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This article demonstrates how migrants are abused, and often blamed for things that are out of their control, and mostly not true. These particular migrants are being blamed for spreading the covid-19 disease. Other behavior towards the migrants include, "unlawful killings; enforced disappearances; torture and other ill-treatment; rape and other sexual violence;arbitrary detention;and forced labour and exploitation at the hands of state and non-state actors in a climate of near total impunity." These refugees when escaping are often caught on waters by European Union States, and returned to Libya, where they face punishment. When they are purely searching for a better life, they are treated as criminals and individuals who aren't wanted by anyone.

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Tens of thousands of refugees and migrants in Libya are trapped in a vicious cycle of cruelty with little to no hope of finding safe and legal pathways out, Amnesty International said in a new report published today. After enduring unconscionable suffering in Libya, refugees and migrants risk their lives at sea seeking safety in Europe, only to be intercepted, transferred back to Libya and delivered to the same abuses they sought to escape. This comes a day after the European Commission announced its new 'Migration Pact', a major pillar of which is even stronger cooperation with countries outside the EU to control migration flows.

Libya, a country torn apart by years of war, has become an even more hostile environment for refugees and migrants seeking a better life. Instead of being protected, they are met with a catalogue of appalling human rights abuses and now unfairly blamed for the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic on deeply racist and xenophobic grounds. Despite this, even in 2020 the EU and its member states continue to implement policies trapping tens of thousands of men, women and children in a vicious cycle of abuse, showing a callous disregard for people's lives and dignity,

Diana Eltahawy

The report 'Between life and death': Refugees and migrants trapped in Libya's cycle of abuse documents the harrowing accounts of refugees and migrants who have suffered or witnessed a litany of abuses in Libya including unlawful killings; enforced disappearances; torture and other ill-treatment; rape and other sexual violence; arbitrary detention; and forced labour and exploitation at the hands of state and non-state actors in a climate of near-total impunity. The report also details more recent developments, including the transfer of people disembarked in Libya to unofficial places of detention - such as Tripoli's notorious Tobacco Factory - and the summary deportation of thousands of refugees and migrants from Libya's eastern regions.

"Libya, a country torn apart by years of war, has become an even more hostile environment for refugees and migrants seeking a better life. Instead of being protected, they are met with a catalogue of appalling human rights abuses and now unfairly blamed for the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic on deeply racist and xenophobic grounds. Despite this, even in 2020 the EU and its member states continue to implement policies trapping tens of thousands of men, women and children in a vicious cycle of abuse, showing a callous disregard for people's lives and dignity," said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International's Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

"Given the Libyan authorities' consistent failure to address long-standing patterns of abuse against refugees and migrants, including by state officials and affiliated militias, the EU and its member states must completely reconsider their co-operation with Libyan authorities, making any further support conditional on immediate action to stop horrific abuses against refugees and migrants. This would include ending arbitrary detention and closing immigration detention centres. Until then, anyone rescued or intercepted in the central Mediterranean should not be returned to Libya, but instead be allowed to disembark in a place of safety."

Since 2016, European Union (EU) member states, led by Italy, have been collaborating with the Libyan authorities - providing speedboats, training and assistance in the co-ordination of operations at sea - to ensure people attempting to flee the country by boat are intercepted at sea and brought back to Libya. During this period, an estimated 60,000 men, women and children have been captured at sea and disembarked in Libya by the EU-supported Libyan Coast Guard (LCG), 8,435 of them between 1 January and 14 September 2020 alone. Driven by a desire to stop arrivals at all costs, EU states have offered their support to Libya - in an effort to circumvent international laws prohibiting pushbacks - without conditioning it upon strict human rights guarantees.
Brought back to Libya to face abuse
Refugees and migrants intercepted at sea by the LCG are brought back to Libya, where they are subjected to enforced disappearances, indefinite and arbitrary detention, torture and extortion.

When disembarked in Libya in 2020, thousands of refugees and migrants have ended up detained in official Directorate for Combatting Illegal Migration (DCIM) detention centres, under the authority of the ministry of interior of the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), in control of western Libya. But thousands more have been subjected to enforced disappearance in 2020 after being transferred to unofficial places of detention, including the Tobacco Factory (a reference to its former function) under the command of a GNA-affiliated militia led by Emad al-Trabulsi in Tripoli, amid fears for their life and safety.

Given the Libyan authorities' consistent failure to address long-standing patterns of abuse against refugees and migrants, including by state officials and affiliated militias, the EU and its member states must completely reconsider their co-operation with Libyan authorities, making any further support conditional on immediate action to stop horrific abuses against refugees and migrants.

Diana Eltahawy

On land, refugees and migrants also live under constant risk not only of being arrested and sent to detention centres, but also of being abducted by militias, armed groups and traffickers. Some are tortured or raped until their families pay ransoms to secure their release. Others die in custody as a result of violence, torture, starvation or medical neglect.

Dozens of refugees and migrants described to Amnesty International witnessing the death of their loved ones while detained at official DCIM centres or in other places of captivity run by traffickers.

On 27 May 2020, armed men opened fire on around 200 refugees and migrants held by traffickers near the town of Mazda, killing at least 30 and injuring 11. The others remain unaccounted for, feared dead or abducted.

Libyan authorities' promises to investigate the Mazda killings and other crimes against refugees and migrants have not led to accountability. Two men under arrest warrant by the Libyan prosecution and placed on the UN sanctions list for their alleged role in human trafficking retain official ties to the GNA. Ahmad al-Dabbashi, also known as "al-Amou", was seen fighting alongside GNA forces in April 2020, while Abdelrahman Milad, also known as "Bidja", works as an LCG commander at the al-Zawiya oil refinery.
Caught in the crossfire
Militias and armed groups have committed violations of international humanitarian law against refugees and migrants including unlawful deprivation of liberty, torture and apparently indiscriminate attacks Amnesty International verified videos showing militias and armed groups parading and abusing refugees and migrants. They have also forced migrants to participate in military operations, endangering their lives and safety.

One refugee told Amnesty International that in May 2020 a militia affiliated with the GNA took him along with other refugees and migrants from a Tripoli DCIM detention centre, where they were all detained, and forced them for hours to transport ammunition between two positions in Tripoli. At that time, fighting was raging in Tripoli.
No way out but the deadly sea
Given the horrific conditions and abuses, existing resettlement and evacuation programmes are insufficient for providing safe and legal pathways out of Libya for those in need, with only 5,709 vulnerable refugees benefiting from such programmes since 2017, as of 11 September 2020. This reflects the small number of resettlement pledges made by countries receiving refugees, including EU member states. Travel restrictions imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic have further exacerbated the situation, with only 297 refugees evacuated from Libya in 2020, before borders closed in March 2020.

A refugee told Amnesty International in August: "Right now refugees [are] going to cross the sea... [There is] no evacuation and no resettlement... Refugees in Libya are at risk. [We are] between life and death."

This means that desperate refugees and migrants have few viable ways out of Libya other than risk crossing the Mediterranean on unseaworthy boats. Crossings, however, continue to be extremely dangerous, including because of interceptions by LCG and criminal groups. In one deadly incident in mid-August, survivors told Amnesty International that armed men on board a boat named "Captain al-Salam 181" robbed them and then fired at their boat, causing the engine to catch fire and the boat to capsize. An estimated 40 people died after being left in distress at sea.
Exploitation, squalid living conditions, violence
Amnesty International's research found that refugees and migrants are often exploited by employers and subjected to forced labour by militias and armed groups.

Many live in squalid conditions without access to clean water and washing facilities, increasing their vulnerability to COVID-19 with physical distancing and preventative hygienic measures impossible to follow. Despite this, refugees and migrants face barriers to accessing health care and have been largely excluded from official COVID-19 prevention efforts.

Refugees and migrants are also a constant target for robbery. Women and girls are at heightened risk of sexual violence. They refrain from approaching police or prosecutors, fearing detention or revenge by alleged perpetrators.
Racism and xenophobia
Refugees and migrants also face rampant racism and xenophobia. Government officials, members of armed groups and militias, and media often use racist language to refer to Black people. The COVID-19 pandemic has further fuelled racism, with officials and private individuals publicly blaming refugees and migrants for the spread of the virus and calling for their expulsion.

Amnesty International's research revealed that de facto authorities in eastern Libya forcibly expelled over 5,000 refugees and migrants in 2020 without due process or the opportunity to challenge their deportation. The accusation that those arrested were "carriers of contagious diseases" was among the reasons cited for the deportations.

In a blatant incident of discrimination documented by Amnesty International, an armed group prevented a bus from entering the south-eastern city of Kufra, unless three Chadian nationals alighted. The armed men ordered them to take a COVID-19 test and left them in the desert outside the city. The other passengers, all Libyan nationals, were allowed to proceed without the need for COVID-19 testing or other checks.
Background
The plight of refugees and migrants in Libya is taking place against the backdrop of ongoing armed conflict, insecurity and lawlessness. The struggle for governance and territorial control rages between the GNA, in control of most of western Libya, and the self-proclaimed Libyan National Army, in control of most of eastern Libya.

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refugees; migrants; libya; trapped in a vicious cycle of cruelty;

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Libya: New evidence shows refugees and migrants trapped in horrific cycle of abuses

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Tens of thousands of refugees and migrants in Libya are trapped in a vicious cycle of cruelty with little to no hope of finding safe and legal pathways out, Amnesty International said in a new report published today.

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One issue that has been frequently brought up with migration is the illegal ways in which they get to the countries they desire. This is accomplished through criminals taking larger groups of migrants through countries for money. What these migrants don't know is the smugglers treatment through the journey is very harsh, with many migrants dying solely from the journey. These smuggler routes generate revenue beyond regular value, raking in $6.75 billion dollars a year.

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The smuggling of migrants is a truly global concern, with a large number of countries affected by it as origin, transit or destination points. Profit-seeking criminals smuggle migrants across borders and between continents. Assessing the real size of this crime is a complex matter, owing to its underground nature and the difficulty of identifying when irregular migration is being facilitated by smugglers. Smugglers take advantage of the large number of migrants willing to take risks in search of a better life when they cannot access legal channels of migration.

Smuggled migrants are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Their safety and even their lives are often put at risk: they may suffocate in containers, perish in deserts or drown at sea while being smuggled by profit-seeking criminals who treat them as goods. As the crime is a clandestine one, accurate global figures are difficult to come by. Nevertheless, it is estimated that two of the principal smuggling routes - leading from East, North and West Africa to Europe and from South America to North America - generate about $6.75 billion a year for criminals. [1] The global figure is likely to be much higher.

Moving people for profit

The smuggling of migrants is the facilitation of crossing borders illegally or residing illegally in another country with the aim of making a financial or other material profit. This crime is often perpetrated by organized criminal networks, which seize the opportunity to make large profits from an illicit activity involving little risk of detection.

The profiles of the smugglers vary widely. Full-time professional criminals are involved in smuggling migrants around the world; some of those criminals are specialized in smuggling people, and some are not. There is evidence of both smaller and larger, more organized groups and networks operating as smugglers in all areas, although this varies by region and route. There are also many smugglers who run legitimate businesses and are involved in the smuggling of migrants as opportunistic carriers or hospitality providers who choose to look the other way in order to make some extra money. Corrupt officials and other individuals may also be involved in the process.

Smugglers of migrants are becoming more and more organized, establishing professional networks that transcend borders and encompass all regions. As with other forms of organized crime, the groups concerned have increased their operations by shifting routes in a bid to expand into other markets and circumvent the responses of States. Criminal groups have merged or formed cooperative relationships, expanding their geographical reach and the range of their criminal activities. Some criminal groups view migrants as simply one of many commodities to be smuggled, alongside drugs and firearms. Since the smuggling of migrants is a highly profitable illicit activity with a relatively low risk of detection, it is attractive to criminals.

The harsh search for a better life

People move to other countries for many reasons, but for undocumented migrants it is nearly always for a better life. This may be for themselves or for their families, and it may involve searching for work or escaping from poverty, natural disasters, violence, armed conflict or persecution.

Profit-seeking criminals exploit the lack of legal opportunities available to migrants and take advantage of their situation by offering services at great cost. While these may include services such as transport, they may also consist of document fraud. This can include the lending of stolen passports with photos that resemble the migrants, the falsification of travel or identity documents or the obtaining of genuine passports or visas on the basis of fraudulent supporting documents.

Because these services are illegal, the criminals have tremendous power, while the migrants are left vulnerable. Many migrants are abused or die on the way to their destination, and many are abandoned en route without resources. Refugees and asylum seekers, as well as vulnerable migrants such as unaccompanied minors and pregnant women, can be among those who pay a high price for smuggling services with no guarantee for their safety or the success of the venture.

In many cases, migrants are mistreated during the smuggling process and the conditions that they are made to endure are severe. When they realize the situation they are in, some migrants try and turn back, but they are inevitably forced to continue with the journey.

Routes and packages

There are many different ways of smuggling migrants; they range from simple to complex, from safe to dangerous and from cheap to very costly. The level of safety and ease of reaching the destination are dependent on the amount of money paid. Migrants with little financial means may opt for a "pay-as-you-go" package in which they pay bit by bit for different parts of the journey to smugglers who may not be linked with one another. These migrants are more likely to become stranded and be exposed to abuse. The more comprehensive "package deals" may be quicker, safer and have a higher guarantee of success, but they can also be considerably more expensive.

Smuggling routes can be affected by long detours and last-minute changes in the itinerary to take advantage of certain border policies or weaknesses in border control. The routes may originate and end on the same continent, be transcontinental or involve transiting through a third continent. Two examples of routes commonly used for the smuggling of migrants are the route leading from South America and Central America (as well as Mexico) to North America and the route leading from Africa to Europe.

From South America and Central America to North America

It is estimated that just under one third of all immigrants in the United States of America are there illegally, with about 80 per cent of the illegal immigrant population in the country originating in South America (as well as Mexico). Of all illegal immigrants in the United States, an estimated 25-40 per cent entered the country on a legal visa and then overstayed, and the remainder entered the country clandestinely. Of the latter group, 97 per cent entered the United States clandestinely through that country's border with Mexico; coastal apprehensions comprised less than 1 per cent of the total. [2] While not all illegal immigrants are smuggled, these figures do provide an indication of the extent of the situation.

Most migrants are smuggled across the border in trucks, although there have been cases in which the crossing is made on foot, by rail or even through special tunnels. The organized criminal groups involved in smuggling migrants across the border between Mexico and the United States appear to be based largely in Mexico and Central America. For the smugglers, there appears to be little risk of arrest, as they normally pretend to be irregular migrants themselves and are repatriated rather than apprehended.

While the percentage of migrants who have been smuggled is unknown, it is estimated that Latin Americans account for around 3 million illegal entries into the United States each year, generating an annual income of about $6.6 billion for criminals. [3] Incidents of hostage-taking and extortion have increasingly been noted, which highlights the diverse criminal elements involved in the smuggling of migrants.

Figures for 2008 show that 88 per cent of migrants apprehended at United States borders were Mexican nationals, 3 per cent were from Honduras, 3 per cent were from Guatemala, 2 per cent were from El Salvador and 4 per cent were from other countries. The fees charged for smuggling migrants differ substantially depending on the point of origin. Migrants smuggled across the border between Mexico and the United States pay about $2,000, [4] while migrants from beyond Mexico (and thus needing to cross multiple borders) could pay as much as $10,000.

Recent figures indicate that to migrants use indirect routes leading from other continents. Migrants from East Africa are transported along land routes to South Africa and then smuggled by air into Brazil. Once in South America, they then travel by sea or land to Costa Rica or Panama, or by air directly from Brazil to Mexico. Chinese and Indian migrants are often transported to Guatemala and travel from there by land to Mexico.

From East, North and West Africa to Europe

Each year, some 55,000 migrants are thought to be smuggled from East, North and West Africa into Europe, generating about $150 million in revenue for criminals. [5] While the number of migrants smuggled from Africa into Europe is far lower than the number smuggled from South America and Central America into North America, the conditions are no better: long desert routes and treacherous sea crossings. While figures on fatalities can be difficult to ascertain, media reports indicate that between 1996 and 2011, at least 1,691 people died while attempting to cross the Sahara [6] and that in 2008 alone, 1,000 deaths occurred during sea crossings. [7]

For African migrants travelling to Europe, the motivation for leaving their country of origin mirrors that of migrants from Central America and South America: a lack of economic opportunities and political instability are two of the leading reasons. It is believed that many migrants heading to Europe from Africa are either smuggled by air with the aid of fraudulent documents or initially enter Europe legally and then remain in the country of destination once their visa has expired. The rest are smuggled along a combination of land and sea routes, which can take considerably longer and be more dangerous.

The journey from West Africa to Europe is not always made all at once: the majority of migrants remain in North Africa for different periods of time, often to earn more money to pay for the rest of the journey. The fees paid to criminals vary, depending on the point of departure and the points of destination. For instance, Asian migrants who travel to Europe via Africa reportedly pay between €4,180 and €5,575 for the flight alone. [8] A smuggling journey from Agadez, in the Niger, to Libya or to Europe itself would be priced at about $2,000-$3,000. [9]

Travelling from inland areas to coastal ports is a gruelling journey. In West and East Africa, Gao, Mali; Agadez; Addis Ababa; and Cairo are hubs from which migrants head to the coasts of Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Turkey. From there, migrants are smuggled by boat to various locations in Europe.

A far-reaching crime

Smuggled migrants are often subject to grave human rights abuses. While they might initially agree to be smuggled into another country, the journey can turn into anything but a consensual one. During the trip, people might be squeezed into exceptionally small spaces in trucks or onto unseaworthy boats in order for smugglers to maximize their "cargo". Migrants might be raped or beaten en route or left to die in the desert. Once they reach their destination, many find that they (or their families) are the victims of blackmail or debt bondage. The latter can involve migrants paying huge sums of money to criminals in order to settle near-impossible levels of debt out of fear of violence or fear of being deported by the authorities, which can result in them becoming victims of human trafficking.

The smuggling of migrants and the activities related to it cost many people their lives and generate billions of dollars in profit for criminals. They also fuel corruption - through the bribery of officials - and strengthen organized crime in the countries of origin, transit or destination. There is evidence suggesting that, with the ever-growing interdependence of the global economy, the involvement of criminal groups in the smuggling of migrants is on the rise.

The smuggling of migrants has an impact on the countries of origin, transit and destination. In countries of origin, families go into debt in order to pay the smuggling fee, with no guarantee for a return on their investment. Even worse, they may be left with no news from their relatives, not knowing whether they are dead or alive, in prison or victims of trafficking. In transit countries, smuggled migrants may become stranded with limited means of continuing their journey, or be deceived by smugglers. This places a heavy burden on the transit countries, particularly since migrants are usually from a different cultural background and may not understand the local language. Smugglers may also recruit for their criminal activities among local or migrant communities; thus, their illicit activity may have an impact on the areas along the routes they use. Attempting to intercept smuggled migrants and combat the crime places a significant strain on the resources of countries of destination. If countries lack the resources and legal framework to respond appropriately to the smuggling of migrants, the crime may continue unchecked.

What can be done?

The absence or inadequacy of national legislation to address the smuggling of migrants in many parts of the world often means that smugglers of migrants can continue to commit the crime with little fear of being brought to justice. Responses by States often target migrants, leaving smugglers, and especially organized criminal groups, which are more difficult to apprehend, at large. Only a limited number of States have specific policies and mechanisms in place aimed at countering the smuggling of migrants, and a lack of capacity to investigate and prosecute the crime means that criminal justice systems are often unable to meet the challenge of combating it. Beyond this, failure to secure smuggled migrants as witnesses means that prosecutions are often difficult and opportunities to convict are missed. Moreover, the smuggling of migrants is not always considered a serious crime for which a heavy penalty could be imposed. Ensuring that priority is given to investigating higher-level smugglers and taking due account of aggravating circumstances in the prosecution of cases involving the smuggling of migrants could have a deterrent effect on organized criminal groups.

Moreover, organized criminal groups turn to smuggling of migrants only for the profit that it generates. Following the money trail by launching financial investigations and freezing, seizing and confiscating assets, as well as looking for examples of money-laundering, could have a direct impact on such profits. Making the smuggling of migrants an unprofitable crime would discourage organized criminal groups from becoming involved in it.

The smuggling of migrants is by nature a transnational crime, and the smugglers involved work in networks. Key to combating the smuggling of migrants, therefore, is the need to increase international cooperation, reinforce national coordination and ensure that the laws in the countries involved are harmonized in order to close loopholes. Only by ensuring that actors within countries of origin, transit and destination work together can the smuggling of migrants be stopped. The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the Convention, are essential to addressing the crime.

The work of UNODC in countering the smuggling of migrants focuses on assisting States in implementing the Smuggling of Migrants Protocol and in enacting laws criminalizing involvement in the smuggling of migrants and on training law enforcement officers and prosecutors from around the world. Organizations such as the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) support the efforts of national police authorities in breaking up the criminal networks behind the smuggling of migrants.

The underlying social, economic and political pressures that fuel the crime cannot be ignored. Unemployment, war and persecution are but three of the many reasons people decide to leave their home country. Pull factors include demand for cheap, undocumented labour in countries of destination. To better understand these dynamics and fully address the root causes of migration in order to prevent organized criminal groups from profiting from vulnerable groups such as migrants, a comprehensive response is required - one that involves examining the issues of migration and development.

Disclaimer:

This fact sheet has not been formally edited. The content of this fact sheet does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of UNODC or contributory organizations, nor does it imply any endorsement. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this fact sheet do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory or city or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers and boundaries.

Sources

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un un united united nations nations office on drugs and crime office on drugs and crime

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Smuggling of migrants: the harsh search for a better life

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The smuggling of migrants is a truly global concern, with a large number of countries affected by it as origin, transit or destination points. Profit-seeking criminals smuggle migrants across borders and between continents. Assessing the real size of this crime is a complex matter, owing to its underground nature and the difficulty of identifying when irregular migration is being facilitated by smugglers.

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52 italian suspects and gangmasters were arrested in the involvement of controlling migrants to do their work. More than 200 migrants worked on this farm, doing incredibly hard work, and earning incredibly low wages. These migrants were also living in incredibly dangerous and unsanitary conditions. These criminals referred to the migrant workers as "monkeys" and not as humans, which is the biggest issue. Migrants are human as well.

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"Tomorrow where should we send the monkeys?" That's how members of two groups of illegal gangmasters, Italians and foreigners, allegedly referred to the hundreds of migrants of various nationalities that they exploited for farmwork. The migrants were allegedly paid miserably low wages and made to live in precarious sanitary conditions.

The two groups that reportedly made up the criminal organisation were identified by the Cosenza finance police, under the directives of the Castrovillari state attorney's office.

52 suspects were arrested in two southern Italian regions, Calabria and Basilicata. 14 were sent to jail and 38 are on house arrest. The authorities also seized 14 farms -- 12 in the province of Matera and two in the province of Cosenza. The total value of the seized farms is more than eight million euros.

Eight other people are still under investigation, the preliminary hearing judge ordered mandatory check-ins with judiciary police for them.

Among the suspects are both Italians and foreigners from Pakistan, Northwest Africa, and Eastern Europe.

More than 200 migrant victims of exploitation

Finance police said the suspects illegally exploitated of farmworkers -- they practiced illegal gangmastering, which is also known as caporalato in Italy. They are also accused of facilitated illegal immigration.

According to the charges against the suspects, the owners of the farms took part in the exploitation of more than 200 migrants. Male migrants were hired to do the heaviest work, while female migrants were put to work on the less strenuous job of harvesting strawberries.

Among the 60 suspects are 16 alleged gangmasters who reportedly recruited the farmworkers and organized the exploitation operation, 22 of the suspects are farm owners.

One of the suspects on house arrest is an employee of the city of Corigliano Rossano who allegedly, in exchange for significant sums of money, arranged "marriages" to secure Italian stay permits for undocumented workers, and who allegedly also facilitated the arrival of migrants from abroad through the use of stay permits for family reunification.

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Migrant exploitation: 52 people arrested in southern Italy

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"Tomorrow where should we send the monkeys?" That's how members of two groups of illegal gangmasters, Italians and foreigners, allegedly referred to the hundreds of migrants of various nationalities that they exploited for farmwork. The migrants were allegedly paid miserably low wages and made to live in precarious sanitary conditions.

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Jail companies and corporations have figured out that if they employ migrants and immigrants that are civil detainees, they will pay about 25 cents to 1 dollar each hour to these individuals, instead of paying the $7.25 federal minimum wage fee. A civil detainee who worked in the jails stated, "I went from making $15 an hour as a chef to $1 a day in the kitchen in lockup... And I was in the country legally." Officials claim that the system implemented is legal, and they save a lot of money, however the compensation for these workers is not nearly enough.

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A detainee sits in a waiting room at temporary detention center run by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) for ICE in Houston. The cheap labor - 13 cents an hour ($1 per day) - saves the federal government and the private companies that operate most of the centers $40 million annually, by avoiding paying outside contractors the $7.25 hourly federal minimum wage.
Credit... Michael Stravato for The New York Times

HOUSTON - The kitchen of the detention center here was bustling as a dozen immigrants boiled beans and grilled hot dogs, preparing lunch for about 900 other detainees. Elsewhere, guards stood sentry and managers took head counts, but the detainees were doing most of the work - mopping bathroom stalls, folding linens, stocking commissary shelves.

As the federal government cracks down on immigrants in the country illegally and forbids businesses to hire them, it is relying on tens of thousands of those immigrants each year to provide essential labor - usually for $1 a day or less - at the detention centers where they are held when caught by the authorities.

This work program is facing increasing resistance from detainees and criticism from immigrant advocates. In April, a lawsuit accused immigration authorities in Tacoma, Wash., of putting detainees in solitary confinement after they staged a work stoppage and hunger strike. In Houston, guards pressed other immigrants to cover shifts left vacant by detainees who refused to work in the kitchen, according to immigrants interviewed here.

The federal authorities say the program is voluntary, legal and a cost-saver for taxpayers. But immigrant advocates question whether it is truly voluntary or lawful, and argue that the government and the private prison companies that run many of the detention centers are bending the rules to convert a captive population into a self-contained labor force.

Last year, at least 60,000 immigrants worked in the federal government's nationwide patchwork of detention centers - more than worked for any other single employer in the country, according to data from United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE. The cheap labor, 13 cents an hour, saves the government and the private companies $40 million or more a year by allowing them to avoid paying outside contractors the $7.25 federal minimum wage. Some immigrants held at county jails work for free, or are paid with sodas or candy bars, while also providing services like meal preparation for other government institutions.

Unlike inmates convicted of crimes, who often participate in prison work programs and forfeit their rights to many wage protections, these immigrants are civil detainees placed in holding centers, most of them awaiting hearings to determine their legal status. Roughly half of the people who appear before immigration courts are ultimately permitted to stay in the United States - often because they were here legally, because they made a compelling humanitarian argument to a judge or because federal authorities decided not to pursue the case.

"I went from making $15 an hour as a chef to $1 a day in the kitchen in lockup," said Pedro Guzmán, 34, who had worked for restaurants in California, Minnesota and North Carolina before he was picked up and held for about 19 months, mostly at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Ga. "And I was in the country legally."

Mr. Guzmán said that he had been required to work even when he was running a fever, that guards had threatened him with solitary confinement if he was late for his 2 a.m. shift, and that his family had incurred more than $75,000 in debt from legal fees and lost income during his detention. A Guatemalan native, he was released in 2011 after the courts renewed his visa, which had mistakenly been revoked, in part because of a clerical error. He has since been granted permanent residency.
Claims of Exploitation
Officials at private prison companies declined to speak about their use of immigrant detainees, except to say that it was legal. Federal officials said the work helped with morale and discipline and cut expenses in a detention system that costs more than $2 billion a year.

"The program allows detainees to feel productive and contribute to the orderly operation of detention facilities," said Gillian M. Christensen, a spokeswoman for the immigration agency. Detainees in the program are not officially employees, she said, and their payments are stipends, not wages. No one is forced to participate, she added, and there are usually more volunteers than jobs.

Marian Martins, 49, who was picked up by ICE officers in 2009 for overstaying her visa and sent to Etowah County Detention Center in Gadsden, Ala., said work had been her only ticket out of lockdown, where she was placed when she arrived without ever being told why.

Ms. Martins said she had worked most days cooking meals, scrubbing showers and buffing hallways. Her only compensation was extra free time outside or in a recreational room, where she could mingle with other detainees, watch television or read, she said.

"People fight for that work," said Ms. Martins, who has no criminal history. "I was always nervous about being fired, because I needed the free time."

Ms. Martins fled Liberia during the civil war there and entered the United States on a visitor visa in 1990. She stayed and raised three children, all of whom are American citizens, including two sons in the Air Force. Because of her deteriorating health, she was released from detention in August 2010 with an electronic ankle bracelet while awaiting a final determination of her legal status.

Natalie Barton, a spokeswoman for the Etowah detention center, declined to comment on Ms. Martins's claims but said that all work done on site by detained immigrants was unpaid, and that the center complied with all local and federal rules.

The compensation rules at detention facilities are remnants of a bygone era. A 1950 law created the federal Voluntary Work Program and set the pay rate at a time when $1 went much further. (The equivalent would be about $9.80 today.) Congress last reviewed the rate in 1979 and opted not to raise it. It was later challenged in a lawsuit under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which sets workplace rules, but in 1990 an appellate court upheld the rate, saying that "alien detainees are not government 'employees.' "

Immigrants in holding centers may be in the country illegally, but they may also be asylum seekers, permanent residents or American citizens whose documentation is questioned by the authorities. On any given day, about 5,500 detainees out of the 30,000-plus average daily population work for $1, in 55 of the roughly 250 detention facilities used by ICE. Local governments operate 21 of the programs, and private companies run the rest, agency officials said.

These detainees are typically compensated with credits toward food, toiletries and phone calls that they say are sold at inflated prices. (They can collect cash when they leave if they have not used all their credits.) "They're making money on us while we work for them," said Jose Moreno Olmedo, 25, a Mexican immigrant who participated in the hunger strike at the Tacoma holding center and was released on bond from the center in March. "Then they're making even more money on us when we buy from them at the commissary."
A Legal Gray Area
Some advocates for immigrants express doubts about the legality of the work program, saying the government and contractors are exploiting a legal gray area.

"This in essence makes the government, which forbids everyone else from hiring people without documents, the single largest employer of undocumented immigrants in the country," said Carl Takei, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project.

Jacqueline Stevens, a professor of political science at Northwestern University, said she believed the program violated the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude except as punishment for crime. "By law, firms contracting with the federal government are supposed to match or increase local wages, not commit wage theft," she said.

Immigration officials underestimate the number of immigrants involved and the hours they work, Professor Stevens added. Based on extrapolations from ICE contracts she has reviewed, she said, more than 135,000 immigrants a year may be involved, and private prison companies and the government may be avoiding paying more than $200 million in wages that outside employers would collect.

A 2012 report by the A.C.L.U. Foundation of Georgia described immigrants' being threatened with solitary confinement if they refused certain work. Also, detainees said instructions about the program's voluntary nature were sometimes given in English even though most of the immigrants do not speak the language.

Eduardo Zuñiga, 36, spent about six months in 2011 at the Stewart Detention Center in Georgia, awaiting deportation to Mexico. He had been detained after being stopped at a roadblock in the Atlanta area because he did not have a driver's license and because his record showed a decade-old drug conviction for which he had received probation.

At Stewart, Mr. Zuñiga worked in the kitchen and tore ligaments in one of his knees after slipping on a newly mopped floor, leaving him unable to walk without crutches. Despite doctors' orders to stay off the leg, Mr. Zuñiga said, the guards threatened him with solitary confinement if he did not cover his shifts. Now back in Mexico, he said in a phone interview that he must walk with a leg brace.

Gary Mead, who was a top ICE administrator until last year, said the agency scrutinized contract bids from private companies to ensure that they did not overestimate how much they could depend on detainees to run the centers.

Detainees cannot work more than 40 hours a week or eight hours a day, according to the agency. They are limited to work that directly contributes to the operation of their detention facility, said Ms. Christensen, the agency spokeswoman, and are not supposed to provide services or make goods for the outside market.

But that rule does not appear to be strictly enforced.

At the Joe Corley Detention Facility north of Houston, about 140 immigrant detainees prepare about 7,000 meals a day, half of which are shipped to the nearby Montgomery County jail. Pablo E. Paez, a spokesman for the GEO Group, which runs the center, said his company had taken it over from the county in 2013 and was working to end the outside meal program.

Near San Francisco, at the Contra Costa West County Detention Facility, immigrants work alongside criminal inmates to cook about 900 meals a day that are packaged and trucked to a county homeless shelter and nearby jails.

A Booming Business
While President Obama has called for an overhaul of immigration law, his administration has deported people - roughly two million in the last five years - at a faster pace than any of his predecessors. The administration says the sharp rise in the number of detainees has been partly driven by a requirement from Congress that ICE fill a daily quota of more than 30,000 beds in detention facilities. The typical stay is about a month, though some detainees are held much longer, sometimes for years.

Detention centers are low-margin businesses, where every cent counts, said Clayton J. Mosher, a professor of sociology at Washington State University, Vancouver, who specializes in the economics of prisons. Two private prison companies, the Corrections Corporation of America and the GEO Group, control most of the immigrant detention market. Many such companies struggled in the late 1990s amid a glut of private prison construction, with more facilities built than could be filled, but a spike in immigrant detention after Sept. 11 helped revitalize the industry.

The Corrections Corporation of America's revenue, for example, rose more than 60 percent over the last decade, and its stock price climbed to more than $30 from less than $3. Last year, the company made $301 million in net income and the GEO Group made $115 million, according to earnings reports.

Prison companies are not the only beneficiaries of immigrant labor. About 5 percent of immigrants who work are unpaid, ICE data show. Sheriff Richard K. Jones of Butler County, Ohio, said his county saved at least $200,000 to $300,000 a year by relying on about 40 detainees each month for janitorial work. "All I know is it's a lot of money saved," he said.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, an advocacy group that promotes greater controls on immigration, said that with proper monitoring, the program had its advantages, and that the criticisms of it were part of a larger effort to delegitimize immigration detention.

Some immigrants said they appreciated the chance to work. Minsu Jeon, 23, a South Korean native who was freed in January after a monthlong stay at an immigration detention center in Ocilla, Ga., said that while he thought the pay was unfair, working as a cook helped pass the time.

"They don't feed you that much," he added, "but you could eat food if you worked in the kitchen."

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Using Jailed Migrants as a Pool of Cheap Labor (Published 2014)

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A detainee sits in a waiting room at temporary detention center run by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) for ICE in Houston. The cheap labor - 13 cents an hour ($1 per day) - saves the federal government and the private companies that operate most of the centers $40 million annually, by avoiding paying outside contractors the $7.25 hourly federal minimum wage.

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New Zealand's website about exploitation specifically discusses how to tell if you as a worker are being exploited, and steps to prevent it. In New Zealand it is stated, "Employers who exploit migrants can be imprisoned for up to 7 years and be fined up to NZ $100,000." This is a great step towards protecting migrant workers and ensuring they have a chance to turn their life around and start a successful life.

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Rights for migrant workers

All workers in New Zealand have rights as employees. Your employer cannot take away your rights. As an employee you have the right to:
Employment rights | Employment New Zealand
You may be a victim of migrant exploitation if:

your employer bullies or threatens you

someone keeps your passport and money from you

you cannot leave your workplace because the doors and windows are locked

you must ask permission to eat, sleep, or go to the toilet

you have no time off from work

you are paid too little money or none at all

your employer forces you to work to pay off a debt

your employer threatens to harm you or your family if you don't cooperate.

If any of these things affect you, you can report this to Employment New Zealand:
Report migrant exploitation | Employment New Zealand
If you're in immediate physical danger, call 111 and ask for Police.

What to do if your employer exploits you

Some employers know that migrant workers can be afraid to report exploitation at work, especially if they are:

working when their visa does not allow them to work

in New Zealand unlawfully because their visa has expired

worried they will have to leave New Zealand.

Some employers use this fear to take away your rights. This is wrong. The New Zealand Government wants to stop employers from exploiting migrants. We want you to report any exploitation at work.

Do not be afraid to ask for help. Immigration New Zealand (INZ) and Employment New Zealand will treat you fairly if you tell us about genuine exploitation at work.

If you have an employer supported work visa and have reported exploitation you may be able to apply for a Migrant Exploitation Protection Work Visa.

This visa allows you to leave your job quickly while the exploitation is being investigated. With this visa, you can work anywhere in New Zealand for any employer.

It is important that you provide us with accurate and truthful information and cooperate in the case against your employer to ensure the best outcome.

If you are being exploited at work, Employment New Zealand, INZ and New Zealand Police will help you.
Migrant Exploitation Protection Work Visa
Ways to help keep yourself safe

Keep copies of your passport and visa in your home country with family or friends. In New Zealand, keep your passport and other travel documents in a safe place. It's illegal for your employer to take your passport from you.

It's a good idea to write down the phone number of your home country's embassy in New Zealand and keep it handy.

Your employer must provide you with a written employment agreement covering the terms and conditions of your employment. Keep this in a safe place.

Understand the work conditions of your work or student visa. For example, does it list who you can work for or a maximum number of hours you can work each week?

It is a good idea to write down all the hours and days that you work, the amounts and dates that you're paid, and any amounts taken from your payments by your employer.

Where possible have your wages paid into a personal bank account that only you or another authorised person has access to. This protects your money and can help you keep track of your wage payments.

Ways to get help

If you think you are being exploited, support is available. It is important to get help as soon as possible. You can talk to your supervisor, employer or union representative. They may be able to help you or direct you to someone who can.

You can also contact one of these groups for support.

Employment New Zealand

Employment New Zealand provides confidential help and can take action against your employer.

To make a report to Employment New Zealand you can complete their online form:
Online Reporting Form | Employment New Zealand
Or you can call them on 0800 200 088. The Employment New Zealand Service Centre is open Monday to Friday, 8.00am to 5.30pm excluding public holidays.

MBIE Mediation Service

If you have a dispute with your employer you can use MBIE's free mediation service to help resolve it.

| Employment New Zealand

New Zealand Police

If you think you are a victim of migrant exploitation, you can also contact the New Zealand Police. If you are in immediate physical danger, call 111 and ask for Police.

| New Zealand Police

Citizens Advice Bureau

The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) provides free advice on dealing with complaints and disputes.

| Citizens Advice Bureau

Community Law

If you need free legal advice, Community Law may be able to help.

Free legal help | Community Law

Unions

Unions can help you with exploitation issues and help ensure you are being treated fairly. They can also negotiate with your employer on your behalf.

Find your trade union | New Council of Trade Unions

PSA organising centre | Public Service Association

Information for advocates and the public

Migrants may be worried that if they report exploitation they'll be deported, especially if they are doing work that is not allowed by their visa conditions or are in New Zealand after their visa has expired. Employers may use the fear of deportation to pressure migrants into work in conditions that are below legal minimum standards

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), including INZ and Employment New Zealand, want to stop migrant exploitation.

MBIE works closely with non-government and community groups to raise awareness of migrant exploitation.

Exploitation is a serious crime

Employers who exploit migrants can be imprisoned for up to 7 years and be fined up to NZ $100,000. They can also be punished for failing to meet their obligations as an employer.

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All workers in New Zealand have rights as employees. Your employer cannot take away your rights.

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Due to the coronavirus, many indian workers and migrants left the city due to their loss of job. Due to driver fatigue, many vehicle crashes, and crashes with individuals, many migrants were killed on their journey back to their homes, which sparked an outcry among social media. Because of this, the Indian government has been running more trains and buses to aid migrants in their journeys back home.

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NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Nearly 200 migrant workers died in road accidents in India while returning to their village homes during the world's longest coronavirus lockdown, a charity said on Tuesday.

Tens of thousands of people walked home from India's big cities after losing their jobs when one of the world's strictest lockdowns was introduced and all public transport was suspended to contain the spread of the new coronavirus in late March.

More than 1,400 road accidents killed 750 people, including 198 migrant workers, between March 25 and May 31, according to the SaveLIFE Foundation, a charity that works towards improving road safety and emergency care in India.

The migrants lost their lives while walking, cycling and travelling in trucks and vans in intense heat, as well as in massive crashes involving state-organised buses, it said, blaming speeding and driver fatigue.

India's cases of coronavirus crossed 190,000 on Monday, overtaking France to become seventh highest in the world, as the government eased back on a two-month lockdown on 1.3 billion people in all but high-risk zones.

"With COVID-19 still very much around, we simply can't afford to burden our already over-burdened healthcare system with road crash related trauma," Piyush Tewari, head of the SaveLIFE Foundation, said in a statement.

"It is critical that states enhance enforcement to prevent road crashes."

A speeding bus ran over and killed six migrant workers as they walked home last month, days after a train crushed 16 migrants who fell asleep on a railway line, sparking anger on social media.

After weeks of criticism and stories of hardship - including that of a 15-year-old girl who carried her injured father 1,200 km across India by bike - the government is now running trains and buses to help people get home.

Thousands of migrants packed into trains that resumed services across the country on Monday, raising fears about the pandemic spreading through villages as new infections are increasing.

The SaveLIFE Foundation said almost half of road accident fatalities - involving 94 migrant workers - took place in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, which is home to millions of migrants, followed by central Madhya Pradesh and eastern Bihar.

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Nearly 200 migrant workers killed on India's roads during coronavirus lockdown

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NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Nearly 200 migrant workers died in road accidents in India while returning to their village homes during the world's longest coronavirus lockdown, a charity said on Tuesday.

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A man who escaped from his kidnappers eventually led police to the area that other individuals were being held. These individuals were from Mexico, El Salvador, Cuba, and Honduras." This news outlet shows that smuggling in the U.S. has not gone away, and we still have our migrant issues like every country.

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HOUSTON - More than two dozen people who police in Texas believe were being held as a part of a possible human smuggling operation have been removed from a house in Houston.

One of the men was seen Thursday running down a residential street in his underwear, yelling that he had been kidnapped, according to a social media post by Houston police.

Southwest officers are at 4800 Raven Ridge. Officers received a report of a male in his briefs running down the street yelling that he had been kidnapped. The male advised that thirty more people were being held hostage in the house. Officers made entry and rescued approximately pic.twitter.com/kRWS89zuUy
- Houston Police (@houstonpolice) December 4, 2020

The man led officers to a home where at least 25 men and one woman were found, all only wearing undergarments.

A police spokesperson told reporters that some of the people inside the home appeared to have been wearing only underwear to blend in with the others, but they were clean while the others were dirty, tipping off officers that those few may have been running the operation.

A few people possibly involved in the smuggling operation were detained, authorities said.

The people who had been held at the home were mostly from Mexico, El Salvador, Cuba and Honduras, news outlets reported. Police said they were taken to a school gymnasium to get out of the cold.

Photos: The top images of 2020

This is the world that AP photographers captured in 2020, a world beset by every sort of catastrophe. A look back at 2020, in 150 images.

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Police save nearly 30 wearing only underwear in Texas human smuggling operation

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HOUSTON - More than two dozen people who police in Texas believe were being held as a part of a possible human smuggling operation have been removed from a house in Houston. One of the men was seen Thursday running down a residential street in his underwear, yelling that he had been kidnapped, according to a social media post by Houston police.

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Arizona is the mecca for smuggling, thanks to President Trump's policies and covid. There has been a rise in smuggling activity in Southern Arizona. A driver was caught trying to smuggle migrants and one dead body towards the U.S. When the driver was caught he later admitted that the reason he agreed to smuggle the migrants was to pay off the debt from a cartel that he had owed. This is just one of the many stories that Arizona has had with migrants, this whole article depicts very detailed stories of criminals getting arrested who are in possession of undocumented migrants.

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TUCSON - Human smugglers are exploiting the enforcement policies that President Donald Trump's administration set in motion along the U.S.-Mexico border, including large-scale restrictions to stop the spread of COVID-19 and the ongoing construction of physical barriers.

Those U.S. policies - coupled with the precarious living situations for thousands of migrants that the pandemic has exacerbated in Mexico - are creating ripe conditions for smugglers. The result is a dramatic rise in human smuggling activity across southern Arizona over the past year, according to multiple federal and local law enforcement agencies in the state.

The Arizona Republic conducted numerous interviews with experts and reviewed dozens of court cases and agency releases tied to human smuggling attempts in southern Arizona.

They point not just to an increase in criminal activity but a reversal to more unusual, dangerous and risky smuggling tactics, including the use of stash houses, which have not been as prevalent in recent years.

Once again, Arizona is a top corridor for migrants and smugglers making their illegal journey into the United States.

On July 12, border agents were conducting surveillance at a known stash house in Douglas when they spotted a nervous driver in an SUV circle the home, then approach it through the alley several times.

Agents followed the SUV to the parking lot of a mortuary, according to court records. They attempted to make a stop, but the driver told them he was carrying the bodies of two people who had tested positive for COVID-19 and urged them to back off.

After noticing that the driver was only using latex gloves for protection, agents approached the vehicle and found six migrants in the back of the SUV. The six people were lying next to a dead body that was covered in a blanket, court records showed.

The driver told agents he worked for a mortuary and was transporting the body to Bisbee. He later admitted that he agreed to smuggle people in order to pay off his debt to the cartel in Agua Prieta after he was caught trying to smuggle drugs through the Douglas border crossing.

On Nov. 2, U.S. Border Patrol agents responded to a call from police in the border city of Nogales. Officers told agents they had received a call from a woman in Tucson whose brother was being held for money by smugglers at a motel located two blocks away from the Police Department in downtown Nogales.

At the motel, officers and agents found three suspected smugglers holding seven undocumented migrants inside a room as well as cameras to monitor the entrance to the room. They also found weapons, including knives and a double-sided ax.

Migrants told agents one of the suspected smugglers had brandished several weapons and pointed a rifle at one of them, according to court records. The brother was able to send a Whatsapp message to his sister in Tucson asking for help before their phones were taken away.

Agents detained the seven migrants and arrested two U.S. citizens and a man from Mexico in connection with the case. The three face smuggling charges in federal court in Tucson.

"We're not seeing anything new, but we are seeing a return to what I call the dark days in Arizona of human smuggling," said Scott Brown, the special agent in charge in Phoenix for U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, the federal agency that investigates smuggling and other cross-border crimes.

The uptick in human smuggling activity across the entire U.S.-Mexico border is driven in large part by the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, Brown said.

The same is true for Arizona's 372-mile border with Mexico, he added. But the increase has been greater in two specific areas of the state.

The notorious West Desert in western Pima County, which encompasses the Tohono O'odham Nation, always has been a highly trafficked smuggling route. That deadly corridor is where most migrant remains are found each year. The medical examiner for southern Arizona said recoveries already topped 200 this year, reaching their highest level since 2010.

On the other side of the state, Cochise County, a rural area larger than Connecticut and once a relatively quiet section of the border, has undergone a drastic change.

While physical barriers are going up along more than half of the county's 80-mile-long border with Mexico, law enforcement agencies report a greater number of encounters with undocumented migrants, as well as more dangerous situations.

The morning of Nov. 13, a Tucson man driving four migrants led several agencies on a high-speed chase across the San Pedro Valley. He stopped and let the migrants out during the pursuit before reaching Sierra Vista, about 15 miles north of the border.

The 53-year-old driver, Mark Anthony Provencio, then barricaded himself inside a Lowe's department store, forcing police to evacuate the building for more than an hour, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

He managed to escape to a nearby motel, where state troopers arrested him. Provencio now faces several state charges, with more expected.

"It's more frequent than not that we're dealing with some kind of human smuggling at least once a day in Cochise County. That's human, not drug (smuggling)," Sheriff Mark Dannels said.

Smuggling is no longer just a nighttime activity, he said, but is happening in the middle of the day. In some instances, his deputies have been injured while in pursuit, Dannels added, but they are careful not to endanger the surrounding community while chasing suspected smugglers.

"They always run. They have nothing to lose. They don't have to follow the rules. They don't have to worry about liability," he said.

Pandemic driving rise in smuggling

Border enforcement statistics published by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Nov. 19 showed that the apprehensions of undocumented migrants at the Arizona-Mexico border in October reached a new peak this year.

Agents detained 11,901 migrants last month in Arizona, a relatively low figure compared with historical trends. But it is a 30% increase over the previous month, and in the midst of a raging pandemic. The overwhelming majority of migrants, nearly nine in 10, are single adults.

Apprehensions have climbed rapidly since March, when the Trump administration implemented large-scale restrictions at the U.S.-Mexico border to curb the spread of COVID-19. Those restrictions include a freeze on asylum processing and, under Title 42, the immediate expulsion of any migrant apprehended at the border.

As of March 21, the United States has expelled 266,367 migrants to Mexico or their home countries under an emergency order from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by way of Title 42 of the U.S. Code.

October had the largest numbers of expulsions borderwide to date, according to the CBP.

"You have a lot more people, a lot more desperate to get out of really hard conditions in Mexico, hard conditions for themselves, living conditions, public health conditions and economic conditions," said Javier Osorio, a researcher and expert on organized crime violence at the University of Arizona.

"Criminal organizations see those opportunities, and they're the ones moving people," he said. "And the more demand you have, the more supply is going to be on the other side. It's, like, very simple economics at play."

The expulsions under Title 42 also are having other consequences. Osorio said that since migrants are quickly removed from the country, sometimes in as little as two hours, they are able to try again repeatedly.

Mark Morgan, the acting commissioner for Customs and Border Protection, said Nov. 19 that recidivism rates, meaning the number of migrants who try to cross the border illegally after they are apprehended, stood at 37% since the pandemic restrictions started.

Adalberto Ramos runs a migrant shelter in the Mexican border city of Agua Prieta, across the border from Douglas. He said he sees anywhere from 10 to 20 migrants, mostly single adult men and women, returned each day to that city under Title 42.

"Right now, since the borders are closed, the ones taking advantage of COVID are human smugglers and organized crime. Why? Because they have to give their blessing to allow them to cross their territory," he said.

His shelter remains on lockdown to avoid the spread of COVID-19, with only six families still waiting for their chance to apply for asylum once restrictions are lifted. As a result, the shelter has been unable to take in or feed migrants returned under Title 42.

Ramos said they are working on information and hygiene kits for migrants. In the meantime, the pandemic restrictions will continue to force those migrants into the hands of smugglers, he said.

"Migrants are still arriving to Agua Prieta, but with the permission of organized crime," he said. "The smuggler makes the arrangements. I'm not sure how they handle it, but I do know migrants are arriving and that they're crossing them through the mountains or the border wall."

His observations illustrate a major shift on migration patterns at the border. Last year's migrant surge dealt mainly with large groups of families willingly turning themselves in to border agents. Now, more migrants are looking to evade detection and are hiring smugglers who, in turn, have sought to exploit weaknesses in U.S. border enforcement.

Smugglers exploiting wall construction

One of the areas that smugglers are exploiting is the ongoing construction of barriers at the border.

Work crews have completed or are in the process of finishing about 235 miles of new 30-foot bollards. That's the equivalent of nearly two-thirds of the state's international boundary with Mexico.

"You'll notice that there's a lot of movement of the construction vehicles. There are segments of the previous wall that have been removed or are being replaced. And because of that, there are opportunities for a smuggler to either make an effort driving through or smuggling people through there," said Roy Villareal.

Villareal is the chief patrol agent for Border Patrol's Tucson Sector, which covers Cochise, Santa Cruz and Pima counties. On Wednesday, the Border Patrol announced Villareal was temporarily reassigned to its headquarters in Washington, D.C., to help with strategic planning.

Construction crews may be inadvertently aiding smugglers because the access roads they built or widened to allow heavy machinery to reach construction sites are often used by the smugglers.

The Tucson Sector has documented numerous instances this year of smugglers disguising their vehicles as construction trucks or using temporary gaps where older barriers once stood to simply drive across the border.

During one recent incident, on the evening of Oct. 29, Tucson Sector agents stopped a pickup truck on Geronimo Trail Road, several miles east of Douglas. The widened dirt road runs parallel to the border and leads to several construction sites where crews are replacing about 20 miles of permanent vehicle barriers with 30-foot bollards.

Agents could see seven people packed into the cab. As they approached, the driver jumped out and ran south to Mexico. They found another 10 migrants stacked on top of each other in the truck bed, concealed under a fiberglass cap.

Just two weeks earlier, on Oct. 15, agents had stopped a sedan a few miles away from that same location along Geronimo Trail Road. That time, they found 10 Mexican migrants inside, including three in the trunk of the car.

The Border Patrol determined the sedan drove illegally into Arizona through a gap in construction at the border. The driver used wood boards to drive over excavated footings for the new wall, according to the Tucson Sector. All 10 people were detained and returned to Mexico under Title 42.

Douglas Police Chief Kraig Fullen said border wall construction provides an opportunity for smugglers to blend into the community because a large number of the construction workers live, shop and eat there during the construction project.

"Some of the activity we're seeing may be pushed to make it in before the fence project is complete," he said.

Border Patrol officials regularly tout that the construction of access roads and physical barriers is part of a "border wall system" that also includes improved technology, such as sensors and lighting. Villareal said those tools will help agents detect any incursions and illegal activity at the border.

"When that wall goes up, my prediction is that we're going to see a cessation in vehicle drive-throughs, high-speed pursuits through there," he said. "It's going to return to being somewhat of a quiet area once again."

Fullen remains a bit skeptical.

He said this will be the third or fourth version of a border wall built in the Douglas area over the past two decades. The barriers resulted in significant drops in traffic in Douglas, he said, but larger concerns about human and drug smuggling have persisted.

"Each version of the barrier has been met with a renewed level of ingenuity, and in my time it has been tunneled under, climbed over, cut through, driven over, flown over, catapulted over, tossed over, shot over," he said. "The risk will continue to rise along with the height of the fence."

Local agencies seeing more smuggling

Local law enforcement agencies in Cochise County have reported increases in smuggling activity this year compared with the same period in 2019. They increasingly are pulled into combating the crime, even though investigating and prosecuting human smuggling falls under the purview of the federal government.

Sgt. Tim Williams is director of the Southeastern Arizona Border Region Enforcement team or SABRE, the Cochise County sheriff's task force dedicated to tracking and fighting criminal activity tied to its location on the border.

"We've seen a fairly large increase of the human smuggling since about March of this year," he said. "We probably tripled in the numbers than we used to see in previous years."

As part of SABRE, Williams oversees a system of 1,000 remote motion-activated cameras placed strategically across various points throughout the Tucson Sector to monitor foot traffic at the border. Their work is in coordination with the Arizona Department of Public Safety's Border Strike Force.

This year, the remote cameras have detected nearly 10,000 undocumented migrants crossing the Arizona border illegally, according to data shared by the Sheriff's Office. That's significantly higher than the past two years combined.

The latest available monthly figures show big differences in migrant traffic over the past year. In October 2019, the cameras picked up 617 migrants crossing the border; this year, they detected 2,544 migrants during that same month. In September 2019, cameras picked up 398 migrants, compared with 2,192 in September 2020.

Douglas police figures reflect a similar trend.

From July to mid-November, the Police Department recorded the arrests of 180 undocumented migrants by Border Patrol agents inside city limits. By comparison, agents made a total of 18 migrant arrests during the same period in 2019, according to Officer Jamilette Barrios, Douglas police spokesperson.

Both departments, along with Sierra Vista police, have reported an uptick in calls to their jurisdictions involving undocumented migrants, from agency assists to help the Border Patrol to responding to reports of trespassing and other local crimes.

Migrants placed in harm's way

As human smuggling activity rises in southern Arizona, smugglers endanger the lives of migrants. The criminal groups' turn to riskier routes and measures to avoid arrest has resulted in injuries and even deaths.

Homeland Security Investigations said it has seen an uptick in Arizona of smuggler use of firearms, overloaded vehicles and an increase in flight from law enforcement, sometimes using stolen vehicles.

The Border Patrol recognizes that smugglers are quick to adapt to changing U.S. policies along the Southwestern border. One constant, according to Villareal, is their disregard for human life.

"I think the true core element of evilness are the smugglers," he said. "They're not concerned about the well-being of the people they're smuggling."

So far in 2020, southern Arizona has recorded the recovery of 205 migrant remains, according to the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner, which tracks migrant deaths in the Tucson Sector.

That makes 2020 the third deadliest year for migrants at the Arizona-Mexico border since the medical examiner began compiling the data in 2000. With a full month remaining in the year, it is within striking distance to exceed 2010's record of 222 bodies found in a single year.

The majority of recoveries were either skeletal remains or migrants who died from exposure to the elements, especially with this year's record-breaking heat.

Dr. Gregory Hess, the chief medical examiner, said migrants also die other ways while crossing.

"Almost every year, we'll get some folks that die being pursued by Border Patrol, or they lay down the spikes grip or something, and they roll over the vehicle to try to avoid apprehension," he said.

One such incident happened June 2, when a high-speed chase near the New Mexico state line, east of Douglas, ended with the deaths of a 44-year-old migrant and a 17-year-old suspected smuggler.

The minivan that the teenager was driving with four migrants inside rolled over multiple times to avoid tire deflation spikes that pursuing agents had laid out. The three other migrants suffered injuries. One of them was put on life support but survived, court records showed.

Of the 205 migrant remains recovered so far this year, at least 11 of the people died from blunt force trauma or other non-exposure-related injuries, according to data provided by the medical examiner.

The most recent case is a 25-year-old migrant who fell Sept. 23 trying to climb the border wall near Douglas. He was taken to a hospital in Tucson, where he died a few weeks later.

These types of deaths will continue, Hess said.

"Regardless of what they do on the border, people are still going to find a way across," he said. "They travel for miles and miles with the intent to come into the United States. They're going to. There is no such thing as an impassible barrier. So it's going to continue to occur as long as people continue to cross here."

Osorio, the researcher and expert on organized crime violence, said that as it becomes more difficult to smuggle people and drugs across the border, criminal networks are trying to maximize resources.

One way is to increase the price to smuggle people across. Those costs had already been going up before the pandemic. They since have likely risen even more, Osorio said.

The other option is to smuggle larger groups to boost profits, which can help explain the proliferation of cases involving groups of migrants packed tightly into vehicles.

"You get more money through smuggling 20 to 30 people instead of one or two," Osorio said.

Pandemic impacting prosecutions

Human smuggling is a federal crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine. But given its fleeting nature, there are challenges to prosecuting smugglers. Chief among them is making an arrest.

Many times, especially in incidents near the border, smugglers will seek safety by running or driving back into Mexico, abandoning migrants as necessary.

Other times, they will lead agents and officers in dangerous pursuits through border communities, with speeds sometimes reaching as high as 136 miles per hour, according to court records describing a high-speed chase on Nov. 6. The driver had attempted to evade an immigration checkpoint near Elfrida, north of Douglas.

He crashed his pickup truck into a steep ravine. No major injuries were reported, but agents apprehended 15 undocumented migrants squeezed inside the truck. The driver now faces two felony smuggling charges.

Federal prosecutors were able to charge him thanks to new protocols the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona developed in April in response to changes to the criminal system because of COVID-19.

"Immigration prosecution is one of my priorities and a necessary priority for our office because of our location on the Southwest border," Michael Bailey, the U.S. attorney for Arizona, told The Republic. "But the virus has probably impacted smuggling prosecution more than anything else."

The issue stems from federal prosecutors' reliance on using material witnesses to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the suspected smuggler knew the people they were transporting were in the country illegally. Often, these witnesses are the migrants whom the defendant was allegedly smuggling.

Court orders to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Arizona limited the transportation of defendants and witnesses to courthouses in the state, dealing a potential blow to prosecutors.

In addition, pandemic restrictions reduced operations in federal courthouses nationwide.

Brown, who oversees investigations into human smuggling at Homeland Security Investigations' six offices in Arizona, said those restrictions present additional challenges in going after suspected smugglers.

"That impedes our abilities at times to bring charges or pursue grand jury indictments. We've had to postpone some of those activities," he said.

In response to those challenges, Bailey said his team worked with the Border Patrol to establish new protocols ensuring that agents record any evidence to prove alleged smugglers' guilt, so that material witnesses aren't needed to testify in the courtroom.

"It could be something as straightforward as a confession, it could be the smugglers observed taking evasive action, it could be that the smuggler has individuals hidden in some way in the vehicle," Bailey said. "All of those type of things are useful to prove the smugglers' knowledge of immigration status."

Under the new protocols, prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona have brought federal charges in 160 cases of suspected human smuggling.

The court has granted prosecutors the limited use of material witnesses, especially in cases with extraordinary circumstances, such as the three accused smugglers who earlier this month held seven migrants inside the motel room in Nogales.

All eyes on the incoming administration

For now, the big question on the minds of law enforcement and experts in human smuggling is what will happen in the coming months, especially with an incoming administration that has pledged to shift immigration and border enforcement priorities.

Brown said his investigators will continue to build out smuggling networks at the border as part of an effort to go after the key decision-makers, rather than foot guides and their collaborators.

"Some of the regulations put in place as a result of the pandemic, Title 42 removals ... if that should be rescinded, should the pandemic go away, I'm not sure how that will shake out," he said. "Because what we are seeing is that because of those fast turnarounds, we're getting more people that are making two, three, four attempts."

As courts reopen, more migrants making multiple attempts to cross the border after getting caught will spend time in jail on illegal reentry charges before getting sent back, possibly reducing recidivism rates, he said.

Osorio said that deteriorating economic conditions in Mexico and Latin America spurred by the pandemic, along with existing poverty and violence concerns, are aligning to produce large waves of migrants who will attempt to reach the United States in the near future.

Without President Donald Trump's strong-hand tactics to pressure Mexico into stopping these waves of migrants before making it to their shared border, he added, it remains to be seen how incoming President Joe Biden and the Mexican government will respond.

"We know it's just a matter of time before we have a critical mass with people accumulating," he said.

U.S. border officials are banking on the newly built border walls, once completed, to help stem the flow of drug and human smuggling across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Dannels, the Cochise County sheriff, said that if history is any indication, the challenges will remain throughout border communities like his.

"They're still going to find ways to get across," he said. "They've already cut through the fence too. ... So again, it just tells me no matter what we put up there, there's going to be that challenge of intrusion."
Have any news tips or story ideas about the U.S.-Mexico border? Reach the reporter at rafael.carranza@arizonarepublic.com, or follow him on Twitter at @RafaelCarranza.
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As border wall goes up, southern Arizona sees spike in human smuggling

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TUCSON - Human smugglers are exploiting the enforcement policies that President Donald Trump's administration set in motion along the U.S.-Mexico border, including large-scale restrictions to stop the spread of COVID-19 and the ongoing construction of physical barriers. Those U.S.

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Greek authorities detained four individuals after breaking up a migrant smuggling operation in Athens. These men were transporting migrants from Turkey to Kos. An Afghan father and son also had attempted to migrate to Greece, however the man's son died on the trip, and the father is now facing up to 10 years of prison for that.

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ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Greek authorities say they have broken up a migrant smuggling ring that had been operating on the eastern Aegean island of Kos, bringing people from the nearby Turkish coast to the island and facilitating their movement to the Greek mainland.

According to a coast guard statement released Tuesday, the arrest of five foreign nationals in the island's main town last Friday led to an investigation after which four Greeks, aged between 29 and 48, and one 25-year-old foreign national were arrested on charges related to the operation of a criminal organization.

According to authorities, the foreign national and one of the Greek suspects had allegedly been arranging for migrants to be transported from Turkey to Kos, while two of the other Greeks were providing accommodation for those who arrived at hotels. Three foreign nationals under the age of 18 were found during a search of the home of one of the suspects, the coast guard said.

The nationalities of the arrested foreigners were not made public.

Greece is a popular route into the European Union for people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The vast majority make their way to the Aegean islands from the nearby Turkish coast.

But the Greek government has been cracking down. On Monday, the coast guard said authorities had arrested the 25-year-old father of a 6-year-old Afghan boy who died the previous day while trying to get to the island of Samos. The father faces charges of endangering a life. When loss of life is involved, the charges can lead to a prison sentence of up to 10 years.

Although those found to have steered migrant boats and dinghies to Greek islands are frequently arrested on smuggling charges, it is rare for the surviving parents of children who die in shipwrecks or other accidents to be charged with endangerment.

In September, authorities opened a felony case file against 35 foreign nationals - 33 of them members of non-governmental organizations - for allegedly facilitating the clandestine arrival of migrants to the island of Lesbos.

The case file was opened on suspicion of crimes including espionage, violation of state secrets, participating in a criminal organization and violating migration laws.

Copyright © 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

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Greek authorities break up migrant smuggling ring | WTOP

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ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Greek authorities say they have broken up a migrant smuggling ring that had been operating on the eastern Aegean island of Kos, bringing people from the nearby Turkish coast to the island and facilitating their movement to the Greek mainland.

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A Moroccan official stated that the covid issue will eventually decline, however the migrant issue will not and it is most important that our priorities are towards migrant issues. He advocates for the rights of migrants, and the capture of those who decide to exploit and traffick migrants. "Morocco has promoted the adoption of a regional roadmap to establish the principles of the Marrakech Pact on the scale of the Western Mediterranean."

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Rabat - The Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, reiterated on Tuesday Morocco's enduring commitment to tackling migration issues and their origins.

At the High-Level Meeting to Launch the Report of the UN Secretary-General on the migration compact, Bourita said Morocco is sparing no effort to contribute to the implementation of the objectives of the Global Pact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration, also known as the Marrakech Pact.

Global leaders convened last December in Marrakech, Morocco, renewing their shared commitment to addressing migration issues with a humanitarian approach.

The Moroccan official extolled the UN report on the migration compact, which calls upon leaders to reflect their attachment to realizing the promise and vows of the Marrakech Pact.

The pact raises the importance of enhancing the global governance of migration.

Bourita emphasized that the world is now busy with the impacts of COVID-19, but warned that the pandemic will pass while migration issues will remain.

The official, therefore, called for a global commitment to prioritize migration issues.

He offered examples of Morocco's approach to migration issues, saying that Rabat's strategies protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of foreigners residing in Morocco and the Moroccan diaspora. Bourita said Rabat strives to promote the conditions for the economic and social integration of migrants and to fight against human trafficking, exploitation, and abuse.

"Morocco has promoted the adoption of a regional roadmap to establish the principles of the Marrakech Pact on the scale of the Western Mediterranean, during the 9+8th Ministerial Conference of the 5+5 Dialogue on Migration and Development," Bourita continued.

The diplomat also emphasized the application of the strategies at the continental level.

He recalled the African Agenda for Migration under King Mohammed VI, which enabled the building of a continental consensus around an integrated vision of migration.

"The implementation of the Marrakech Pact must remain our 'mantra,'" Bourita said.

He argued that the pact is the "credibility of multilateralism and the effectiveness of international cooperation."

The official emphasized the importance of registering and implementing the pact and build on its momentum: "The Marrakech Pact has generated an unprecedented momentum to establish a methodology and initiatives based on facts and data."

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Morocco's FM: COVID-19 Will Pass, Migration Issues Will Remain

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Rabat - The Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, reiterated on Tuesday Morocco's enduring commitment to tackling migration issues and their origins. At the High-Level Meeting to Launch the Report of the UN Secretary-General on the migration compact, Bourita said Morocco is sparing no effort to contribute to the implementation of the objectives of the Global Pact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration, also known as the Marrakech Pact.

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The U.S. has turned its efforts in the migrant issue towards targeting stash houses, and the individuals staying in those houses. These stash houses have become increasingly dangerous due to the pandemic, and the living situation not being sanitary at all. These migrants are stuffed into small rooms without common necessities like water, food, and electricity. These stash houses have increasingly become houses of infection and spread, leading them to be very dangerous towards those in the neighborhood.

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The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency is cracking down on human smuggling by focusing its efforts on rescuing migrants from stash houses.

Stash houses are where human smugglers put migrants until they can relocate them either within countries or across borders.

"The criminal activity associated with stash houses creates a danger and a health risk for neighboring residents," said Matthew Hudak, the chief patrol agent for CBP's Laredo, Texas, sector, on October 30 after the closing of a stash house.

"By working together, we are able to better enforce the law and protect our community and communities throughout the country from COVID-19 and other dangerous threats," Hudak said.

Human smugglers frequently abandon immigrants in stash houses for many days before moving them to a new location. With dozens of immigrants held in small houses without proper sanitation, hazardous living conditions often develop, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Many times the smugglers extort additional money just to keep their human cargo in putrid, unsanitary conditions," said Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Kenneth Kroupa. And after the smugglers abandon them, the migrants "can't escape because often they are locked in."

Kroupa described scenes of dozens of migrants - weary after traveling thousands of miles - stuffed into small rooms without running water, electricity or access to food. Smugglers leave the migrants there without any contact with the outside world.

Between October 2019 and October 2020, CBP uncovered and shut down 397 stash houses. They were located along the U.S.-Mexico border from Texas to California, in towns like Yuma, Arizona, and Laredo.

CBP found over 100 of the houses in Laredo alone, and in Edinburg, Texas, CBP uncovered 141.

With the spread of COVID-19 across Mexico and the southern U.S., these stash houses become centers of illness, introducing the virus into groups of migrants and rendering the houses even deadlier.

The United States seeks to prevent migrants from ending up in stash houses by addressing root causes. In June, Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo announced $252 million in additional U.S. foreign assistance for the Northern Triangle countries.

"This assistance will promote U.S. national security and further the president's goal of decreasing illegal immigration to the United States," he said.

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U.S. targets the stash houses of human smugglers | U.S. Embassy in Georgia

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The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency is cracking down on human smuggling by focusing its efforts on rescuing migrants from stash houses. Stash houses are where human smugglers put migrants until they can relocate them either within countries or across borders. "The criminal activity associated with stash houses creates a danger and a health ...

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The frontline of individuals striking in New York are migrants who work in laundromats. The boss in the laundromat did not treat them correctly, overworked them, and did not pay them as much money as they should be earning. This led to a strike, and the workers gaining the support of their community to strike against their boss with confidence.

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New York

As so-called essential workers fight for their rights on the job, they continue to be the most reliable fighters for COVID safety, PPE and a rational response to the pandemic.

From healthcare workers in California and Washington State, to nursing home workers in Illinois, to school bus drivers in Ohio, workers are striking, fighting back and organizing while COVID numbers increase exponentially and the White House ignores the crisis.

In New York, the front lines of this fight include the ranks of laundromat workers, 95 percent of whom are women and migrants. Their fierce struggle against workplace racism and exploitation now includes demands for PPE and proper ventilation.

On Nov. 25, the International Day of the Prevention of Violence Against Women, six migrant workers organized by the Laundry Workers Center launched a union drive at the Manhattan laundromat Wash Supply.

Dozens of supporters came out to support the launch of this campaign, including Workers Assembly Against Racism, Street Vendors Project, Food Chain Workers Alliance, City University of New York (CUNY) Internationalist Club and local clergy.

The Workers Assembly Against Racism (WAAR) had pledged at their most recent meeting to support this campaign. Held on Nov. 21, the assembly included reports from workers active in the New York teachers' struggle; an activist involved in a strike authorization vote by CUNY teachers; an official with the Transport Workers Union; and a report on the upcoming Nov. 25 action by the Laundry Workers Center.

WAAR was formed in October, in the wake of a righteous call by trade unionists to conduct strikes and work stoppages against racism, with the purpose of expanding that call from the ranks of organized labor - about 10 percent of the workforce - to the rest of the workforce. Many unorganized workers take part in Black Lives Matter protests. WAAR activists have asked: Why not unite the anti-racist movement with the workers' movement?

This focus includes supporting cutting-edge workers' struggles. So on Nov. 25, WAAR sent ten of its members, many of whom have participated in the Black Lives Matter protests, to support the launch of the organizing campaign at Wash Supply, a campaign for workers' rights as well as a fight against racism and sexism.

The laundromat is located on the upper west side - one of the most expensive places to live in New York City, the center of world capitalism.

That wealth does not translate into decent wages for laundry workers. In fact, the workers at Wash Supply, all women, face intensified exploitation. They are paid below minimum wage. They work 60 hours a week with no overtime pay, no paid sick days, and no COVID safety precautions. They work under atrocious health and safety conditions in a tiny basement with no ventilation, no heat in the winter, no emergency exits and no PPE. The workers have even been forced to buy their own toilet paper just to use their workplace bathrooms.

Even taking an hour to eat lunch is a struggle, which is why the workers used their first full lunch hour on Nov. 25 to deliver to their bosses demands for a union, better conditions and better pay.

After a raucous protest that met in a nearby playground and then marched to the front of Wash Supply, the workers, all wearing the same color T-shirts and aprons stencilled with the words WE ARE THE UNION, went into the workplace to deliver their demands to the employers. They were joined by supporters from the rally, who jammed into the tiny basement behind the workers, overflowing onto the small stairway leading down to it.

One by one, the workers approached and confronted their boss to tell them they wouldn't accept humiliation, abuse or exposure to COVID any more. One worker said to her boss, "When I'm having lunch you come to us and tell us to stop and get back to work. We're sick and tired of this and we don't want to take it any more!" The supporters standing behind her and her coworkers cheered.

The turnout made it clear to the bosses that these six workers had community support. The need for this was obvious. The manager held her cell phone up while being confronted by the workers, making it clear she was videoing them. One of the main rally slogans, "The community is watching" - on signs and chanted by the protesters - let the bosses know that any retaliation for the workers demanding their rights would be met with swift fightback.

A rally announcement by Laundry Workers Center leaders served to back up that promise. Rosanna Rodriguez announced to the crowd that one of the LWC's other campaigns - the Justice for Beatriz Campaign, at the New Giant Launder Center in Queens - resulted in victory, with the worker involved recovering stolen wages and returning to her job with better working conditions.

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Migrant workers tell bosses: We're fed up with racism, COVID and exploitation!

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New York As so-called essential workers fight for their rights on the job, they continue to be the most reliable fighters for COVID safety, PPE and a rational response to the pandemic. From healthcare workers in California and Washington State, to nursing home workers in Illinois, to schoo