H-2A worker passport lawsuit

A class-action lawsuit filed on April 17 says a North Carolina farm and labor contractor took H-2A workers’ passports to keep them from leaving the job. (cdmigrante.org) The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina by Fernando Javier Rodríguez Luna against Alvino Avilez Castaneda, Avilez & Sons Harvesting LLC, and Jackson Farming Company of Autryville. It alleges the passports were returned only after the U.S. Department of Labor opened an investigation. (cdmigrante.org) The complaint also alleges that dozens of workers paid thousands of dollars in illegal recruitment fees, were not reimbursed for travel and visa costs, and were paid below the wages required under the H-2A program. The worker’s lawyers said the case seeks class-action status. (cdmigrante.org) The H-2A program lets farms hire foreign workers for temporary or seasonal agricultural jobs after getting federal approval. The visa is tied to a specific employer or agent, who must file the petition before a worker can come to the United States. (dol.gov, uscis.gov) That structure has grown more important as farms rely more heavily on guest workers. The Government Accountability Office said approved H-2A jobs and visas rose by more than 50 percent from fiscal 2018 to fiscal 2023, and the State Department issued almost 310,000 H-2A visas in fiscal 2023. (gao.gov, travel.state.gov) North Carolina is one of the states most reliant on the program. The Government Accountability Office said five states — California, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Washington — accounted for 51 percent of H-2A jobs in fiscal 2023. (gao.gov) Farm groups are pushing for easier access to H-2A workers as labor shortages persist. The North Carolina Chamber said Trump administration changes in 2025 and 2026 were intended to streamline employer access, lower costs, and revise wage-setting rules, including a new state hourly rate of $12.69 for most North Carolina H-2A jobs this year. (ncchamber.com) Worker advocates say abuse complaints have followed the program’s expansion, especially when labor contractors sit between farms and workers. ProPublica reported in February that roughly 2 in 5 H-2A workers are now directly overseen by a labor contractor and that inspectors are too scarce to adequately vet compliance. (propublica.org) North Carolina has seen similar claims before. Legal Aid of North Carolina said 13 former H-2A workers settled trafficking and wage claims in July 2024 after alleging their employer seized passports and Social Security cards and used deportation threats to force them to work. (legalaidnc.org) Another North Carolina case ended last month with a $305,000 settlement for 99 H-2A workers who alleged wage theft at Lee and Sons Farms in Four Oaks. The new lawsuit will test those protections again, this time over whether workers’ legal documents were used as leverage on the job. (ncjustice.org, cdmigrante.org)