Migrante San Fernando Valley and volunteers who launched the Justice for Trafficked Lancaster Caregivers Campaign celebrated the recent closure of State 101 Travel Visa Consultancy, a Pasig City-based trafficking agency. They said this is a victory of the Filipino-American community in the US.

The Department of Migrant Workers announced on May 14 the closure of State 101 Agency over cases of illegal recruitment of caregivers to the US.

Caregivers from Lancaster approached the migrants group in 2024 to report abuses and the illegal recruitment by State 101 Agency, a travel agency that processes B1/B2 visas (non-immigrant visas) which is granted to foreigners who want to enter the US for business or tourism.

Victims were promised work visas and jobs as caregivers with free food, lodging, a monthly allowance of ₱99,000, and assistance to obtain legal papers. They paid ₱385,000 to join the program.

They were instead paid only ₱84,000 per month. They were forced to work overnight without compensation, provided no proper accommodation and were made to sleep in the facility’s garage.

“We must not forget that this is only one step. We would not have achieved this success without the campaign we launched in March. We still have no direct contact or support from the Philippine government, the consulate, or the Migrant Welfare’s Office for the caregivers and their affected families,” the group explained.

“State 101 is also only one of many agencies that continue to abuse our countrymen who only seek employment because the Philippines lack jobs and the industry that would create livelihood,” the group said.

According to the group, we still have no answer to our calls to blacklist agencies like State 101 and to investigate those who send caregivers to work without pay.

“Our call and campaign for justice and rights will continue until we meet all our demands—from investigation of abusive employers, closure of agencies, imprisonment of traffickers, stopping the export of Filipino workers, to genuine economic development that can create jobs,” Migrante San Fernando Valley said.