9/10/2023 0 Comments Harmony vet naples fl![]() But workers, advocates and others say the practice is widespread the Journal Sentinel’s review found cases on 12 farms in nine states. Thus, it’s impossible to say how often the workers are inappropriately placed in less-skilled jobs that do not qualify for the visas. The State Department rejected that request in July, saying it would have to create a new record to provide the information - a decision the Journal Sentinel has appealed with the department.ĭepartment officials have refused to answer a series of questions about the program. The Journal Sentinel first requested information on the job classifications for the visas granted by the department, and the companies where the workers wound up, in December 2018. The program is limited to 63 professions, ranging from architects to industrial designers, accountants to lawyers. Mexican workers seeking these visas apply directly to the U.S. The number has since risen to more than 21,000. That year, more than 3,300 received TN visas. economy recovered from a recession, unemployment rates fell and the number of undocumented immigrants in the country declined. The number of TN visas issued to Mexicans skyrocketed after 2010, as the U.S. Joel Coble, manager at the Georgia farm, said Barragán was undergoing a training program to expose her to all aspects of the farm’s operations before her permanent assignment. Barragán said when she quit she was told nothing could be done about her tasks. Kevin Wulf, an official with the farm where Sánchez died, told the Journal Sentinel he didn’t know if the company had placed workers in jobs they weren’t allowed to perform - but if the company did, he said, it was unintentional. Officials at dairy farms that use the TN visa program say they followed all of its requirements and made efforts to ensure those hired knew what type of work to expect. Most workers said they were deceived at least once, though others said they knew what was in store. Through a review of court filings, sworn depositions, offer letters, visas and interviews, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel identified 23 Mexican university graduates who were hired by dairy and other animal farms through the program, but quickly were assigned tasks that do not require a college degree. What’s more, the visa approval comes quickly, and there is no cap on how many can be issued.īut a lack of scrutiny leaves the program open for abuse. Unlike some other visas, the Trade NAFTA - or TN - visa program doesn’t require businesses to first recruit Americans, pay thousands of dollars, or offer workers a prevailing wage. The program has grown rapidly at a time the federal government has moved to restrict immigration. “You arrive, and they tell you to take a scraper and clean all the manure.” “They tell you that you are going as an animal scientist,” said Moisés Candelario, who worked at the Riverview farm. Sometimes there are no breaks - even in a 12-hour shift - and few days off. ![]() The work can be brutal and dangerous, the shifts long, the wages low. ![]() dairy farms struggle to find low-cost workers, some are using the special visa program to lure Mexican veterinarians and engineers with offers of high-skilled jobs, but then assign them to clean barns or other menial tasks - circumventing the visa rules for work requiring a college degree. At night, she was too tired to do much more than eat and sleep.Īs U.S. On the job, she was told over and over she had to work faster. She turned to pills to quell pain in her fingers, her hands, her legs. She was milking cows and cleaning the milking parlor 12 hours a day for $10 an hour without so much as a lunch break. Within weeks, she realized she had been deceived. To pay for her flight to Idaho, she borrowed $150 from family and pawned her jewelry, including a gold chainlet with the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe she received on her 15th birthday. When Ortiz, then 26, learned she got the job - an animal scientist at Funk Dairy - she was thrilled.
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