AGWM United Bait-and-Switch Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: Georgia-based labor recruiter AGWM United and auto manufacturer SMART Alabama are being sued on behalf of Mexican nationals for running a fraudulent labor scheme.
- Why: The court says AGWM brought dozens of Mexican engineers to the United States under false pretenses, resulting in them working as underpaid production line workers at a SMART Alabama auto factory.
- Where: The class action was filed in an Atlanta court.
A Georgia-based labor recruiter lured Mexican engineers to the United States with promises of engineering jobs and then put them on production lines in an auto factory long-term, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
The class action lawsuit was filed by civil rights advocates against AGWM United and agents mid-April in a Georgia federal court, alleging a bait-and-switch immigration scam.
The lawsuit alleges that AGWM United obtained visas for Mexican citizens by telling U.S. authorities they would be employed as engineers.
Instead, they worked as production line workers for an auto parts manufacturer, AJC reports.
The lawsuit alleges AGWM United and agents acting on the company’s behalf violated immigration laws when they helped secure temporary visas for dozens of Mexican nationals, misleading the government by indicating that they would be employed as professional engineers.
The workers were recruited through the temporary Tennessee visa program, which allows “qualified” Canadian and Mexican citizens, including engineers, to gain temporary entry into the United States.
However, once the engineers were brought to the states, they were stationed at the SMART Alabama auto parts manufacturer. SMART Alabama is also a defendant in the lawsuit.
Mexican Nationals Worked Long Hours, Received Low Pay, Class Action Claims
One of the plaintiffs is Jaime Obregon Acosta, who holds a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering and a master’s in business administration.
He alleges he and others “had to work horrendously long hours on the production line at hourly wages that were a fraction” of that of the U.S. citizens.
According to the complaint, Obregon saw an AGWM United job posting for a quality control engineer position based in the southeastern United States.
An AGWM employee got in touch and told him SMART was interested in hiring him for a period of one year. Obregon was told he would work on the production line for one year, earning around $39,000, but that a promotion to an engineer role was possible after that.
SMART then told U.S. immigration authorities that Obregon would be employed as an engineer rather than a line worker.
According to the complaint, in a three-year period between 2019 and the present, defendants engaged in “similar separate fraudulent acts” to recruit over 40 Mexican engineers as production line workers.
Attorney for the workers Daniel Werner said the visa misclassification was happening “over and over again” so that companies’ could lower their labor costs.
Meanwhile, a California federal judge has given the green light to a class action settlement that will prohibit judges from setting unreasonable bond amounts for detained, unauthorized immigrants without considering their financial circumstances, according to the settlement.
What do you think of the allegations in this case? Let us know in the comments!
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