ALBERTVILLE — While questions remain surrounding the influx of Haitian migrants in north Alabama, whistleblower and immigration advisor Jay Palmer said he has proof that human labor trafficking is taking place in Albertville.
Palmer spoke at another community meeting Monday night along with local Haitian American businessman Jeff Lamour, Mount Calvary Baptist Church pastor David McMillen and the meeting organizer Gerilynn Hanson.
"One of the main reasons I'm here is because of human trafficking. It's rampant," Palmer said. "I have proof."
Since he first began looking into Albertville's immigration issues nearly two weeks ago, Palmer said he's received multiple threats to abandon his investigations as more people have "been coming out of the woodwork" to share their story of exploitation. He explained how some third-party staffing agencies would demand a part of an immigrant employee's paycheck or how an American sponsor of an immigrant in the U.S. on a federal work program could withhold that person's money and other benefits.
Palmer said he didn't blame the immigrants coming to Albertville or other areas of the state for a better life or even the businesses they work for but held the staffing agencies responsible for the alleged labor trafficking.
"There's 19 staffing agencies within a 15-mile radius of Albertville. Basically, what they do is farm you out to other places," he said. "One of the poultry plants might have a contract with a staffing agency, and they might pay the staffing agency $15 an hour for you to be there but only give you $7 or $6 or $5 or $10… That's human trafficking."
Palmer said the Biden-Harris administration recently halted a federal program that brought in Cuban, Haitian and Venezuelan refugees due to fraud involving the people applying to be sponsors in the program.
"Sponsors are required to take care of you. They receive, at the beginning, governmental assistance. The reason the program was stopped was because these sponsors were taking the money and not providing adequate housing. That's happening here."
Lamour said he has been "fortunate" to work with Albertville's code enforcement officer, Matt Evans, to help address the housing issue. He said too often, Haitian refugees are piled into small, rundown houses in near third-world conditions, where the rent can be up to $2,000 a month.
"Going to those houses, it's a sad thing to see how people are living here," Lamour said. "[T]he people don't know any better because they don't understand our law… Their living situation is just awful."
Lamour said he lived in a similar situation when he first came from Haiti to Albertville as a child. He's since graduated from the local high school and became a successful businessman, which is why he favors enforcing the city's zoning codes.
"The zoning [codes] are there to protect you. They're there to protect everybody, not [only] black or white," he said. "...I want to emphasize it's not racist; it's there to protect everybody."
Lamour said he's spoken to residents of all racial backgrounds, and it can take "constant babysitting" to get some to maintain their residence. However, the refugee sponsors should be held accountable in situations where the housing is inadequate, he said.
"If you bring somebody over here to take care of them, you should take care of them. But nobody is enforcing the rules."
Palmer said the best way to stop the labor trafficking and housing issues is for people who have been victimized to come forward and push for stricter regulations on staffing agencies.
To that end, Hanson said she and other concerned citizens plan to form a nonprofit organization, Concerned for Alabama, to help educate the migrant community on local laws and customs, including teaching them to speak English. She said the 501(c)(3) would rely on community volunteers and grants.
"If the slum lords here are not going to do any better than they're doing, we're going to educate the people," she said. "It will help Albertville in the long run. It will help the Haitian people. It will help the Hispanic people. It helps us all."
Palmer said the nonprofit's vision is "to encourage acceptance while integrating all people to embrace cultural changes by using education, partnerships, programs, and volunteers to unite as one, eradicating poverty and human trafficking to deliver a world of hope, tolerance, and social justice to all, one community at a time."
To connect with the story's author or comment, email daniel.taylor@1819news.com or find him on X and Facebook.
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