Tribune News Service – When a coalition of federal and local law enforcement agents swarmed a Bartow county flooring manufacturer in the US state of Georgia late last month, some workers picked up and ran, mistakenly thinking an immigration raid was taking place.
The authorities’ arrival at Wellmade Industries in Cartersville, roughly 64km (40 miles) north of Atlanta, was the culmination of what an official described as a “massive” labour trafficking investigation.
At an April 4 news conference, Steven Schrank, special agent with a division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, said law enforcement encountered 60 victims of “horrific” forced labour.
He confirmed that the plant was just one of eight locations searched, in addition to seven residences where workers were being held in cramped conditions.
Those sweeps yielded two arrests: Wellmade Industries’ owner, Zhu Chen, and his nephew, Jiayi Chen. A third person connected to the company, Jian Jun Lu, was arrested on April 5. All three face felony charges of “trafficking of persons for labour or sexual servitude.”
At bond hearings on April 7, assistant district attorney Austin Waldo said Wellmade Industries’ workers had their travel documents confiscated once they arrived to the US, making it more difficult for them to leave, according to coverage from WBHF.
Employees were Chinese nationals who had been recruited through a temporary visa programme and promised high salaries. Instead, they were reportedly required to work 12-hour shifts, and they were not allowed to leave the factory or their residence.
Waldo said there were several calls to authorities reporting slave labour-like conditions, WBHF reported.
Zhu and Jiayi Chen were granted US$200,000 bonds.
Conditions set by Judge Neal Brunt include the following: the Chens must have no contact with Wellmade Industries employees and must stay away from the facility. Their whereabouts will be tracked electronically, and they can only leave their houses to attend medical or legal appointments, to go to church, or to shop for essentials.
In a statement, Zhu Chen’s lawyer, Colette Resnik Steel, said her client has lawfully lived and worked in the US for more than a decade.
“He is a proud American citizen who has invested a tremendous amount of time, energy and money to create a productive and successful manufacturing business in Georgia,” she said. “He has always followed the law and has relied on prominent lawyers to ensure that the business is in compliance with the law.”
Jiayi Chen’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
Chinese nationals were recently at the centre of another labour exploitation case in Georgia. A group of Savannah-based Chinese workers sought law enforcement’s help, claiming that more than a month had passed before they were paid for their work at a local warehouse, where they had been loading and unloading trucks. Earlier this year, they were granted hundreds of thousands of dollars in back wages and damages.
“Exploitation of immigrant workers is unfortunately a reality within this country and in Georgia across industries, visa classifications, workers from all over the world have been impacted,” said Anjali Nair, deputy director at Asian-American Advancing Justice-Atlanta.
“When repeated practices arise of workers from particular countries, we should take note of the need for reforms prioritising accessible, multilingual information that empowers each individual within this country to enforce their rights.”
At the April 4 news conference, Schrank confirmed that officials did question workers about their immigration status, in addition to asking if they has been victims of trafficking. He said that there are avenues for trafficking victims and witnesses of crime to remain in the country, even if they are here illegally.
“No one that was encountered at that site has been yet removed from the United States,” he said. “Largely, we were focused on foreign nationals that were being victimised.”
