Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Hurricane Katrina, a powerful storm surge, and a system of inadequate levies teamed up in 2005 to create an unprecedented level of disaster in the United States. In the wake that followed, New Orleans (along with many other coastal communities in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama) resembled a sea of destruction. New Orleans relied heavily on day laborers to clean up, repair, and rebuild. Sadly, however, recent surveys found that 80% of the Hispanic workers had been cheated out of compensation.

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If a group of Brazilian workers is believed, some U.S. companies are still practicing a form of indentured servitude. According to a lawsuit filed in U.S. Distrcit Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, a group of Brazilian welders and pipefitters came to the U.S. as temporary H-2B guest workers for American recruiters that provide workers for shipyards. According to the suit, the workers came to this country “on promises of consistent, well compensated work at a reputable shipyard through a regulated U.S. government program.”

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