Migrant workers say they were lured into forced labor in Michigan
Five Guatemalan farmworkers allege they were trapped in grueling conditions and denied pay
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A group of Guatemalan farmworkers is accusing a Michigan labor contractor of human trafficking, wage theft, and coercion in a federal lawsuit set to go to trial later this month.
The workers say Purpose Point Harvesting, LLC lured them to the U.S. with promises of legal employment and fair pay, only to trap them in grueling conditions in Michigan farm fields with long hours, underpayment, and threats of retaliation if they spoke out. They allege the company confiscated their passports and controlled their bank accounts, leaving them unable to leave or access wages they had earned.
The trial, scheduled to begin May 28 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, stems from a 2022 lawsuit filed on behalf of five Guatemalan nationals who came to the U.S. legally under the federal H-2A visa program. They are represented by attorneys from Migrant Legal Aid and Boies Schiller Flexner.
The plaintiffs are all from a small, impoverished town in the mountains of Guatemala.
“They are coming 3,000 miles. They are leaving their families and putting their lives on the line to make as much money in as little time as they can and then go home,” Teresa Hendricks, of Migrant Legal Aid, tells Metro Times. “But they came to broken promises. The decision is life-altering for them.”
According to court documents, the workers were charged $2,500 each in illegal recruitment fees before leaving Guatemala, a debt that tied them to their employer. Once in Michigan, they were forced to work as many as 18 hours a day, sometimes starting before dawn and ending after dark, without the pay required under federal labor law. Medical care was restricted or denied, and when workers complained, they were threatened with deportation or reported to immigration authorities, according to the complaint.
“This case is about forced labor, plain and simple,” Hendricks says. “These workers were promised opportunity. Instead, they were exploited.”
The lawsuit accuses Purpose Point and its operators, Emilto Moreno Gomez and Lucille Jean Moreno, of violating the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act, as well as Michigan’s Human Trafficking Victims Compensation Act and state wage laws. It also includes breach of contract claims.
Defendants deny the allegations and have filed a counterclaim, accusing two of the workers of breaching their employment agreements by quitting early or slowing down production. But a judge limited the damages Purpose Point can seek at trial, ruling the company failed to properly disclose claims tied to its inability to hire more workers in later seasons.
If the plaintiffs prevail, they are seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as attorney’s fees. The case is being closely watched by labor advocates and immigration groups, who say it highlights the potential for abuse within the H-2A visa program, which ties foreign workers to individual employers.
“Even though they come on a legal program, the H-2A program, where they’ve done all the things and have their passport and traveled legally, when those passports are taken from them, they are left to be picked up and treated like anyone who would be here illegally,” Kenya Davis, of Boies Schiller Flexner, says. “If they are vocal, there is a risk of retaliation.”
Attorneys and activists say this is far from an isolated case.
“This is the tip of the iceberg,” Hendricks says. “There are hundreds of thousands of workers like this. And people don’t think about it when they eat fruits and vegetables that were handpicked by farmworkers.”
The abuse, she adds, is enabled in part by lax enforcement.
“The Department of Labor investigators could be more aggressive with this,” Hendricks says. “But in my experience, they pre-announce when they are going to inspect a place. In western Michigan, that has been the case each time with Purpose Point. Each time they were alerted with a lot of advance notice.”
She says the situation is bad not just for migrants but for domestic workers and ethical employers.
“We have 100,000 farmworkers in Michigan who can take these jobs, but more and more employers are using H-2A labor because (the workers) are more compliant and less likely to stand up for themselves,” she says. “This is bad for labor brokers who are doing it right because they are getting undercut, and it suppresses wages for U.S. workers.”
Hendricks says exploitative employers know how to manipulate the system.
“There is no doubt that people who want to use H-2A labor know the rules,” she says. “We know they flout these rules and make a lot of money doing it. It’s about profit and keeping their secrets in their companies and grooming the workers to make them believe they are part of the family.”
Metro Times reached out to Purpose Point Harvesting for comment, but a woman who answered the phone declined to comment.
