In the latest development of Operation Blooming Onion, one of the largest human trafficking cases ever prosecuted by the US Department of Justice, lawyers filed a class action lawsuit against Maria Leticia Patricio, one of 24 individuals indicted in Georgia for labour trafficking. The lawsuit comes on behalf of 100 Mexican, Guatemalan and Honduran farmworkers in Georgia recruited under the federal H2-A visa program.

Blueberry grower MBR Farms was also named as a defandant in the lawsuit which describes workers subject to conditions not included in their contracts, confiscated identification and visa documents, threats and violence and recruitment fee charges of hundreds of dollars. Workers were housed in cramped and squalid housing and did not have food.

The CEO of MBR Farms told Savannah Morning News in the USA that they had been unaware of the lawsuit and were not responsible for the labour recruitment.