Arizona Carnival Owner Arrested for Taking Mexican Workers' Passports to Prevent Them From Leaving

An Arizona carnival owner was arrested after Mexican workers reported that the owner hired them and confiscated their passports.

The owner, Jordan Nathaniel Jensen, was charged with human trafficking for labor exploitation. He is currently facing three counts of human trafficking and nine counts of unlawful possession of another person's identification documents, Crime Online reported.

Jordan Nathaniel Jensen was apprehended in Utah, where his carnival was installed. He was booked into the Weber County Jail on Thursday, July 1, and was charged the next day in the 2nd District Court.

Arizona Carnival Owner Hires Mexican Workers

The probe started after two of the Mexican workers notified the Mexican consulate in Salt Lake City, which contacted law enforcement and the Asian Association of Utah, a service agency for refugees. The consulate had contacted the agency for possible labor trafficking, as shown in a police affidavit, KSL reported.

According to investigators, the two Mexican workers said a company called Midway West Amusement hired them while still living in Mexico and before coming to the United States. The company had arranged to get seasonal work visas for the workers.

The two Mexican workers told Utah authorities that they were paid $400 per week. The affidavit stated that Midway kept the workers' passports, containing their visas attached to one of its pages.

The Mexican workers had thought that it was a normal procedure among American companies. Jensen had explained to one of the men that he kept their passports as he does not want anyone to escape.

The two workers said they worked extremely long hours, for about 70 hours a week with a $400 pay, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. The workers added that they received no water or meal breaks, making them extremely hungry and thirsty.

In addition, they live in confined spaces inside trailers without running water, electricity, or air conditioning. Not all the trailers also had beds.

Jordan Nathaniel Jensen was alleged to constantly threatening the men, saying he would send them back to Mexico if they did not do their jobs well and without complaint.

The Mexican workers also said that the Arizona carnival owner ridiculed them, refused to pay them, and return their passports when they told him they wanted to leave.

Jensen reportedly told them that he would not return their passports and last payment until they were back in Mexico. That was when the workers had quit.

Investigators sent one of the men back to the carnival to ask for payment and his passport while wearing a hidden microphone and camera. The Arizona carnival owner had once again refused.

Crime Online reported that Jensen had instead offered to buy him a plane ticket back to Mexico, and once he had boarded the plane, he will give him his passport. The Arizona carnival owner also told him that he would give his final check once he arrives in Mexico.

Agents from the Utah Attorney's General Special Enforcement of Crimes Against Undocumented Residents served a warrant to the traveling carnival.

One of the owners was seen "hurriedly returning passports and visas" to workers. The agents had retrieved nine visas and passports, including those who belonged to the two Mexican workers who came forward.

Jose Borjon, consul of Mexico in Salt Lake City, said they were outraged by the forced labor conditions of the Mexican temporary workers that they were subjected to.

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