“Protecting the integrity of the H2-A visa program and ensuring the lawful treatment of workers is important for our agricultural industry, which is a bedrock of Idaho’s economy and way of life,” U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit said. (Lance Cheung/USDA)
A Texas man was sentenced on Thursday to 27 months in federal prison for extorting foreign farmworkers in Idaho and filing a false tax return, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho.
Ernesto Garza, 62, was a supervisor and foreman at F.D.C., an agricultural services company that operates farms throughout Idaho. The company employs H-2A workers, or foreign farmworkers, from March to November.
The H-2A program allows U.S. employers to fill temporary agriculture jobs that cannot otherwise be filled by U.S. workers. According to the Idaho Department of Labor, there were 7,200 H-2A Idaho workers in Idaho in 2023.
As a supervisor, Garza prepared and submitted timesheets for the workers, but regularly falsified those timesheets by adding extra hours and then asked the workers to return cash to him for the extra hours.
Garza would charge foreign workers a fee to work at the company, ranging from $750 to $2,500. He did so without the company’s knowledge or approval. The foreign workers would pay the fee because they feared they would be fired or not allowed to work, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Between 2013 and 2019, Garza also deposited approximately $493,153 in unreported income into his personal bank accounts. The funds came from extorting the foreign farmworks and by a separate scheme to defraud the farm. Garza did not disclose the additional income on his tax return for the years 2013 through 2019, which resulted in the filing of false tax returns, according to the press release.
“Protecting the integrity of the H2-A visa program and ensuring the lawful treatment of workers is important for our agricultural industry, which is a bedrock of Idaho’s economy and way of life,” U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit said in the release. “I am grateful for the work of the Idaho State Police, along with the IRS, to hold this defendant accountable. This case should send a clear message that we will not tolerate the exploitation of agricultural workers in Idaho.”
Special Agent-in-Charge with the U.S. Department of Labor Quentin Heiden said Thursday’s sentencing sends a “clear message” that those who seek to abuse the H-2A program will be held accountable.
“We will continue to collaborate with our law enforcement partners and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division to aggressively pursue fraud involving foreign labor certification programs,” Heiden said.
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