3 Indicted for Allegedly Trafficking Mexican Workers in Visa Scheme

Three individuals were charged with trafficking Mexican workers into forced labor at farms in Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Feb. 23.

A federal grand jury delivered the 35-count indictment, which was unsealed on Feb. 20, accusing the defendants of exploiting an immigrant work visa program and subjecting the victims to inhumane conditions, according to a DOJ statement.

The H-2A visa program allows U.S. employers to contract foreign nationals to fill temporary or seasonal U.S. agricultural jobs. The defendants promised legitimate employment opportunities to “vulnerable” workers, then forced them into labor, prosecutors said.

“These charges reflect the Department’s commitment to protecting the integrity of our lawful immigration system and holding accountable those who corrupt it to exploit and abuse foreign workers,” the DOJ’s Criminal Division Assistant Attorney General Andrew Duva said. “The Criminal Division will continue to investigate and prosecute forced labor and human trafficking wherever it occurs.”

The accused are Martha Zeferino Jose, a Mexican citizen and permanent U.S. resident, who owned and operated a farm labor contracting company called Las Princesas Corporation in Washington, North Carolina, with her partner, Jose Rodriguez Muñoz, a Mexican citizen unlawfully in the United States. Zeferino Jose’s son, Jeremy Zeferino Jose, a Mexican citizen and permanent U.S. resident, is named as the third defendant.

Attorneys for the defendants did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.

Recruiters for Las Princesas charged exorbitant fees to Mexican workers for the opportunity to work in the United States, crippling them with debt before they even arrived, prosecutors said.

Once the workers made it to the United States, the three defendants allegedly took their passports, visas, and other identification documents to prevent them from leaving, according to prosecutors.

Victims had no other choice but to comply and suffer harsh working conditions, with long hours and little access to water, at farms and plant nurseries across Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida, according to the indictment. The workers were housed in crowded, unsanitary residences without heat, air conditioning, hot water, and bedding, it said.

Often, the workers were denied food and medical care, prosecutors said.

If the workers did not comply, they also faced arrest and deportation threats from the three defendants.

Martha Zeferino Jose and her partner obstructed the onset of the investigation, started by the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, the DOJ alleged. It said that prior to the investigators’ arrival at Las Princesas, the pair returned the workers’ documents and demanded that they tell officials that conditions at the company were fine or face deportation if they told the truth.

Each of the three defendants is charged with forced labor, conspiracy to commit forced labor, alien harboring for financial gain, conspiracy to commit alien harboring for financial gain, and document servitude offenses, according to the DOJ statement.

The owner and operator of Las Princesas, Martha Zeferino Jose, is additionally charged with visa fraud. Muñoz is facing an additional obstruction charge. Both are charged with conspiracy to obstruct proceedings before agencies.

“We will find and eradicate any illegal immigration we find,” U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle for the Eastern District of North Carolina said. “We do not tolerate abuse of the system to hurt unsuspecting victims of human trafficking.”

In an effort to address farm labor shortages created by an increase in deportations, President Donald Trump said in August 2025 that he would allow some deported agricultural workers who were illegally in the country to return legally.

“We’re sending them back, and then they’re schooling, they’re learning, they’re coming in. They’re coming in legally. We have a lot of that going on, but we’re taking care of our farmers. We can’t let our farmers not have anybody,” Trump said.

All three defendants could be sentenced to decades in prison if convicted, according to the DOJ.

The Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Labor, and the Office of Inspector General are investigating this case.