Carnival owner charged with human trafficking for allegedly holding his Mexican workers hostage

An Arizona man has been charged with human trafficking for allegedly holding Mexican workers hostage to staff his traveling carnival.

According to Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, the suspect forced more than 20 Mexican nationals to live and work “in inhumane conditions that could be dangerous to their health or even their lives.”

The Mexicans were all working legally in the United States, but, according to the charges, Midway West Amusements withheld their visas and passports to coerce them to continue working for the company. They received “paltry” wages and had “costs deducted on top of that,” Reyes said. “That is a classic case of human trafficking or indentured servitude.”

Two of the Mexican workers escaped and notified the Mexican consulate, which contacted law enforcement. According to the charges, the two men said they were recruited in their home country to work for the traveling carnival entertainment company. Their passports and visas were “confiscated” by the company’s owners after they arrived in the United States, according to the charges, and one of the men said the company owner told him he “kept their passports because he did not want anyone to escape.” And, the witness said, the owner added he “preferred foreign workers and avoided hiring American workers.”

The two witnesses said they worked extremely long hours — about 70 hours a week, for which they were paid $400. They said they received no water or meal breaks, leaving them extremely hungry and thirsty. They live in confined spaces inside trailers without running water, electricity or air conditioning, and not all the trailers had beds.

The men said the owners constantly threatened to send them back to Mexico if they did not do their jobs well and without complaint. And, they added, the owner ridiculed them, refused to pay them and refused to return their passports when they told him they wanted to leave.

On Wednesday, one of the men — equipped with audio and video recording devices — returned to the carnival, then located at the Newgate Mall in Ogden. He approached the carnival’s owner and again asked for his pay and his passport. According to the charges, the owner refused, eventually telling the witness he would buy him a plane ticket back to Mexico and return his passport only after he boarded the plane.

When agents from the Utah Attorney General’s SECURE (Special Enforcement of Crimes Against Undocumented Residents) task force served a search warrant on Midway Amusements, one of the owners was seen “hurriedly returning passports/visas to workers,” according to the charges. The agents located nine visas and passports, including those belonging to the two witnesses.

The 31-year-old owner of Midway West Amusements has been charged in Utah’s 2nd District Court with three counts of human trafficking, a second degree felony; and nine counts of possession of another person’s identity documents, a third-degree felony.

“We are outraged by the forced labor conditions Mexican temporary workers with H2B visas were subjected to by this company,” said Jose Borjon, consul of Mexico in Salt Lake City. “We encourage all of those who are in the same situation to denounce it. Do not be afraid, individuals and labor rights must be protected, and we all must fight human trafficking.”

The workers are now under the care of the Mexican consulate. The carnival owner is being held without bail in the Weber County jail.