The Global Lawyer: The Slave Next Door
A dozen law firms team up to stop human trafficking, and send Congress a signal.
August 24, 2015 at 07:55 PM
7 minute read
To rehab oil rigs after Hurricane Katrina, Gulf Coast shipyards faced a labor crunch. Signal International Inc. lured nearly 500 welders and pipefitters from India with the promise of a green card.
Problem is, the workers never got a green card. Instead, they were stuck with an “H-2″ visa, under a flawed program for unskilled guest workers that immigration reformers and pro bono lawyers call an invitation to wage servitude.
The Indian laborers hocked family jewels and mortgaged homes to pay a recruiter up to $15,000 for the privilege of living 24 to a trailer amid pools of standing water. This will be good enough for them, the managers emailed among themselves. “It will be like the Taj Mahal,” one email read.
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