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In 1997, Miguel Flores and Sebastian Gomez were sentenced to 15 years each in federal prison following convictions for slavery, extortion, firearms charges, and more. Flores and Gomez had a workforce of over 400 men and women in Florida and South Carolina, harvesting vegetables and citrus. The workers, mostly indigenous Mexicans and Guatemalans, were forced to work 10-12 hour days, 6 days per week, for as little as $20 per week, under the watch of armed guards. Those who attempted escape were assaulted, pistol-whipped, and even shot. The case was brought to federal authorities after five years of investigation by escaped farmworkers and members of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
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In its 30 years of operations, the CIW’s Anti-Slavery Program has uncovered, investigated, and assisted in the prosecution of more than a dozen multi-state, multi-worker farm slavery operations across the Southeastern U.S., helping liberate thousands of workers held against their will and putting dozens of farm bosses behind bars for their crimes. No other non-governmental organization in the United States has been responsible for more successful slavery prosecutions than the CIW — none.
Further, the U.S. Department of State credits the CIW with “pioneering” the worker-centered and multi-sectoral approach to prosecutions, and hails the CIW’s work on some of the earliest cases (including U.S. vs. Flores, outlined above) as the “spark” that ignited today’s national anti-slavery movement. In recognition of its pioneering role in uncovering the long-hidden phenomenon of forced labor in U.S. fields, and its unique role in bringing corrupt farm bosses to justice, the CIW was awarded the Presidential Medal for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking in Persons by President Obama in 2015.
But as impressive as that track record may be, the CIW’s transformative impact on forced labor in agriculture doesn’t end there. Early on in our fight to end modern-day slavery, we realized that successful prosecutions do not constitute success against the scourge of forced labor. No matter how many farm bosses we sent to prison with our efforts, there were always many more ready to try their luck at reaping the spoils of holding their fellow human beings in bondage in a world where law enforcement resources dedicated to ending farm labor abuse are woefully inadequate. Moreover, responding to slavery after-the-fact would never be enough, as, given the extreme abuse associated with forced labor, it is ultimately impossible to make its victims whole again, even if we can bring their tormentors to justice.
For all of these reasons, we soon realized that if our goal was to truly end modern-day slavery — and by doing so, create a world without victims in U.S. agriculture, we would have to do more than just stack prosecution on top of prosecution — we would have to take the profit out of slavery, to prevent forced labor altogether by creating a new agricultural industry where workers are empowered to identify abuse without fear of retaliation, and where abusers know that if they violate their workers’ rights they will get caught, and there will be consequences. In short, we would have to invent a new kind of food — Fair Food — and a powerful program of monitoring and enforcement mechanisms capable of guaranteeing humane working and living conditions for all farmworkers under its protections — the Fair Food Program. And with the advent of the FFP, we can today say that we have achieved our ultimate goal of preventing modern-day slavery, and with it, a world without victims.
The CIW’s Anti-Slavery Program today operates in two worlds. In the “new world” of the FFP, prevention is the norm, and any case of worker abuse on participating farms is rapidly identified and eliminated through the combined efforts of the Fair Food Standards Council and the CIW. In the “old world,” on farms operating beyond the FFP’s reach, the CIW continues to conduct investigations of forced labor and assists with prosecutions as it has since 1993 — including the recent case of U.S. v Moreno, which started when two farmworkers escaped from a forced labor operation, hid in the trunk of a car, and, as soon as they reached safety, called the CIW for help.
To expand the preventative protections of the FFP and deepen our anti-slavery investigations outside the bounds of the FFP, we need your help. Our work is sustained by generous donors like you: even a gift of $10 can go a long way to ensuring a world without slavery.
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Your gift today can help us grow the FFP to cover more and more farmworkers every day, and ensure that the FFP’s “power of prevention” expands from Florida to California, shrinking the “old world” with each new farm that joins.
And in the meantime, your donation will also help fund our investigative work in that old world, bringing farm bosses to justice with each and every successful prosecution until one day — between prevention and prosecution eventually zero — no farmworker in this country will ever again have to experience the devastating reality of forced labor!
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Fair Food Program donors Travis McConnell, Cheryl Queen, Brent Probinsky, Mary P. Pautz, Heal the Planet Foundation, and an anonymous donor have issued a challenge to Fair Food Nation: If 300 individuals make a gift this week (regardless of the gift size) they will give $30,000 to the Fair Food Program. Make a gift to unlock $30,000 to the program that prevents modern-day slavery, sexual assault, child labor, and physical abuses in the fields. Be a human rights defender today!
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Coalition of Immokalee Workers
110 S 2nd St
Immokalee, FL 34142
United States
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