Federal complaint: Filipino teachers held in 'servitude'
It has been more than two years since Ingrid Cruz aced a middle-of-the-night video interview in Manila, borrowed $10,000 from her parents and flew halfway around the world to take a job here teaching middle school science. Cruz is one of more than 300 teachers imported to Louisiana from the Philippines since 2007, a group of educators who say collectively they paid millions of dollars in cash to a Filipino recruiting firm, PARS International Placement Agency, and its sister company, Los Angeles-based Universal Placement International Inc. The American Federation of Teachers and its state affiliate, the Louisiana Federation of Teacher allege the teachers are being kept in "virtual servitude" by holding onto their U.S. work visas unless they kept paying inflated fees, commissions and rents. Greg Toppo and Icess Fernandez, USA Today, Oct. 28, 2009
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