U.S. CBP issues withhold release order (WRO) against Mexican coffee farm
Imports of coffee harvested with forced labor will be detained
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) today issued a withhold release order (WRO) against coffee harvested by a Mexican coffee farm. Effective immediately, CBP will detain coffee from this farm at all U.S. ports of entry due to violations of the law prohibiting goods made with forced labor from entering the United States.
According to the CBP release, the WRO is based on a CBP investigation and review of evidence, including interview transcripts, questionnaires, reports from international and nongovernmental organizations, and open-source news media reports. The evidence indicated that workers at the farm are subject to six International Labour Organization indicators of forced labor, including abuse of vulnerability, withholding of wages, retention of identity documents, excessive overtime, debt bondage, and abusive working and living conditions.