Federal prosecutors have charged five people in Georgia in an alleged scheme that authorities say used the H-2A agricultural worker visa program to bring foreign workers into the United States, collect illegal payments from them, confiscate their passports, and use threats and violence to keep some workers under their control.
A superseding federal indictment was unsealed in the Southern District of Georgia on September 15, 2026. According to the Department of Justice, the defendants allegedly obtained H-2A visas by providing false information about where workers would live and work and then violated federal H-2A requirements after the workers arrived in the United States.
What Is the H-2A Visa Program?
The H-2A program allows U.S. agricultural employers to temporarily hire foreign nationals for seasonal or temporary farm work when there are not enough available U.S. workers.
Employers participating in the program must follow strict rules intended to protect both foreign workers and the U.S. labor market. H-2A workers are generally entitled to a written employment contract, required wages, free qualifying housing, transportation benefits, workers’ compensation coverage, and other protections.
Most importantly, workers cannot be required to pay an employer, recruiter, or agent for access to an H-2A job or for costs associated with obtaining the employer’s labor certification. Employers are also prohibited from confiscating workers’ passports or immigration documents.
Prosecutors Allege Workers Were Charged Thousands of Dollars
The defendants named in the federal case are Martha Aquino, Evangelina Aquino De Galvan, Julio Cervantes, Marco Cervantes, and Juan Felipe Romero-Lopez.
According to federal prosecutors, the defendants allegedly required workers to make improper payments before they could obtain their H-2A visas or begin working in the United States. Authorities further allege that workers’ passports and other identification documents were withheld and that threats or violence were sometimes used to prevent workers from leaving.
Additional reporting by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution provides further details from the indictment. According to the newspaper, H-2A applications connected with the defendants between 2022 and 2026 reportedly resulted in nearly 1,000 migrant agricultural workers coming to Georgia.
The indictment reportedly describes individual workers who were charged substantial amounts of money simply to obtain or keep their jobs. According to the AJC, two alleged victims were charged approximately $7,500 each, while another worker allegedly paid $4,000 to begin working. That worker’s passport was allegedly taken, and she was reportedly told that she could leave if she paid an additional $2,000.
Allegations of Threats, Guns and Surveillance
The allegations go beyond illegal recruitment fees.
According to the indictment as reported by the AJC, workers were allegedly told that one defendant had large dogs and had authorization to shoot anyone who tried to remove workers from the property. Another defendant was allegedly positioned in a shed near property where workers were housed and was described as monitoring the premises while firearms were kept nearby.
Federal prosecutors also allege that after some workers’ H-2A visas expired, members of the group helped them remain in the United States and offered to transport them to other parts of the country in exchange for additional payments.
The charges are allegations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
H-2A Workers Cannot Legally Be Charged for Their Jobs
Foreign workers are sometimes told that paying thousands of dollars to a recruiter is simply the price of obtaining an American work visa. That is not how the H-2A system is supposed to operate.
The Department of Labor states that H-2A employers and their agents generally cannot require workers to pay recruitment fees, application fees, employer attorney fees, or other costs associated with obtaining the employer’s H-2A labor certification. Employers must also contractually prohibit foreign recruiters they use from collecting prohibited payments from workers.
H-2A workers also have important rights concerning their employment.
Among other protections, employers generally must provide:
- The written terms of employment;
- Payment at the required wage rate;
- Free qualifying housing when required;
- Transportation to and from the worksite;
- Required tools and equipment at no cost;
- Workers’ compensation coverage;
- Certain transportation and meal reimbursements; and
- Protection against retaliation for asserting H-2A rights or cooperating with government investigators.
An employer or recruiter also cannot lawfully hold a worker’s passport as a way of controlling the worker or preventing the worker from leaving.
Exploited Workers May Have Immigration Options
Foreign workers who are threatened, forced to work, placed into debt, prevented from leaving employment, or controlled through confiscation of passports or threats should speak with an immigration attorney about whether their circumstances may qualify as labor trafficking.
In certain situations, a victim of a severe form of human trafficking may qualify for T nonimmigrant status, commonly known as a T visa.
A T visa is a humanitarian immigration benefit for qualifying victims of severe forms of trafficking. Depending on the circumstances, an applicant generally must establish that the person was a victim of a severe form of trafficking, is physically present in the United States because of the trafficking, complied with reasonable requests for assistance from law enforcement unless an exception applies, and would suffer extreme hardship involving unusual and severe harm if removed from the United States.
Importantly, a person does not necessarily lose the ability to seek immigration protection simply because the worker’s original visa has expired or the person is now undocumented. The immigration history, the trafficking conduct, the person’s present circumstances, and any cooperation with authorities must be evaluated individually.
Federal Government Increasing Scrutiny of H-2A Fraud
The Georgia prosecution is not the only recent federal case involving alleged misuse of the agricultural visa program.
In February 2026, federal prosecutors in Washington State announced charges against four defendants accused of fraudulently obtaining H-2A visas and unlawfully transporting more than 500 foreign agricultural workers into Washington. Prosecutors alleged that false representations were made to federal agencies regarding agricultural employers’ need for temporary foreign labor.
The Georgia investigation involved multiple agencies, including Homeland Security Investigations, the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and other federal enforcement units.
The case demonstrates that H-2A enforcement involves more than whether a worker possesses a valid visa. Federal authorities can investigate the employers, recruiters, contractors and other people who arranged the employment when there are allegations of fraud, illegal fees, coercion, document confiscation or exploitation.
Were You Exploited by an Employer or Recruiter?
If you came to the United States through an H-2A visa or another temporary work visa and your employer or recruiter took your passport, forced you to pay for your job, threatened you, prevented you from leaving, placed you into debt, withheld wages, or forced you to continue working, you may have legal rights and potentially immigration options in the United States. T-Visa protects workers in the US whose employers abuse them and violate their employment rights.
Even if your visa has already expired or you are currently undocumented, do not assume that you have no options. Victims of labor trafficking and other forms of exploitation may qualify for humanitarian immigration protections depending on their circumstances.
Call Shepelsky Law Group at (718) 769-6352 or book your consultation at www.ShepelskyLaw.com to schedule an immigration consultation. Our attorneys can review your history, determine whether you may qualify for a T visa or another form of immigration relief, and help you understand your options for obtaining legal status in the United States.