Chinese immigrant workers sue over forced labor at illegal marijuana operation on Navajo land

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN and RIO YAMAT
Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A group of Chinese immigrant workers is suing over forced labor and human trafficking claims that stem from an illegal marijuana growing operation in northwestern New Mexico. The complaint filed Wednesday in state court names Navajo businessman Dineh Benally and Los Angeles-based entrepreneur Irving Lin as defendants, among others. The complaint states the workers were lured to New Mexico under false pretenses and forced to work 14 hours a day trimming marijuana at a motel. They claim they were prohibited from leaving and were never paid. Authorities ended up destroying a quarter-million plants at nearly two dozen farms in the Shiprock area, and the tribe sued Benally.