California Bill Aims to Crack Down on Predatory Labor Traffickers

When Angela Guanzon was recruited from the Philippines in 2008 and promised a job in Los Angeles with a 10-year contract, she thought she had hit the jackpot. The wage was $600 a month, far more than she could earn in her home country. She was told she would be one of two caregivers assisting an elderly client with dementia living in a South Los Angeles board-and-care facility. Her job would be to help with cooking and cleaning, to bathe the residents, as well as to provide routine medical care. 

“In the Philippines, we are aware that to be a caregiver here in the U.S. is a good opportunity and it’s a good job for us,” Guanzon told Capital & Main.

But Guanzon quickly learned she’d fallen into a trap. She said that when she arrived in the U.S., the recruiter took her passport and informed her that if she didn’t abide by the contract’s terms she’d be deported. The job had her working virtually 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with only two days off per month. She said the rooming she had been promised in the Philippines turned out to be a sofa, or sometimes the floor, of the crowded home. And her case load was six elderly clients, all living in the same house. Her promised monthly salary was reduced by half to cover her $12,000 recruitment fee, an amount that she said would have taken her years to pay off. 

In making her decision to move to the U.S. Guanzon had relied on the word of the recruiter, but the contract she signed in English outlined employment terms that he had not spelled out in her conversation with her.  

“If you read the document, it’s in English, [and] we can’t really understand it because English isn’t our first language,” said Guanzon, whose native language is Tagalog. 

The recruiter kept Guanzon’s passport, something labor advocates say is common among those who exploit foreign workers. After six months Guanzon knew something was wrong with the situation, but she said it wasn’t until neighbors contacted law enforcement that the scheme was exposed.  

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Guanzon’s experience is emblematic of how some foreign workers are abused once they arrive in the U.S., even when they come legally on a work visa. A bill introduced by California Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San José) in February aims to protect workers like Guanzon from exploitation by unscrupulous foreign labor recruiters. Assembly Bill (AB) 1362, known as the Human Trafficking Prevention and Protection Act for Temporary Immigrant Workers, would strengthen enforcement against recruiters who charge workers illegal fees or fail to provide them with contracts in their native languages.

Kalra said in a statement that the bill would protect all temporary immigrant workers against “wage theft, human trafficking, and other labor violations.” If passed and signed into law, AB 1362 would expand protections to most foreigners arriving on work visa programs, though not to talent agency recruits or visitors whose visas allow them to to study, research, teach and train. California is home to more than 300,000 temporary immigrant workers, making it the largest host state, according to the Economic Policy Institute. They range from farm and construction laborers to nurses and software engineers. 

It’s not the first time California lawmakers have attempted to strengthen oversight of the recruitment and employment of foreign workers. But due to a drafting error, a previous bill covered fewer than 3% of more than a quarter million temporary workers entering California at that time.

The bill is opposed by the California Farm Bureau, which claims it’s redundant with laws on the books and “the additional costs and burdens it would place on legitimate businesses that are not engaged in human trafficking, while doing little to deter illegal trafficking operations.” 

Advocates reject the claim of redundancy and say the opposition misunderstands the legislation. Aradhana Tiwari, senior policy counsel with the Sunita Jain Anti-Trafficking Initiative, one of the bill’s sponsors, said current regulations for temporary workers govern only how farm labor contractors operate in California, whereas AB 1362 extends to more types of laborers and targets recruitment practices. The bill “focuses on how individuals are recruited abroad for work in the United States,” she said. “The recruitment is oftentimes the point at which someone will become entrapped in an exploitative situation.”

The state Department of Finance analysis said AB 1362 is essentially cost-neutral and would cover its expenditures — estimated at $2.5 million in the upcoming fiscal year — through the registration fees charged to foreign labor recruiters.  

Supporters include an array of immigrant and workers rights organizations, including Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles, Farmworker Justice, Freedom United, Pilipino Workers Center of Southern California and the Santa Clara County Wage Theft Coalition.  

The bill would also guarantee recruits the right to keep their passports, receive full details of their employment terms, and access guidance from the state labor commissioner on where they can turn if abuses occur. All foreign labor recruiters would be required to register with the California Labor Commissioner’s Office, the agency responsible for enforcing workplace protections. 

Stephanie Richard, director of the Loyola Law School Sunita Jain Anti-Trafficking Initiative, predicted that the beefed up enforcement would stop most abuses by foreign labor recruiters in California because they would be held liable if they ignored the regulations. 

“At least [a worker like] Angela would know, sooner than two and a half years in, that she was in a situation that isn’t right and be able to call for help,” Richard said. 

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Advocates point out that, while many foreign labor recruiters behave ethically and lawfully, others, like Guanzon’s, steer workers into deceptive recruitment schemes, contract fraud and debt bondage, leaving no recourse for seeking help. Unscrupulous recruiters threaten workers with blacklisting, discrimination and other forms of retaliation, including the imposition of additional fees and even violence against the workers, their family members or their home communities if they report abuses or seek to get out of their servitude. 

Data from the National Human Trafficking Hotline has shown that workers coming to the United States on temporary visas are highly vulnerable to human trafficking.

Advocates say the lack of oversight at the federal level has led California to take a stand in protecting foreign workers. 

“We’re hoping that California can actually lead the way where federal oversight has completely failed,” Tiwari said. “It’s hard to push this at the federal level [so] it’s more likely a state by state battle until the federal tides turn..”

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It’s unusual for law enforcement to learn about trafficking survivors, according to Richard. “The FBI, as well as Immigration [and] Customs Enforcement, used to have specialized units that would look into these things, but they have mainly focused on sex trafficking,” Richards said. The Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants has made it even less likely that exploited foreign workers will turn to law enforcement for assistance, she said. “An immigrant like Angela, in this climate, would be less likely to talk to the FBI if they reached out to help.”

In Guanzon’s case, it was the FBI who coaxed her to come forward and testify against her recruiter. She still lives in Los Angeles. After her court case, Guanzon managed to secure a tourist visa, and then a green card. She has applied for U.S. citizenship. She worked as a caregiver for a legitimate employer before attending school for medical billing and coding. Now she works as an assistant office manager in a health care clinic, where she finally earns what she considers a living wage. Knowing what she knows now, she wouldn’t have signed on with that recruiter in 2008. 

“I don’t want to have an experience like that anymore,” Guanzon said. “I’d rather go home [to the Philippines], even though I was poor there. It’s OK, but at least I’m respected.”

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