Migrant files suit on state farmers

A migrant farmworker from South Africa has filed a lawsuit against family farmers in Trumann, alleging that their lies caused him to be detained illegally by immigration authorities for more than a month.

Jeandre Fouche claims in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Jonesboro that Gairhan Farms in Trumann and its principal operators, Wayne, David and Scott Gairhan, violated his rights in 2018, when he went to Trumann on an H2-A temporary agriculture visa.

The lawsuit has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Brian Miller.

Fouche said he arrived in Trumann to work for the Gairhans in June 2018 as an equipment operator. In early September, Fouche said, he accepted another job offer in North Dakota. The Gairhans, according to Fouche, told him that he could not legally leave the job in Trumann until three-fourths of the contract was completed.

H2-A laws allow workers to leave for other jobs, although those workers are liable for transportation costs, according to the lawsuit. There also are no requirements that three-fourths of a job be completed before such a transfer, the lawsuit said.

When Fouche persisted in leaving the Trumann farm, the Gairhans called immigration authorities and claimed that Fouche had absconded, the lawsuit claims.

Fouche was arrested while he was still on the Gairhan farm and was taken to a Louisiana jail, where he was held for slightly more than a month, according to the lawsuit.

An immigration judge in December 2018 found that Fouche was lawfully in the U.S., the lawsuit said.

The Gairhans' false claims resulted in Fouche's illegal detention, financial losses, and emotional distress, the lawsuit said. It also names as defendants the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and the immigration officer who arrested Fouche.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified punitive and compensatory damages.

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