From Mexico to the northern border, federal agents nab forced labor, visa fraud

By Bethany Blankley
The Center Square

Federal agents continue to pursue visa fraud and forced labor crimes across the U.S. perpetrated by Americans and noncitizens who exploited a border crisis and loopholes in a weak visa system, prosecutors argue.

The prosecutions come as Mexican smuggling operations at the northern border continue to be thwarted, The Center Square reported.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington announced this week 61 indictments against six people in the Tri-Cities and Yakima areas for extensive visa fraud, victim tampering, aggravated identity theft, mail and wire fraud, visa fraud and other charges. Two people who remain at large, Cesar Jamie Rebolledo Diaz and Socorro Ramos, were indicted on ten counts. Four others were indicted on 51 counts.

Rebolledo Diaz and Ramos, both living in Yakima, were charged with fraudulently obtaining 103 temporary H-2A visas through a federal agricultural program. They falsely claimed they worked for Marquez Farms LLC, in Wapato, Washington, in documents submitted to the U.S. departments of State, Labor and Citizenship and Immigration Services, authorities allege.

The scheme involved recruiting Mexican nationals to work at Marquez Farms, claiming they’d provide housing, food, paid travel, visas, and predictable work hours, authorities allege. Once the visas were approved, they picked up the Mexican nationals at the U.S.-Mexico border and transported them to eastern Washington using school buses with no air conditioning or water, according to the charges. The Mexicans were then forced to work without pay, little food or adequate housing facilities and instructed to remain silent when investigations began, according to the charges.

“When bad actors exploit vulnerable workers or attempt to game the system, we investigate, we expose, and we hold them accountable,” Department of Labor Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito said. “At the same time, we safeguard the U.S. employers who follow the law and play by the rules. We will continue working with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to ensure these programs serve legitimate labor needs — not criminal enterprises. Fraud will not be tolerated. Accountability is not optional.”

In the second indictment, four people, Francisco Rodríguez Martel, Esmeralda Rodríguez, Erica Cisneros and Giovanna Sierra Carrillo, were charged with obtaining more than 500 fraudulent visas and operating a more oppressive forced labor environment. They submitted fraudulent applications for “bogus job locations, hours and wages,” to federal agencies for 10 farms in Yakima and Benton Counties for the 2022 to 2024 crop seasons, authorities allege.

They claimed they’d provide food, housing, safety equipment, fair wages and reliable hours, coverage for injury or illness. Instead, the Mexicans were forced to work under extreme heat conditions without access to clean water, were exposed to chemical pesticides without proper protection, lived in overcrowded housing with no access to kitchen facilities and were forced to pay illegal housing and food fees, according to the charges.

“The importance of this case cannot be understated,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Pete Serrano said. “When the United States Attorney’s office receives credible information from investigating agencies that stand as the basis for immigration fraud, we will charge these cases.”

According to a 2024 state audit, Washington’s H-2A program expanded by 420% from having roughly 6,000 H-2A visas in 2013 to 33,000 in 2022. Recent increases occurred as the Biden administration changed visa policies and human smuggling increased, The Center Square reported.

Under the Trump administration, the visa process is being revamped, fraudulent claims are being investigated and victims are being rescued from forced labor situations. The administration has been making thousands of worksite enforcement actions, from Nebraska to Illinois, to Tennessee, Louisiana, North Carolina and Texas, The Center Square reported.

Many forced labor situations involve minors, including children as young as 13 working for an Iowa janitorial service operating meat processing machinery; and children as young as 14 performing dangerous jobs at a California poultry processing facility and operating dangerous equipment at a Tennessee parts manufacturer, The Center Square reported.

In addition to reviewing fraudulent visa applications, federal investigators are conducting I-9 inspections and audits in accordance with federal law. “These inspections are among the federal government’s most effective tools to enforce U.S. employment laws,” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says. ICE imposes civil fines, makes criminal referrals, makes criminal arrests of employers and administrative arrests of unauthorized workers after uncovering “multiple forms of criminal activity,” including human trafficking, document fraud, and human rights abuses, including forced labor.

In fiscal 2024, the Department of Labor investigated 736 cases of child labor violations impacting more than 4,000 children nationwide, The Center Square reported.