US company sued for human trafficking by over 500 Indian guest workers

[News_Editor]

US company sued for human trafficking by over 500 Indian guest workers

2011-02-22 22:58:20 GMT+7 (ICT)

HOUSTON (BNO NEWS) -- Over 500 guest workers brought from India to work in U.S. shipyards after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 are suing an American company for human trafficking and racketeering, The Times of India reported Tuesday.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has joined the class action lawsuit, has charged that the workers were trafficked into the U.S. through the federal government's H-2B guest worker programme with dishonest assurances of becoming lawful permanent US residents and subjected to squalid living conditions, fraudulent payment practices, and threats of serious harm upon their arrival.

The complaint alleges that recruiting agents hired by the marine industry company Signal International held the guest workers' passports and visas, and coerced them into paying extraordinary fees for recruitment, immigration processing and travel. The workers, who were forced to live in overcrowded labour camps, were allegedly subjected to psychological abuse and defrauded out of adequate payment for their work.

In a statement, the ACLU said the lawsuit could be the largest human trafficking case in US history if class status is granted.

Signal, a marine and fabrication company with shipyards in Mississippi, Texas and Alabama, is a subcontractor for several major multinational companies.

The workers have testified before the UN special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, the UN special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and senior staff at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

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