"CBP ISSUES WITHHOLD RELEASE ORDER AGAINST DOMINICAN SUGAR COMPANY CENTRAL ROMANA, SUPPLIER TO DOMINO SUGAR AND FLORIDA CRYSTALS", 23 November 2022

...Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a Withhold Release Order (WRO) against all sugar and sugar products produced by Central Romana Corporation Limited (Central Romana) in the Dominican Republic. Under Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930, it is prohibited to import all goods produced in whole or in part with forced or prison labor into the United States. Therefore, as of November 23, 2022, all sugar goods produced by Central Romana in the Dominican Republic cannot enter the US market, although they may be exported and sent to another country.

This WRO comes just weeks after Corporate Accountability Lab (CAL) and other NGOs issued a public letter to the Biden Administration urging the government to take these steps. CBP found five indicators of forced labor on Central Romana’s bateyes (company towns where cane cutters live), including abuse of vulnerability, isolation, withholding of wages, abusive working and living conditions, and excessive overtime. As only the third WRO in 2022 – and one that blocks goods from a big importer – this is an important step to combat forced labor...

For years, Central Romana’s cane cutters have labored under dangerous conditions, often working over ten hours a day in the hot sun, cutting sugarcane with machetes, and earning poverty wages. Most workers live in Central Romana’s bateyes in dilapidated homes, many of which do not have running water or electricity. Moreover, most of Central Romana’s workers are Haitian or of Haitian descent. Although many were born in bateyes, they often lack documentation and regular immigration status – a result of discriminatory laws...