Fifteen years ago, migrant workers from Mexico who came to the US as Christmas tree workers were subjected to substandard living conditions in a dilapidated hotel.  

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Broken toilets, no heat, cockroaches, rats, and leaking ceilings were just a few of the issues that confronted these workers. Once they returned to their homes in Mexico, there was little hope that they would receive compensation for suffering such squalid living conditions.

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Ultimately, a legal aid organization in Virginia stepped in and sued the owners of the hotel and won a housing discrimination lawsuit on behalf of these workers. The organization was then able to distribute the money from this case to all but three workers who had returned to Mexico.  

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After fifteen years of futile attempts to locate the other workers, Justice in Motion was called in to help facilitate a solution. Through our Defender Network, we were able to immediately identify a local partner who had deep ties to the migrant community in Oaxaca, where these workers were believed to be located. The three workers were quickly found and subsequently awarded the long-overdue damages.​