Watchdog Urges US Ban Over Dominican Sugarcane Forced Labor
A three-year investigation found forced labor persists on Central Romana plantations tied to the Fanjul family, which has close ties to Trump and Rubio.
A human rights group is calling on the U.S. government to reinstate an import ban on sugar from the Dominican Republic's largest sugarcane producer, saying forced labor conditions documented years ago still persist.
The nonprofit Corporate Accountability Lab said Tuesday it spent more than three years investigating working conditions at Central Romana Corporation, Ltd., the largest employer and landowner in the Dominican Republic, which exports sugar and other products to the U.S., its biggest market. The company's owners have ties to President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the report noted.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection previously investigated Central Romana and accused it of isolating workers, withholding wages, fostering abusive living conditions and pushing excessive overtime. The U.S. imposed an import ban on the company's sugar in 2022, but it was reversed last year under the Trump administration.
One of Central Romana's owners is the Florida-based Fanjul Corp., which also owns Florida Crystals and has close ties to Trump and the Dominican government, according to the report.
Local civil society groups estimate up to 8,000 workers labor in the company's sugarcane fields, which span more than 173,700 acres. Workers, many of them Haitian migrants or their descendants who lack Dominican citizenship despite being born there, have long complained of unpaid wages and cramped housing without water or electricity — conditions verified by Associated Press journalists in recent years.
One unidentified worker quoted in the report said he has no documents to seek another job: "Why would we stay? This way we are their slaves." Another said company employees control pay decisions: "They are always underpaying us, but we can't fight for them to pay us justly because we don't have that kind of power."
Central Romana called the report "riddled with inaccuracies and untruths" and said it had not violated local laws or international labor standards. It did not respond to a request for further comment.
The nonprofit also urged the Dominican government to regularize workers' immigration status, pay owed pensions and enforce labor and environmental laws. A recent U.S. Department of Labor study similarly described living conditions on the plantations as "inhumane" and "abusive."
This article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI), in accordance with our editorial policy.
