Georgia, once dependent on slavery for its economy, is again the center of the slave trade as federal law enforcement agents last month indicted two dozen people for forcing Mexican and Central American immigrants to the United States to work on farms and live in camps run by the traffickers, NBC News reports.
In a years-long investigation dubbed Operation Blooming Onion, authorities tracked the movement of people and money in an organization that netted the accused more than $200 million. The trafficking resulted in the death of two migrants and the repeated rape of another out of around 100 people trafficked. Other victims said they were repeatedly threatened with violence or death if they did not comply with the demands of the traffickers.
The defendants reportedly used H-2A visas, designated for agricultural workers, to bring the victims into the United States. The workers’ lives were then controlled by the traffickers, who paid the workers just 20¢ per bucket for onions harvested from Georgia farm fields.