By Bryan Manabat
[email protected]
Variety News Staff
THE Filipino construction workers suing RJCL Corp., doing business as RNV Construction, in the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands have asked a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to compel U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to turn over records they say are critical to proving forced labor, retaliation, and CW-1 visa abuses on Saipan.
In a motion filed June 3, attorney Kim Richman of Richman Law & Policy, who represents the workers in the D.C. action, said USCIS “failed to respond in any way” to a Rule 45 subpoena served April 27. The subpoena sought documents by May 13 related to what the plaintiffs describe as a spring 2023 USCIS investigation into RNV’s compliance with federal immigration and labor laws.
The subpoena dispute unfolds alongside the broader lawsuit in the CNMI, Armia et al. v. RJCL Corp., first filed Sept. 22, 2023. In that case, the plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Aaron Halegua and Colin Thompson, while RNV Construction is represented by attorneys Michael Dotts and Robert T. Torres, who have denied all allegations on behalf of the company and its affiliates.
The CNMI complaint — now in its third amended form — alleges forced labor under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, wage and hour violations, unlawful retaliation, and multiple CNMI law claims. The plaintiffs allege they were recruited from the Philippines with promises of fair pay, free housing, food, medical care, and humane working conditions, but were instead charged for housing and food, denied medical care, and housed in overcrowded, unsanitary barracks infested with rats, cats, dogs, and cockroaches.
Workers also allege RNV told them the promises in their contracts were merely a “formality” to secure CW-1 visas.
The complaint further alleges RNV used intimidation and threats to prevent workers from reporting abuses. When employees questioned allegedly illegal paycheck deductions, managers reportedly threatened non-renewal of visas and warned that complaints to labor authorities would be “futile.”
Two workers — including lead plaintiff Prospero Armia — say they were instructed to lie to USCIS about their job duties and working conditions during the 2023 investigation and were later terminated for telling the truth.
During depositions, RNV managers acknowledged USCIS interviewed workers and communicated with the company, but the company told plaintiffs it had no documents related to the investigation. Plaintiffs previously filed a FOIA request in May 2025 seeking the same records, but USCIS has not issued a substantive response more than a year later.
The D.C. motion argues the agency’s silence has jeopardized the workers’ ability to complete discovery before the June 30 deadline in the CNMI case.
“These records may corroborate that USCIS was indeed conducting an investigation, what information workers provided, and what RNV was told about the results,” the motion states. Plaintiffs say the documents could shed light on whether RNV retaliated against workers who cooperated with federal investigators.
In a prior statement, Halegua said forced labor and abusive practices remain “all too common in the disaster recovery industry,” adding that foreign and undocumented workers are among the most vulnerable. “The TVPRA offers one helpful path towards recourse for victims of such practices in the United States,” he said.
The lawsuit also alleges RNV skirted FEMA rules by using workers with expired visas through a local manpower agency and failed to pay prevailing wages required under federal and CNMI law. RNV, through its attorneys Dotts and Torres, has rejected the allegations.
The D.C. court has jurisdiction because the subpoena required compliance in Washington, where USCIS’s Office of Chief Counsel is located. Plaintiffs are asking the court to order USCIS to conduct a reasonable search and produce all non-privileged records within 14 days.
The underlying CNMI case remains active.
Bryan Manabat was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College where he also studied criminal justice. He is the recipient of the NMI Humanities Award as an Outstanding Teacher (Non-Classroom) in 2013, and has worked for the CNMI Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program as lead facilitator.
