MARY READY: Worker ‘slavery' in Destin and beyond

Last week I read of Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Inspector George Collins’ dedicated investigation into abuses suffered by the J-1 students at the hands of “labor brokers,” which is another term for “slave masters” or “contractors.” They deserve about the same level of respect reserved for cockroaches and mafia lawyers.

Officer Collins gets a huge “thank you” from me, especially since I’ve gotten to know so many of these kids.

Here’s the official description of the J-1 program from the United Sates Citizenship and Immigration Service: “The J-1 visa is issued for foreign visitors participating in an established exchange program approved by the State Department …. Exchange visitors include … college students, business trainees … medical residents or interns receiving medical training in the U.S. … school teachers, [and] college professors ….”

They arrive babbling in strange tongues with backpacks around late May — AFTER local high school students have had a chance at the summer jobs. Hiring signs are everywhere now, so don’t tell me about European students taking away their jobs.  

Their handlers (often quite sleazy and usually European) take a lot of money from them for “services” and assure them they’ll easily make up the costs by making big bucks in America, a land flowing with milk, honey, and lucrative jobs.

Usually, they barely earn enough to pay their outrageous rent, repay their student travel loan, and get back home. Their wages are subject to the whims of the contractor who gets paid directly by the employer and then decides how much to give the student.  The contractor typically arranges jobs so far away from where he boards the students that they must pay him for daily transportation or buy a bicycle.

Most are contractually required by the agent to live where he says. That means five to eight kids in a tiny apartment, paying $400 to $450 each. In addition, they’re often resented by residents who belittle their alien accents and treat them unkindly in stores, hotels, and restaurants.

Since Frank and I take in stray dogs and stray J-1 students, I know their horror stories.  

I’ll share just one example of many.

I found two students in Dollar General, trying to pool their small change into enough money to buy a loaf of bread. When they saw they didn’t have enough, they decided to buy flour to make their own bread, but still fell short of the amount. Since I was on my way to Wednesday night supper at church, I took them with me and made sure they got fed.

They’d been in Destin only a few days. Before that they were kept in a warehouse in New Orleans, sleeping on the floor and paying rent. They stayed there two weeks before figuring out that the “guaranteed” job did not exist. Before that they “lived” in a New York airport for three days because the contractor didn’t meet them as promised.  

Finally, he answered their calls for help and sent them to Virginia. No job there either. So on to Destin where he put them with five other kids and charged them $400 rent each. They weren’t allowed to live with American families or hold a second job.

Both kids worked hotels until the employers let them go claiming slow business and gave them the run-around about paying them. The girl was told by her agent that he’d convince the hotel to pay her if she would be “nice” to him. She said “No,” and never saw her final paycheck. The boy was cleaning up vomit one day in an elevator when a lady said, “Young man, if you had an education, you wouldn’t be doing that.” Little did she know he had a college degree in translation and spoke five languages.

His summer pay would have gone toward his master’s degree back home.

By summer’s end, they were penniless, having paid $2,500 to come here and thousands in rent and transportation. They paid their own plane fare every time the contractor sent them to another city, and when they left Destin, they had to leave out of New York, again at their own expense. I saw them off at VPS with sadness for what they had endured.

Their story is not unique. And I’m glad to see that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced reforms in the J-1 program, which may help the 1,000 or so college students who work in Okaloosa and Walton counties. If no real solution is put into place, I’d like to see this visa program end.

Human trafficking is a violation of humanity, and our nation should have no part in it. Besides, our national image worldwide will never be good enough to withstand the negative impressions they take back home after their time in America.

Mary Ready of Destin is a twice-retired English teacher and longtime area resident. Her columns are published on Saturdays.