Thai Passport, 1994
date: label: date made
content: 1994
notes: label: Description
content: This Thai passport was seized in the well-publicized 1995 El Monte, Calif., sweatshop raid. The passport is part of a larger Smithsonian collection of artifacts documenting apparel industry sweatshops, focusing on the El Monte operation (72 workers were discovered working as slaves). With a legitimate U.S. visa, the passport looks official. In fact, the El Monte operators doctored a real passport, inserting a new photo into someone else's document, in order to smuggle workers into the country.
label: Description
content: Recruited from Thailand, the El Monte workers were tricked into accepting employment by misrepresentations of their future working and living conditions. They were told they would sew in a clean factory, receive good pay, and have the weekends off. They were even shown photographs of company parties and outings to Disneyland. After signing contracts (indenture agreements) committing themselves to repay 120,000 baht (about $5,000 in 1997 dollars), they were smuggled into the United States on fraudulent passports.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place issued
content: United States: California, Los Angeles
label: Associated Place
content: United States: California, Los Angeles
label: Associated Place
content: United States: California, Los Angeles
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: U.S. Department of Justice. Immigration and Naturalization Service
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1997.0268.04
label: accession number
content: 1997.0268
label: catalog number
content: 1997.0268.04
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Passport, Thai
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5.625 x 3.75;