In June of 2018, two Monterey County site inspectors visited a Salinas cannabis farm, where they encountered a small group of farmworkers who they suspected had been trafficked.
The farmworkers, who spoke no English, took off running when Monterey County Resource Management Agency officials approached them. They couldn鈥檛 go far, though 鈥� the cultivation site was fenced in. The farmworkers seemed terrified, the county鈥檚 prosecuting attorney later said.
Their behavior was unusual enough that inspectors called the Monterey County Sheriff鈥檚 Office, who sent deputies to investigate.
It soon became clear the dozen or so Hmong farmworkers, employed by labor contractor Levi Trimmigration, were living in substandard housing: metal shipping containers furnished only with camping equipment. They had no running water, no ventilation and slept on camping cots.
According to the, California is one of the most prominent sites of human trafficking in the U.S. In 2018, of the nearly 11,000 cases reported nationally, more than 1,600 came from California. About 150 of those cases were reports of labor trafficking.
A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on private property rights has human trafficking experts, including former law enforcement officers, advocates, and attorneys, worried that trafficked laborers will now be left without anyone looking out for them. These advocates say union organizers are among the first to recognize signs of labor trafficking.
In the, announced in late June, the Supreme Court decided to uphold private property rights over organizing rights, prohibiting California union organizers from fields and bunkhouses.
The conservative majority held that the access regulations allowed 鈥減hysical invasion鈥� of the land without compensation.
Increasingly, many farmworkers are indigenous Mexicans. In many cases, they do not speak, read, or write English or Spanish, and may be unaware of their rights while working in the U.S. That makes them vulnerable to labor abuses or trafficking.
鈥淎 lot of these workers are living in labor camps owned by the employer, are transported to and from their worksites, and these folks are isolated,鈥� said Elizabeth Strater, United Farm Workers Director of Strategic Campaigns. 鈥淭hey never leave their employers鈥� property. In some instances, they are isolated by design.鈥�
What is labor trafficking?
Labor trafficking is a form of human trafficking. It involves forcing or coercing someone to provide labor or services, such as picking produce in the fields or washing dishes in a restaurant.
California鈥檚 Department of Justice estimates that up to 17,500 trafficking victims are brought into the country annually. Men, women, entire families, and children as young as 5 years old have been found to be victims of labor trafficking in agriculture, working as migrant or seasonal farmworkers harvesting and packing crops or raising animals, according to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
Given its enormous agricultural sector, Monterey County Deputy District Attorney Greg Peterson said the county is likely a leading county for labor trafficking. However, experts say it is significantly underreported and under-enforced in comparison to sex trafficking.
鈥淚 believe that labor trafficking is hiding in plain sight,鈥� said Stephany Powell, director of law enforcement training and survivor services for the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. 鈥淗ow many times do we drive past agricultural places and see people picking cherries or vegetables? Your assumption is if they鈥檙e out there doing that in plain sight that it must be okay. You aren鈥檛 even thinking that these people are underpaid, not being paid at all, or are being kept in living conditions that no one would live in.
鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing it, but we don鈥檛 know what we鈥檙e seeing.鈥�
Derek Marsh, assistant director of Vanguard University鈥檚 Global Center for Women and Justice, has done anti-trafficking work since the early 2000s, when he worked as a deputy chief in Orange County鈥檚 Westminster police department.
鈥淯nfortunately, labor trafficking on the whole is not well recognized or prosecuted,鈥� Marsh said. 鈥淏ecause sex trafficking is so egregious, both federal and local officials focus on that, to the exclusion of labor trafficking.鈥�
Sowing seeds of fear
Labor trafficking is notoriously difficult to spot and can take many forms. Migrant farmworkers 鈥� like the Hmong workers found living in shipping containers alongside the Salinas cannabis field 鈥� are ripe for labor abuses.
In some cases, captors confiscate workers鈥� passports, visas or drivers鈥� licenses, and tell victims they have to work to earn them back. In others, they might force victims to live or work in unsafe or unsanitary conditions or promise a rate of pay they never deliver on.
Captors sow fear in the minds of workers to control them, Marsh said. They may tell farmworkers that if they speak with the authorities about their circumstances, they will be deported, or they鈥檒l never see their families again.
鈥淚f a human trafficker is doing their job, they鈥檝e convinced these people they can鈥檛 go to the authorities, they鈥檒l lose their status, they鈥檒l go to jail,鈥� said Peterson, who prosecuted the Levi Trimmigration case. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e worked to convince them they鈥檙e not safe and they need the traffickers to help them.鈥�
At least 80% of labor trafficking victims have come to the U.S. legally, and it鈥檚 only through victimization that they lose their status as workers, Marsh said.
People who have experienced labor trafficking can suffer complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after a series of traumatic experiences like the day-in and day-out of being trafficked. Meanwhile, companies that traffic people often enjoy significant profits off their labor. Marsh added that forced labor, which often comes with long hours and unsanitary conditions, could translate into food safety issues for consumers.
鈥淚f you have a slave force, you don鈥檛 have to pay what the market demands,鈥� Marsh said. 鈥淎s a business person, you are not going to be competitive with competitors doing that, because their costs are lower.鈥�
Language barriers, employer-provided housing, employment-dependent visas and work located in remote fields create significant barriers for farmworkers who feel they are being exploited, said Powell, with the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
鈥淭he only information they get is from the people that have them in captivity鈥o having the labor unions giving them information, there鈥檚 another watchful eye,鈥� she said. 鈥淣ow, they鈥檙e not invisible.鈥�
While Marsh said he had not heard of many incidences of union organizers identifying labor trafficking, it is important that farmworkers have regular contact with people 鈥� such as organizers 鈥� who could identify signs of trafficking.
鈥淚n my mind, the more eyes, the merrier,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t makes sure operations are transparent and they have informed employees.鈥�
Beyond a reasonable doubt
Experts agree that labor trafficking is notoriously difficult to prosecute.
In many cases, traumatized victims are reluctant to speak with police, and when they do, their stories don鈥檛 always match up. Additionally, people from outside the U.S. who have been trafficked often want to go home rather than participate in a years-long lawsuit.
Many counties have followed Santa Clara and Alameda counties鈥� leads by focusing on charging for workers鈥� compensation violations and fraud, Peterson said.
鈥淭hat is the easiest way to go after people we suspect of human trafficking but don鈥檛 have the evidence to go after them,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f they鈥檙e keeping them captive, they鈥檙e probably not compensating them properly and are doing anything (they can) under the table.鈥�
Although officials suspected Levi Trimmigration owners Eesai and Chang Lee Levi of trafficking the Hmong workers, they were charged only with withholding pay from workers, Peterson said.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 think we could prove it beyond a reasonable doubt,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t really showed me just how challenging these cases can be.鈥�
This article is part of the , a collaboration among newsrooms examining income inequality and economic survival in California.