Recruitment ads have always made certain promises: Great pay, good benefits, collegial work atmosphere, etc. Imagine the disappointment of some immigrant workers who thought their new jobs came with U.S. citizenship when that wasn’t the case.
An ad offered welders and pipe fitters working to rebuild oil rigs in Mississippi and Texas “permanent lifetime settlement in the USA for self and family.”
An article in the Washington Post tells the story of Vijay Kumar, a native of India, who signed a contract and paid a recruiter $20,000 to travel to the U.S. He hoped to be able to send for his wife and newborn son soon.
Instead, about 500 Indian recruits received a 10-month work visa with no possibility of obtaining permanent residency for themselves, let alone their families back home.
They were employed by Signal International Corp. repairing oil rigs damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Signal says it didn’t know the workers had been promised residency.
More than 100 of the Indian workers have filed a federal lawsuit against Signal and several recruiting agents under a federal law that prohibits “human trafficking” by fraud or force for labor.
Signal has entered the Indians’ lawsuit as a plaintiff, accusing several recruiters in India and the U.S. of hiring workers under fraudulent conditions.
A lawyer for Signal says the company “did not fully understand the green card process. We acted in good faith at every turn.”
The Indians have the support of 18 members of Congress who have signed a letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey on their behalf.
