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After allegations of racist hiring on Delta farms, DOL finds 11 more employers misusing visa program

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After allegations of racist hiring on Delta farms, DOL finds 11 more employers misusing visa program

Agents with the U.S. Department of Labor fined 11 Delta farms for misusing a popular visa program after a sweep of investigations in the wake of public outcry and a Missisisippi Today investigation that found Black local workers being underpaid and phased out of farm jobs in favor of white workers from South Africa.

“The allegations made by Mississippi Delta farmworkers are alarming,” Wage and Hour Division District’s Jackson director, Audrey Hall, said in a statement. “The outcome of these investigations confirms that employers denied many farmworkers their lawful wages and, in some cases, violated the rights of U.S. workers by giving temporary guest workers preferential treatment.”

Mississippi Today’s investigation found at least five farms who paid their local workers – usually Black men – less money per hour than those on farm work visas through the H-2A program – usually white men from South Africa – over the last few years.

READ MORE: White Delta farm owners are underpaying and pushing out Black workers

The labor department's Wage and Hour Division fined the 11 farms a total of $122,610 and recovered wages for 45 workers totaling $134,532 in its latest string of investigations.

Investigators found violations against both local workers and those working on temporary visas through the H-2A visa program. Delta farms have been increasingly relying upon foreign farm workers from South Africa over the last several years.

Agents found employers paid local workers lesser wages per hour than their foreign counterparts for the same type of jobs; failed to disclose all conditions of employment, including accurate anticipated hours and bonus opportunities; illegally deducted money from visa workers’ paychecks, including costs of travel; and did not keep proper records.

For the first time in 25 years, the Delta has its own Wage and Hour Division investigators stationed in Greenwood and Clarksdale. Prior to the recent hires, the nearest investigators were in Jackson.

“The Wage and Hour Division is determined to protect the rights of workers of color and others who have been historically underserved, marginalized and faced with persistent poverty and inequality,” Regional Administrator Juan Coria said in a statement.

The 11 farms are:

  • Clark & Co. in Shelby
  • Egremont Baconia Farms in Cary
  • White Farms AJV in Marks
  • Van Buren Farms II in Belzoni
  • Bulldog Farms LLC in Tutwiler
  • Custom Ag Services LLC in Isola
  • Bruton Farms Partnership in Anguilla
  • Durst Farms in Rolling Fork
  • Carter Plantation LTD, in Rolling Fork
  • Harris Russell Farm in Moorhead
  • Murrell Farms in Avon

Harris Russell Farms was named in a lawsuit filed on behalf of Black local workers in April. The workers made up to $3.38 less an hour than their South African counterparts, according to the lawsuit.

The Mississippi Center for Justice first filed a lawsuit against Pitts Farms – which was also a subject of a DOL investigation – accusing the Sunflower County farm of underpaying Black workers in favor of white workers from South Africa last year.

Mississippi Today found that while the DOL did investigate Pitts, the investigations only examined two years of payroll. That left the men who lost out on jobs or pay outside that two-year window with little recourse.

It’s unclear if the latest string of investigations also only covered a two-year investigation period, which was the agency’s standard as of June. U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh told a Mississippi Today reporter at that time the DOL would be examining how it handles H-2A investigations.

Pitts Farms workers described their mistreatment to Mississippi Today – including being paid less per hour to train their replacements – and then echoed their experiences during a public meeting with Walsh, who visited the Delta in June.

U.S.Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh (6th from left) and U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson (second right) with Black farmers in the Delta involved in the Pitts Farms lawsuit, during a meeting at the Mississippi Center for Justice in Indianola, Thursday, June 30, 2022.

The H-2A program is intended to fill gaps in the workforce where enough local workers are not available. Meanwhile, the Delta has high percentages of unemployment.

The DOL described its Delta investigations “ongoing” in response to the allegations of wage theft and illegal displacement of local U.S. workers in Mississippi.

Workers who think they have been incorrectly paid or have questions about their rights in the H-2A program can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243).

Editor’s note: The Mississippi Center For Justice President and CEO Vangela Wade serves on Mississippi Today’s board of trustees.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi Today

On this day in 1997

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-12-22 07:00:00

Dec. 22, 1997

Myrlie Evers and Reena Evers-Everette cheer the jury verdict of Feb. 5, 1994, when Byron De La Beckwith was found guilty of the 1963 murder of Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers. Credit: AP/Rogelio Solis

The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the conviction of white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith for the 1963 murder of Medgar Evers. 

In the court’s 4–2 decision, Justice Mike Mills praised efforts “to squeeze justice out of the harm caused by a furtive explosion which erupted from dark bushes on a June night in Jackson, Mississippi.” 

He wrote that Beckwith’s constitutional right to a speedy trial had not been denied. His “complicity with the Sovereignty Commission’s involvement in the prior trials contributed to the delay.” 

The decision did more than ensure that Beckwith would stay behind bars. The conviction helped clear the way for other prosecutions of unpunished killings from the Civil Rights Era.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Medicaid expansion tracker approaches $1 billion loss for Mississippi

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mississippitoday.org – Bobby Harrison – 2024-12-22 06:00:00

About the time people ring in the new year next week, the digital tracker on Mississippi Today’s homepage tabulating the amount of money the state is losing by not expanding Medicaid will hit $1 billion.

The state has lost $1 billion not since the start of the quickly departing 2024 but since the beginning of the state’s fiscal year on July 1.

Some who oppose Medicaid expansion say the digital tracker is flawed.

During an October news conference, when state Auditor Shad White unveiled details of his $2 million study seeking ways to cut state government spending, he said he did not look at Medicaid expansion as a method to save money or grow state revenue.

“I think that (Mississippi Today) calculator is wrong,” White said. “… I don’t think that takes into account how many people are going to be moved off the federal health care exchange where their health care is paid for fully by the federal government and moved onto Medicaid.”

White is not the only Mississippi politician who has expressed concern that if Medicaid expansion were enacted, thousands of people would lose their insurance on the exchange and be forced to enroll in Medicaid for health care coverage.

Mississippi Today’s projections used for the tracker are based on studies conducted by the Institutions of Higher Learning University Research Center. Granted, there are a lot of variables in the study that are inexact. It is impossible to say, for example, how many people will get sick and need health care, thus increasing the cost of Medicaid expansion. But is reasonable that the projections of the University Research Center are in the ballpark of being accurate and close to other studies conducted by health care experts.

White and others are correct that Mississippi Today’s calculator does not take into account money flowing into the state for people covered on the health care exchange. But that money does not go to the state; it goes to insurance companies that, granted, use that money to reimburse Mississippians for providing health care. But at least a portion of the money goes to out-of-state insurance companies as profits.

Both Medicaid expansion and the health care exchange are part of the Affordable Care Act. Under Medicaid expansion people earning up to $20,120 annually can sign up for Medicaid and the federal government will pay the bulk of the cost. Mississippi is one of 10 states that have not opted into Medicaid expansion.

People making more than $14,580 annually can garner private insurance through the health insurance exchanges, and people below certain income levels can receive help from the federal government in paying for that coverage.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, legislation championed and signed into law by President Joe Biden significantly increased the federal subsidies provided to people receiving insurance on the exchange. Those increased subsidies led to many Mississippians — desperate for health care — turning to the exchange for help.

White, state Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney, Gov. Tate Reeves and others have expressed concern that those people would lose their private health insurance and be forced to sign up for Medicaid if lawmakers vote to expand Medicaid.

They are correct.

But they do not mention that the enhanced benefits authored by the Biden administration are scheduled to expire in December 2025 unless they are reenacted by Congress. The incoming Donald Trump administration has given no indication it will continue the enhanced subsidies.

As a matter of fact, the Trump administration, led by billionaire Elon Musk, is looking for ways to cut federal spending.

Some have speculated that Medicaid expansion also could be on Musk’s chopping block.

That is possible. But remember congressional action is required to continue the enhanced subsidies. On the flip side, congressional action would most likely be required to end or cut Medicaid expansion.

Would the multiple U.S. senators and House members in the red states that have expanded Medicaid vote to end a program that is providing health care to thousands of their constituents?

If Congress does not continue Biden’s enhanced subsidies, the rates for Mississippians on the exchange will increase on average about $500 per year, according to a study by KFF, a national health advocacy nonprofit. If that occurs, it is likely that many of the 280,000 Mississippians on the exchange will drop their coverage.

The result will be that Mississippi’s rate of uninsured — already one of the highest in the nation – will rise further, putting additional pressure on hospitals and other providers who will be treating patients who have no ability to pay.

In the meantime, the Mississippi Today counter that tracks the amount of money Mississippi is losing by not expanding Medicaid keeps ticking up.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1911

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-12-21 07:00:00

Dec. 21, 1911

A colorized photograph of Josh Gibson, who was playing with the Homestead Grays Credit: Wikipedia

Josh Gibson, the Negro League’s “Home Run King,” was born in Buena Vista, Georgia. 

When the family’s farm suffered, they moved to Pittsburgh, and Gibson tried baseball at age 16. He eventually played for a semi-pro team in Pittsburgh and became known for his towering home runs. 

He was watching the Homestead Grays play on July 25, 1930, when the catcher injured his hand. Team members called for Gibson, sitting in the stands, to join them. He was such a talented catcher that base runners were more reluctant to steal. He hit the baseball so hard and so far (580 feet once at Yankee Stadium) that he became the second-highest paid player in the Negro Leagues behind Satchel Paige, with both of them entering the National Baseball Hame of Fame. 

The Hall estimated that Gibson hit nearly 800 homers in his 17-year career and had a lifetime batting average of .359. Gibson was portrayed in the 1996 TV movie, “Soul of the Game,” by Mykelti Williamson. Blair Underwood played Jackie Robinson, Delroy Lindo portrayed Satchel Paige, and Harvey Williams played “Cat” Mays, the father of the legendary Willie Mays. 

Gibson has now been honored with a statue outside the Washington Nationals’ ballpark.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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