Watchdog calls for US import ban as forced labor persists in Dominican sugarcane fields

A human rights group has reported that forced labor continues to occur on large-scale sugarcane plantations in the Dominican Republic, despite exports of sugar and related products to the United States, the country's top market. The nonprofit Corporate Accountability Lab spent over three years investigating the conditions at plantations owned by Central Romana Corporation, the largest employer and landowner in the Dominican Republic, whose owners have ties to U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Central Romana was previously investigated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for isolating workers, withholding wages, and subjecting them to abusive living and working conditions, leading to a sugar import ban in 2022. However, the ban was lifted last year under the Trump administration. The report estimates that up to 8,000 workers, mostly Haitian migrants, toil in the company's sugarcane fields, which cover over 173,700 acres.

The group urges the U.S. government to reinstate the ban and calls on the Dominican government to regularize the immigration status of workers, pay overdue pensions, and enforce labor and environmental laws.