The Sioux City college allegedly procured visas for the students to enroll in the school’s international education program, then steered them to work in the processing plants. The college then diverted money from the students’ paychecks to reimburse the school for the cost of the program, the lawsuits claim.
As part of recent court filings, lawyers for the school note that the plaintiffs are “claiming extraordinarily high damages — damages in the seven-figure range for each plaintiff — in this matter.”
The defendants in the two cases, all of whom have denied any wrongdoing, include the college; several of its employees; Tur-Pak Foods, which runs a food-processing plant in Sioux City; Royal Canin USA, which runs a dog-food factory in North Sioux City, South Dakota; and J & L Staffing and Recruiting, which allegedly helped place the students in the two plants at the behest of the school.