Labor contractor sentenced for selling US visas to Mexican farmworkers

The owner of a labor contracting company that illegally charged Mexican farmworkers thousands of dollars for H-2A visas, which allows non-U.S. citizens to temporarily enter the country to do agricultural work, was sentenced Friday to a year in prison.

U.S District Judge Josephine L. Staton also ordered the company owner to pay $135,389 in restitution. The company is H-2A Placement Services in Rancho Cucamonga.

The defendant, Jorge Vasquez, tried to commit mail fraud, false swearing in immigration matters, and fraud in foreign labor contracting with the owner of another labor contracting company, Melquiades Jacinto Lara of J&D Harvesting, according to a release from the Department of Justice. The release added that Vasquez traveled to Mexico to recruit farmworkers and charged them up to $3,000 for H-2A visas, in addition to illegally agreeing to give visas to individuals already in the U.S. in exchange for fees as high as $4,000.

The H-2A visa program has grown substantially in recent decades, even as President Donald Trump's administration imposed restrictions on other foreign worker programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the H-1B visa program for skilled tech workers.

In April, citing concerns about maintaining the nation's food supply, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security temporarily relaxed the H-2A visa process to expedite the flow of farmworkers into the country.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Damaris Diaz and Jonathan S. Galatzan.

-- Jessica Mach