Attorneys on behalf of agricultural laborers brought to Georgia on seasonal visas and who alleged they were trafficked, filed a class action lawsuit in early April against Maria Leticia Patricio, the central figure indicted in November 2021 as part of Operation Blooming Onion, one of the largest U.S. human trafficking cases ever prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The former workers claim that Patricio and two alleged traffickers forced them to work in dangerous conditions with little to no pay, housed them in rundown motels and trailers, and subjected them to physical and mental abuse. The civil suit, filed on April 5 in federal court by the Vedder Price law firm, comes at a time when the overarching federal case has stalled...

This latest suit reveals previously unreported details about the extent of the physical, mental and financial harm caused by the alleged traffickers recruiting seasonal workers for Georgia farms and raises concerns about the oversight of the federal H-2A visa program system at the state level, specifically the lack of government oversight of labor contractors, middlemen that recruit, hire and oversee guest workers to work on U.S. farms...

In addition to Patricio, brothers Enrique Duque Tovar and Jose Carmen Duque Tovar were named as defendants in the lawsuit, as was MBR Farms, a blueberry farm based in Pearson, Georgia...

According to the lawsuit, the brothers served as H-2A labor contractors that supervised and managed foreign workers...

In a phone call, MBR Farms CEO Melvin McKinnon said he didn't know about the lawsuit and learned of it for the first time when the Savannah Morning News told him about it...

"We had no idea of any of that happening," McKinnon added. "All we are is a blueberry operation. He provided us with labor. We're not responsible for any of that, so I don't understand why we're a part of it. Him as the crew leader, he's responsible for that. That has nothing to do with us...