A couple from California is facing charges for running a “work for smuggling” scheme from 2021 to 2024. The accusations include forcing migrants to work without pay at their home and stealing their wages from a local McDonald’s.
Exploiting migrants under threats of harm
According to the indictment filed on February 19, Carolina Rojas, 50, and Jairo John Gastelo, 45, used “threats of serious harm” to control their victims.
“The defendants smuggled individuals into the United States and exploited them for their own financial gain,” stated U.S. Attorney Joseph McNally.
Rojas and Gastelo are also facing charges of conspiracy to commit forced labor and four counts of forced labor. Rojas faces additional charges, including four counts of trafficking for forced labor.
Wage theft and forced labor
Prosecutors allege that Rojas and Gastelo paid for the travel of migrants to the U.S. to their Simi Valley home. Subsequently, the migrants were forced to perform domestic labor “in exchange for rent,” including “around-the-clock” childcare.
Additionally, Rojas and Gastelo told the migrants that if they ever encounter U.S. immigration authorities, “they must lie about being forced to work for housing.”
Beyond the forced domestic labor, Rojas and Gastelo arranged for some migrants to work at a McDonald’s in Simi Valley. As written in The Sacramento Bee:
Rojas and her husband would collect the cash migrants made while working at the restaurant, prosecutors said. At the McDonald’s, “Rojas had an arrangement with the manager to hire individuals she brought to work there,” prosecutors wrote.
After the migrants were paid by McDonald’s, Rojas had them cash their paychecks at a check-cashing business, according to the indictment. Then she demanded the cash from the migrants as their “smuggling” fees, the indictment says.
To have the McDonald’s manager hire them, Rojas showed the manager fraudulent immigration documents she obtained for the migrants.
Take action
This case highlights the vulnerabilities migrants face when seeking safety and opportunity in the US. Freedom United continues to advocate for systemic change, urging governments to prioritize safe migration pathways and protections for migrant workers. When legal pathways are inaccessible or unsafe, individuals are more likely to turn to smugglers, who can then entrap them in forced labor. Take action by signing our petition.
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