Florida couple pleads guilty to abusing Filipino workers

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A Florida couple pleaded guilty to conspiring to hold 39 Filipino employees against their will working in country clubs and hotels, the US Justice Department said Friday.

Sophia Manuel, 41, and Alfonso Baldonado Jr., 45, were owners of a labor contracting service based in the Florida city of Boca Raton.

Manuel and Baldonado "conspired to obtain a cheap, compliant and readily available labor pool, by making false promises to entice the victims to incur debts," read a Department of Justice statement, quoting court documents.

"The defendants then compelled the victims' labor and services through threats to have the workers arrested and deported, knowing the workers faced serious economic harm and possible incarceration for nonpayment of debts in the Philippines."

Once the workers arrived at Manuel and Baldonado's Florida residence, the couple confiscated their passports, then "housed them in overcrowded, substandard conditions without adequate food or drinking water; put them to work at area country clubs and hotels for little or no pay; required them to remain in the defendants' service, unpaid when there was insufficient work."

They ordered them not to leave the premises without permission and "threatened to have the workers arrested and deported for complaining about these terms and conditions," the statement said.

Manuel also pleaded guilty to lying in an application filed with the US Labor Department to obtain foreign labor certifications and visas under the federal H2B guest worker program.

"These defendants victimized vulnerable individuals for profit," said Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division.

Agencies involved in investigating the case include Immigration and Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, and the US Department of Labor.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100917/ts_alt_afp/usphilippinesjusticelabor_20100917215957

[Pinay Wife 47]

Serve them right. I hope they rot in jail.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Serve them right. I hope they rot in jail.

Me too.

[FSB 0]

this people are in-human,and whats wrong witt them??????????????

[Gary and Alla 3,695]

But WHATEVER we do, we need to protect their 4th amendment right and NOT ask them for ID.

Is this getting through to anyone? Until employers are punished for exploiting people this will continue. Protect human rights! DEMAND that anyone employing illegals be driven from business with draconian taxes! we MUST protect people from being exploited. Minimum wage applies to ALL people, not just white people!

[Gary and Alla 3,695]

this people are in-human,and whats wrong witt them??????????????

Nothing. They make the same business decision to hire illegals made by millions of others. Because the punishment for violating labor and wage laws is so tiny, they are money ahead to exploit brown people.

What is wrong with US that we argue the relative benefitrs of useless measures like fences, rather than DEMANDING our government stop the exploitation of humans by severly punishing employers of them. What do you think will happen when undocumented workers are employed

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

in the linked article it sounds like the staff had visas (obtained illegitimately by their employers) so it doesn't appear that they were undocumented.

Edited September 18, 2010 by Trompe le Monde