Human trafficking: ‘Global Horizons case is only the beginning’

The New York Times blogs about the conspiracy indictment brought last week against the Los Angeles company Global Horizons Manpower, alleged to have taken part in forced labor on a chilling scale. Six contractors are accused of a scheme to hold 400 workers from Thailand in virtual slavery on farms in Hawaii and Washington State. The Justice Department says it is the largest human-trafficking case ever brought by the federal government. The case, brought in Honolulu, coincides with the sentencing on Thursday of two Hawaii farmers, Mike and Alec Sou, who pleaded guilty in January to a forced-labor scheme involving 44 Thai workers.