immigration law, company use of illegal foreign labor, immigration violation

Use of illegal foriegn labor: In the State of Hawaii the commercial fishing fleet is bringing in foreign labor.

They come to Hawaii by way of fishing boat, not being allowed to come here by airplane.
They have no work permits or work visas.
Under the Jones act a US documented fishing boat can only have a foreign crew if they are going from a US port to a foreign port or visa versa.
The boats that have foreign crews are working in an out of Honolulu, the only time they go to a foreign port is to pick up their crews after that they work for the next 2-4 years in and out of Honolulu without going to any foreign ports, most of them are working inside the US EEZ.
The crews are kept on board the boats not being allowed to come ashore.
Their passports are kept by the vessel owner.
The crews are paid $200.00 a month to $500.00 a month depending where they come from.
Immigration has turned their back to the problem ignoring the laws.
This has caused a unfair competitive market with the smaller boats that were the main body of the fleet.
The bigger boats that hire foreign crews are now dominating the fleet because they don't have to pay US labor rates.
They are putting us smaller boats out of business because they can be more than competitive with cheap foreign labor.
What if anything can be done?
can I file suite against US immigration for damages?
we went from a million dollar a year gross to less than one quarter of that and we are starving to death!!
I hope someone out there can help!! - Is this your question? Add additional information
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Answers (1)

Michael Harold Sharon

Michael Harold Sharon

Contributor Level 6
If they are violating the immigration laws, then the ICE (Immigration Customs and Enforcement) or the CBP (Customs and Border Protection) office would be the organization to take action. If there are issues where the wages paid are unlawful, then the US Department of Labor would be the agency to contact. You may want to try working with your Congressional representatives or bring it to the attention of the media.
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