A lawsuit filed by 23 migrant farmworkers ended with a mistrial.

Armando Arevalo and 22 other farm workers from the Rio Grande Valley sued J&D produce back in November 2008.

The case went to trial before U.S. District Court Judge Randy Crane in McAllen last week but ended on Wednesday with a deadlocked jury.

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After about seven months of legal wrangling, an Arkansas farm owner has settled a lawsuit filed by four Mexican migrant workers over alleged abuses suffered at his farm.

The guest-workers were employed at Odom Farms in Austin, Arkansas from 2006 to 2008. Represented by Southern Migrant Legal Services, a project of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, the workers alleged that Farmer Jack Odom brought them to the United States for work; forced them to live in a packing shed; failed to reimburse travel costs as required by law, and then confiscated their passports in order to keep them at the farm. Attorney Sarah Donaldson says these actions violated several laws including the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Immigration and Nationality Act.

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A Lonoke County farmer has settled a lawsuit in which four migrant workers claimed mistreatment while participating in a guest worker program.

The attorney for the workers did not disclosed a dollar amount but said the settlement covered the workers’ work, travel and pain and suffering.

“We hope this settlement sends a message to the growers that if you are going to compete unfairly and use the guest worker program but not follow its rules there are consequences,” said Sarah Donaldson, an attorney with the Nashville, Tenn.-based Southern Migrant Legal Services, which filed the lawsuit in May in U.S. District Court in Little Rock.

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Media Contact
Cynthia Martinez, Communications Director
512.374.2764 or cmartinez@trla.org
Sarah Donaldson, Attorney
203.907.5300 or sdonaldson@trla.org

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas – December 15, 2009 – An Arkansas farm owner has settled a lawsuit filed by four Mexican guestworkers over abuses suffered while the workers were employed on an Austin–based farm.

Represented by Southern Migrant Legal Services, the guestworkers alleged that after Jack Odom, owner of Odom Farms, brought them to the United States for work, he confined them to a filthy, infested and dangerous metal packing shed, failed to reimburse travel costs as required by law, and then confiscated their passports in order to keep them at the farm. Their lawsuit, alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and contract law, was filed in May 2009.

“Employers should know that if they bring in guestworkers and then treat the workers unlawfully, they will have to answer for their actions,” said the workers’ attorney Sarah Donaldson.

According to the lawsuit, the workers were not allowed to leave the inhumane conditions in their shed without an escort.  The men were subjected to verbal abuse and were threatened that Odom would keep them from returning to the United States legally if they complained or left due to the conditions.

Odom brought the workers to the United States using the H-2A guestworker visa program which allows employers to hire foreign workers if sufficient domestic labor cannot be found.  In addition to providing a way for foreign workers to come to the United States, the program also provides legal protections for their rights to safe housing, transportation, and adequate wages.

Added Donaldson, “Abuse of the guestworker program gives growers an unfair advantage over law-abiding competitors.”

A copy of the complaint filed by the workers can be found at http://bit.ly/jackodom.

Southern Migrant Legal Services is a project of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc. (TRLA) that provides free legal services to migrant and seasonal farmworkers in Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Established in 1970, TRLA is a nonprofit organization that provides free legal services to low-income and disadvantaged clients in a 68-county service area in Texas. TRLA’s mission is to promote the dignity, self-sufficiency, safety and stability of low-income Texas residents by providing high-quality legal assistance and related educational services.

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At first it looked like business as usual in the early morning hours of Wednesday, Sept. 9. The line of cars on the Del Rio International Toll Bridge stretched back toward Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, as people waited to cross northward. Headlights glimmered in the dawn as U.S. immigration officers waved folks through – all except for vehicles with children, which were directed to exit to the right of the bridge.

There, Del Rio school district employees handed out fliers citing Texas educational and penal codes. “Upon conducting a check at the Port of Entry your child was observed crossing into the United State from Mexico to attend school. … Your child will be withdrawn from the school immediately,” the notices read in part. “Please come to the Office of Pupil Services … to provide proof of residence in the United States.”

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Hunger is a global, national, regional and local problem. Nearly half of the world — over 3 billion people — lives on less than $2.50 a day. Nationally, 49 million people are “food insecure” — meaning, these people cannot consistently get enough nutritious food necessary for a healthy life. Texas shamefully leads the nation as the sate with the most food insecure households — more than 8 million households. According to Feeding America, Texas also shamefully leads the nation with the highest number of hungry children, which is 1.5 million. In Bexar County alone, about 1 in 3 children do not get enough food.

Hunger was the topic discussed at St. Mary’s University on 8 December. Texas Public Radio hosted a town hall meeting with a panel that included Celia Hagert, a senior analyst at the Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP); Eric Cooper, the executive director of the San Antonio Food Bank (SAFB); Patti Radle, co-founder of Inner City Development (ICD) and former City Council member of District 5; and Steve Saldana, president of Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of San Antonio, Inc. About 45 people were in attendance.

To read the entire story, click here.

Media Contact
Kathryn Youker, Attorney
kyouker@trla.org or 956.447.4802
Cynthia Martinez, Communications Director
cmartinez@trla.org or 512.374.2764

BROWNSVILLE, Texas – December 10, 2009 – A Rio Grande Valley transportation company has settled a lawsuit with a former driver over unpaid overtime during a six month period.

Represented by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA), Rodolfo Urbina alleged that Southwest Transportation Services failed to pay him the proper wages for overtime worked between September 2007 and February 2008.  Filed in September, his lawsuit argued that such practices violate the Fair Labor Standards Act – the federal law that guarantees the minimum wage and overtime pay.

As a driver for Southwest Transportation Services, Urbina transported elderly residents across the Rio Grande Valley and often worked in excess of forty hours per week.  Urbina alleges that his employer often docked hours from the time he reported in his travel logs even though they knew he was working.  As a result, Urbina was not paid for his overtime.

According to TRLA attorney Kathryn Youker, “Workers must be paid for all of their hours of work.  If the employer knows or should know that the work is being done, then he or she must pay for that work.”

Established in 1970, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc. (TRLA) is a nonprofit organization that provides free civil legal services to low-income and disadvantaged clients in a 68-county service area. TRLA’s mission is to promote the dignity, self-sufficiency, safety and stability of low-income Texas residents by providing high-quality civil legal assistance and related educational services.

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Media Contact:
Cynthia Martinez, Communications Director
512.374.2764 or cmartinez@trla.org

AUSTIN, Texas – December 9, 2009 – A new statewide legal aid hotline has been established to help low-income Texans having difficulty acquiring food stamps this holiday season.

Run by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA), the leading provider of legal aid in Texas, the hotline is targeted towards Texans who have been denied food stamp benefits or have applied but not received a decision on their application within thirty days.  Federal law requires that states process applications within a thirty day period.

“People need to receive a decision on whether they will get this aid within thirty days,” said TRLA attorney Renee Trevino. “When it comes to feeding your family, having to wait longer than that is not acceptable.”

More than sixteen percent of Texas households are having trouble putting food on the table in these tough economic times.  In October more than 185,000 food stamp applications were reviewed by the state. More than forty percent of those were decided upon beyond the established time frames for a decision.

The hotline can be reached at 1-866-757-1570.  Callers will be able to speak with TRLA staff about their situation and determine their eligibility for free legal services.  In the event that staff is unavailable, callers will be able to supply their information and have someone contact them the following business day.

Added Trevino, “This holiday season no one should go hungry because the state cannot meet deadlines.  TRLA is here to help.”

Established in 1970, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc. (TRLA) is a nonprofit organization that provides free civil legal services to low-income and disadvantaged clients in a 68-county service area. TRLA’s mission is to promote the dignity, self-sufficiency, safety and stability of low-income Texas residents by providing high-quality civil legal assistance and related educational services.

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Jennifer Martinez has a reputation that extends across South Texas.

From Houston to Laredo, immigrants have turned to the woman whose business cards identify her as a federal agent for quick, easy solutions to any number of citizenship problems.

Her clients are usually referred by word of mouth — from a friend or family member who has a cousin, a brother, a co-worker who knows someone else who swears by her services. They pay thousands of dollars in hopes of circumventing government processes that can take years to complete.

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