January 1, Mexicans Indicted Exploiting Visa Workers Slavery

Wyatt’s Take

• Federal grand jury hits three Mexican nationals with 35 counts for trafficking farmworkers into forced labor via H-2A visas.
• They lured folks from Mexico with job promises, stole documents, and trapped them in brutal conditions across three states.
• Faces up to 20 years each on forced labor charges after a prior settlement banned their company from hiring.

A federal grand jury indicted Martha Zeferino Jose, 42, her partner, and son Jeremy Zeferino Jose, 23, on Friday.

They ran Las Princesas Corporation out of Washington, North Carolina, exploiting the H-2A visa program from August 2021 to July 2022.

Prosecutors say the trio brought Mexican laborers to farms and nurseries in Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida under false pretenses.

Three individuals have been indicted for exploiting the H-2A visa program to lure vulnerable workers from Mexico to the United States with promises of legitimate employment, only to then confiscate their identity documents and force them to labor in inhumane conditions, Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva said.

Martha filed false paperwork promising fair wages, housing, and labor rules, but never planned to follow through.

Recruiters charged steep fees before border crossing, then defendants seized passports and IDs on arrival.

Workers faced grueling shifts without water or breaks, lived in filthy overcrowded quarters without heat or bedding, and lacked food or medical care.

Defendants barred escapes, kept workers in groups, cut off contact, and used threats of arrest and deportation.

When Labor Department probed, Martha returned documents just before inspectors and coached lies; her partner warned of deportation for truth-telling.

Charges include forced labor, conspiracy, alien harboring for profit, and document servitude, with up to 20 years per forced labor count.

A federal court in December 2025 settled for $215,000 to 366 workers and banned Las Princesas from ag labor for three years.

We will find and eradicate any illegal immigration we find here in the EDNC, said U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle for Eastern District of North Carolina.

We do not tolerate abuse of the system to hurt unsuspecting victims of human trafficking.

Folks, keep sharing these stories to hold the line against scams hurting real workers everywhere.

Wyatt Matters

Real labor means fair pay and safe conditions for everyone, protecting heartland values of honest work and community trust.

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