A group of Chinese immigrant workers have filed a lawsuit, alleging that they were lured into northern New Mexico under false pretenses, ultimately forced to work 14-hour days trimming cannabis on the Navajo Nation, where cannabis cultivation is still illegal, according to the Associated Press. The suit was filed Wednesday in state court.
The lawsuit alleges that job advertisements promised $200 each day, housing and food, in exchange for “gardening services” and “flower cutting.” But according to the complaint, once workers arrived in New Mexico, their phones and car keys were confiscated, they were not allowed to leave and family members were separated in some instances.
Lawyers for the 15 workers said their clients were treated like animals, commending their bravery for coming forward in a statement released Wednesday.
“Ending forced labor requires that the perpetrators of forced labor and those who seek to benefit from such schemes face serious consequences,” attorney Aaron Halegua said. “We hope that this lawsuit will demonstrate that such abusive practices do not pay.”
The complaint states that at least 19 rooms in a motel near Farmington were used for the operation, adding that workers were treated like prisoners and that the motel was watched by armed guards. The operation was busted by Farmington police in October 2020 after they were called to the motel to investigate a “strong” cannabis odor. Officers found 2,000 pounds of cannabis, worth between $3 million and $10 million, according to the lawsuit.
At the time, the workers were arrested, but the drug charges were later dropped. Later that same year, federal, state and tribal authorities also raided the Shiprock-area farms and destroyed 250,000 plants.
The lawsuit names Navajo businessman Dineh Benally and Taiwanese LA-based entrepreneur Irving Lin as the defendants. It additionally names associates of the pair, along with businesses linked to the farming operation. Authorities said that the operation grew to nearly two dozen farms and more than 1,100 greenhouses spread across 400 acres.
The operation was met with a court order, demanding that production cease, after the Navajo Nation Department of Justice sued Benally. However, the lawsuit says that Benally and his associates ignored the warning.
According to AP, Benally didn’t respond to phone and email requests for comment. David Jordan represented Benally in the Navajo case and also declined to comment on the lawsuit, though he denied that Benally had ignored the order to halt farming operations. Lin also couldn’t be reached for comments, and AP notes that it wasn’t clear from court records whether he has an attorney to comment on his behalf. A New Mexico lawyer who previously represented Lin also wasn’t available for comment.
According to a March 2021 affidavit detailed in the lawsuit, Lin said that there was “no violence and human trafficking” and that the farming operation has not violated any human rights.
The complaint says that Benally turned a blind eye to federal and tribal laws making it illegal to grow cannabis on the reservation, additionally that he had instructed his associates and the workers to refer to the cannabis as “hemp” to avoid trouble with the law. Benally was a former Navajo Nation presidential candidate and had previously campaigned on growing hemp to boost the economy.
The lawsuit also alleges that Benally and Lin intentionally targeted Californian Chinese immigrants in 2020 who were out of work at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Navajo Nation chief of police at the time Phillip Francisco previously estimated that the operation hosted 1,000 workers, mostly foreign workers brought from Los Angeles to New Mexico, though other law enforcement officials have estimated the number may surpass 2,000.
Navajo residents described the conditions, that workers were sleeping in fields and ditches “shivering through the night,” according to the lawsuit. One worker alleges that he slept on greenhouse floors and was never paid any of the approximately $12,000 in wages he was promised. The lawsuit also states that workers didn’t get adequate rest or enough food and water throughout the day.
The lawsuit was filed in Santa Fe and seeks a jury trial, though damages are still unspecified.
