Ricardo, USA: Agricultural worker
For Ricardo, it all started about four years ago, when he was offered the chance for well-paid work in the United States. An agent offered to organize his travel and employment and took a payment to cover costs. He escorted Ricardo and a group of others to the Sonoran Desert, and then deserted them, leaving them with nothing except food and water supplies for three days. The group spent eight days lost in the desert. When another agent appeared, they had no choice but to accept his offer of help, but they would have to pay. They made it out of the desert alive, but this was not the end of their ordeal. When the agent discovered they didn’t have the money to pay him, he handed them over to a man who was taking workers to Florida. The journey took over a week, with 16 of them packed n the back of a van. They had nothing to eat, and had to urinate into a bottle. Once in Florida, they were sold to a labor contractor for $1,100. The contractor explained that they would have to work to pay back the money they now owed him.
Every day he took them to work on tomato farms. The work was back-breaking, a normal day lasted from 5:00am until 7:00pm. “I was practically dying,” says Ricardo, “we didn't eat very well, the water was polluted that we were drinking.” On pay day, Ricardo was given a check for $80, but immediately the contractor charged him $40 towards his debt, $30 for rent, electricity, water and food, and he was left with only $10.This system of payment continued, with the workers' debts increasing, it seemed the contractor would never let them leave.
One of his co-workers tried to escape, but was caught. The contractor beat him and threatened to kill him if he attempted another escape. “This is when I realized that it was really slavery,” Ricardo remembers. “The next day I was sick from … bad food and I was weak and I couldn't work. But that wasn't enough. They made me work, I had no choice. I went because I was afraid.”
Ricardo and five of his co-workers managed to escape during a supervised trip to buy food. They made their way to a town, where they met a Mexican woman who offered to help them. Her father arranged for them to work on an orange farm, and for the first time since arriving in the US, they received wages. But after two weeks, the contractor learned of their whereabouts, and visited them, claiming each of them owed him $5,000. Ricardo called the police, but they did nothing and the man walked free. It was only with the support of a local organization, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, that they were able to stop the contractor enslaving other workers. The organization contacted immigration agents, who set up an undercover operation. This confirmed that workers were being enslaved on tomato farms. But once the workers were set free, most of them were not recognized as victims of trafficking, but instead treated as illegal migrants and forced to leave the country immediately.
It was through the support of the Coalition that Ricardo managed to stay, but even today he lives in fear of reprisals from the traffickers he exposed. Ricardo still receives anonymous threats by phone, and on one occasion, was threatened by a man with a gun. But the police are doing nothing to protect him, despite his willingness to help them in their investigations. They have not even taken the most basic precaution of providing Ricardo with a mobile phone or panic alarm.
Thought for reflection: Let the awareness of this story begin to seep into your consciousness. It’s happening in the world that you and I inhabit. It’s happening in the Good world that God has made. It’s happening in almost every country. It’s happening here in our own city of Houston, Texas. Tikkun olam ( תיקון עולם) is a Hebrew phrase that means "repairing the world" (or "healing and restoring the world") which suggests humanity's shared responsibility (with the Creator) "to heal, repair and transform the world." Maybe the old adage is true… “we are the ones we have been waiting for”. Gods calls us….
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