office and were shelved completely after the Sept. 11 attacks. Werner said he would like to think th! at those discussions will start up again someday. "If that compromise had been signed into law," he said, "this labor case might never have happened."

e-mail: stan@buffnews.com

America's Shame
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
6/24/02, Editorial

In our back yard there is evidence of enslavement of migrant workers.

Human slavery still exists in America. In fact, there's evidence of modern-day human bondage and degradation here in the Rochester region. Shame.

How could this be happening? Government - local, state and federal - too often casually enforce laws enacted to protect people from the kind of physical and mental abuse typically found in countries with little or no regard for human rights. Such dereliction of responsibility is intolerable.

What's more, it's hypocritical for this country to complain of human rights abuses in other countries and passively deal with similar problems as home.

Secretary of State Colin Powell recently noted that from 700,000 to 4 million people worldwide, mostly women and children, were being held in bondage. He correctly described the practice as an "appalling assault on the dignity of men, women, and children."

But look what's happening under the noses of Powell and other U.S. leaders. An estimated 50,000 people are enslaved in America. A federal grand jury last week indicted three people who provide migrant labor to farmers in Orleans County. Maria Garcia, her husband, Jose J., and 21 -year-old son, Jose I., became the first in the country to be indicted under the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act of 2000. The law was enacted to deter involuntary servitude, forced labor.

Investigators allege that the Garcias kept the paychecks of undocumented workers they supplied area farmers. The workers also were allegedly subjected to threats and intimidation tactics to keepthem from escaping work camps.

True, government responded. But why so late? Last year, for example, farmers were fined by the state Department of Labor for allowing the Garcias to withhold workers' paychecks. The fines, however, were dropped after farmers promised they no longer would use the Garcia's crews.

It's worrisome,too, that the Orleans County Health Department didn't issue citations for a farmhouse used by the Garcias. More than 30 migrnt workers slept in the house, which had living space for only 10.

Strong laws are on the books to prevent human abuse. It's outrageous that they're not being enforced to the fullest extent.

ABUSING THE POWERLESS
 Published on June 30, 2002
© The Buffalo News Inc.

It's hard to believe that a form of slavery could still exist in 21st century New York State. But such, apparently, was the case in Orleans and Genesee counties. Officials need to find out how such an atrocity could occur, and develop procedures to make sure it never happens again.

The operators of two migrant labor camps in the two counties were indicted recently on charges of trafficking in immigrant labor and running forced labor camps. According to U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Service officials, Maria "Chabela" Garcia and her husband, Jose Garcia, and their son, Jose, essentially forced dozens of workers into virtual slavery. Three others also were indicted. They run migrant worker camps in Kendall and Albion, and Maria Garcia was a farm labor contractor registered in New York State. None of the farmers who hired the Garcias' workers were named in federal court papers.

These undocumented aliens from Mexico came to this country in search of a better life, but what they found, instead, were inhumane conditions and people ready to exploit them. According to investigators, the migrant workers were charged for their transportation, housing and other fees. These debts were collected through weekly deductions from the workers' pay, therefore keeping them in debt and under control.

These workers were easy to exploit. They were undocumented and they were desperate.

This is not a new phenomenon. It's been known for years that undocumented migrant workers have been exploited, in some cases in Western New York. Clearly, more needs to be done to prevent such atrocities.

Part of the problem is that those who work in the fields and have entered this country illegally can't, for obvious reasons, go to immigration officials or other law enforcement agencies to report the abuse. That means that officials charged with preventing such abuse need to be more vigilant.

Deputy Assembly Speaker Arthur Eve plans to call on the chairman of the Assembly Labor Committee to hold public hearings around the state about the exploitation of migrant workers as a way to move protective farm worker legislation forward. Any dialogue or discussion with respect to farm workers is a help. It shines light on the problem and helps the public to understand the plight of these farm workers.

The Assembly passed legislation granting equal labor rights for farm workers last year. The bill remains bottled up in the State Senate. Farmers argue the bill's provisions are too expensive. Perhaps. But there should be no question about the need to prevent unscrupulous farmers from actively or passively allowing human beings to be used as near slaves.

It's mortifying that something like this can exist in the year 2002. It's even more discomfiting that it exists in our own back yard.

State Senate Neglects to Help Farmworkers
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle Letter to the Editor
November 14, 2002
Aspacio Alcantara, Director CITA, Brockport

The Oct. 13 article "Field of bitter dreams" exposes the plight of farmworkers in our region. Bringing the struggle of farmworkers into the open is of prime importance. One point worth adding is that because of pesticides, heat exposure and dangerous equipment, farm work is one of the most hazardous occupations in the United States.

We should be outraged and embarrassed that the New York state Senate has failed to adopt S5557, a bill that would eliminate the inequalities in the workplace that discriminate against farm laborers, reforms that the Assembly has repeatedly passed. Farmworkers deserve the same labor protections as other workers such as a day of rest per week, overtime pay, collective bargaining and disability insurance. There is no moral justification for the current system that protects the financial well-being of one group at the cost of the basic rights of others. There are ways to make the agricultural industry work to benefit all. How many cases of exploitation, injustice and slavery against farmworkers are needed before something is done