Ryan Murphy is a Gary Marx Journalism Fund intern.
This story is supported by the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting.
Joseph Cantu ran Big River Honey with his mother until 2022, when the federal government banned the Florida apiary from hiring guest visa workers for three years because of alleged wage violations. Nine months after the ban started, the government allowed Cantu’s mother to hire the labor force the apiary needed — at the same address.
Cantu was surprised his mother could hire guest workers at the same location. “Well,” he remembered her saying, “they’re not gonna be working for you.” Cantu’s mother declined to comment.
The employees were on H-2A visas, which allow foreign nationals to work in the U.S. for short time periods. Many H-2A workers face mistreatment from some employers, and the federal government can temporarily ban, or debar, employers from hiring H-2A workers. But the bans rarely occur and are easy to evade, according to government reports, experts and Investigate Midwest’s analysis of H-2A data.
It is unclear how the U.S. Department of Labor determines which employers receive a temporary ban rather than a fine. As of August, 33 businesses are banned in the U.S. In six instances, employers with the same address, owner or phone number as the actively banned companies were approved for H-2A workers. The federal government approved one business for workers despite its name and location written verbatim on the banned list.
“The debarment...
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