A federal grand jury indicted three Mexican nationals on 35 criminal counts Friday for allegedly trafficking farmworkers lured to the U.S. through a guest worker visa program into forced labor.
Martha Zeferino Jose, 42, her partner and her son Jeremy Zeferino Jose, 23, ran a farm labor contracting outfit called Las Princesas Corporation out of Washington, North Carolina. the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced, citing a criminal complaint. Prosecutors alleged the trio exploited the H-2A agricultural visa system to bring Mexican laborers stateside under false pretenses and trapped them on farms and nurseries across Virginia, North Carolina and Florida from August 2021 to July 2022.
“Three individuals have been indicted for exploiting the H-2A visa program to lure vulnerable workers from Mexico to the United States with promises of legitimate employment, only to then confiscate their identity documents and force them to labor in inhumane conditions,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva. (RELATED: ‘Prophetess’ Charged In Multi-State ‘Forced Labor Conspiracy’)
Martha Zeferino Jose allegedly filed paperwork with the Department of Labor and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services falsely pledging the company would follow all wage, housing and labor requirements, according to the indictment. Prosecutors said she never planned to honor any of it. Recruiters tied to Las Princesas allegedly burdened workers with steep fees before they crossed the border while the defendants seized their passports and IDs upon arrival. The workers endured grueling shifts without enough water or breaks, lived in filthy and overcrowded quarters lacking heat or bedding and went without adequate food or medical attention, the indictment alleged.
👀Three Mexican Citizens Charged with Trafficking Agricultural Workers in Servitude on Farms in Virginia, Eastern District of North Carolina, and Florida – read more at: https://t.co/qmkdXpcdh6
— USAO_EDNC (@USAO_EDNC) February 23, 2026
The defendants allegedly barred workers from leaving, forced them to stay in groups and cut them off from outside contact. They kept control through threats of arrest and deportation, according to prosecutors. When a Department of Labor investigation began, Martha Zeferino Jose allegedly handed back the stolen documents just before inspectors showed up and coached workers to lie. Her partner allegedly warned them they would be deported if they revealed what was going on.
Each defendant faces forced labor, conspiracy to commit forced labor, alien harboring for profit and document servitude charges. The forced labor counts alone carry up to 20 years in prison each, the DOJ said.
A federal court in December 2025 approved a settlement that awarded nearly $215,000 to 366 H-2A workers, according to the North Carolina Justice Center, a party to the case. A judge also banned Las Princesas from employing any agricultural laborers for three years.
“We will find and eradicate any illegal immigration we find here in the EDNC,” U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle for the Eastern District of North Carolina (EDNC) said. “We do not tolerate abuse of the system to hurt unsuspecting victims of human trafficking.”