When the federal government investigates claims of wage theft, workplace injury or other labor law violations, it often relies on people like Baldomero Orozco-Juarez.

An advocate for fellow migrant workers across the South, Orozco-Juarez has worked for over a decade in central Mississippi poultry plants. He was the first worker to go on the record about conditions at a Peco Foods chicken plant now at the center of a U.S. Labor Department probe — a “breakthrough moment” for labor rights in a place where migrant workers fear speaking out and incurring retaliation from immigration agents and bosses, an attorney said later.

Despite his value as a witness, immigration agents have threatened in recent months to deport Orozco-Juarez, who is originally from Guatemala and entered the United States without authorization, his attorneys say...

While working at the Peco Foods chicken plant, Orozco-Juarez said he saw people lose fingers while cutting into carcasses on the processing lines. A large piece of machinery once fell and injured several workers, he said...

OSHA agents are investigating “allegations of several serious health and safety hazards at Peco Foods Inc.’s worksite.” There were amputation hazards, chemical exposure risks and many workers weren’t trained to use equipment, the agency wrote to immigration officials in a July letter supporting Orozco-Juarez's deferred action request...

[Also refers to D&G Frey; for more information see here.]