WEST OLIVE, Mich. – A lawsuit has been filed against a Michigan farm for human trafficking and violating the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act.
Reported by The Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC), the lawsuit has been filed against First Pick Farms located out of West Olive, Michigan.
According to the MIRC, First Pick Farms allegedly forced immigrant farmworkers to leave North Carolina in the middle of the night and placed them in vans traveling to Michigan in 2017.
The workers were forced to work long hours and live in substandard housing on the West Michigan farm. The lawsuit says 30 workers lived in a house with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and no furniture.
The lawsuit states that First Pick Farms threatened to report the workers to immigration authorities if they didn’t comply. These workers were forced to pay the supervisor for debts imposed upon them, including the transportation of coming to Michigan and rent money, the lawsuit claims.
“It was something very painful, it was to a certain degree mentally painful. We are accustomed to work but when we were transported to Michigan we were exhausted mentally and physically. Our families were also affected who were sick and we had taken these jobs to try to earn enough for their medications but we were not able to earn enough to get those. Additionally, the conditions, being unable to rest because we had to sleep on the floor, nearly broke me.”
Feliciano Velasco Rojas, one of the plaintiffs
Workers who have questions about their rights can call MIRC’s free confidential Farmworker and Immigrant Worker hotline at 800-968-4046.