Despite running as an immigration hardliner and calling for immigrants to be “deported or departed,” Rick Jackson’s healthcare company, Avant Healthcare Professionals, agreed to a $3 million settlement with current and former foreign workers for allegedly trafficking foreign nurses. Since 2023, Avant faced a lawsuit from hired foreign nurses for allegedly violating the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act, claiming the company threatened to report foreign nurses to U.S. immigration officials if they quit or breached their contracts. The foreign nurses argued working for Avant was “essentially indentured servitude” and claimed the suit was about labor trafficking and its impact on the workforce.
Despite Running As An Immigration Hardliner, Jackson’s Avant Healthcare Professionals Agreed To A Settlement That Would Give More Than 5,000 Current And Former Immigrant Workers A Share Of A $3 Million Payout And Waive Unpaid Fees After The Company Allegedly Threatened To Contact USCIS If Foreign Nurses Quit. According to CNN, "As billionaire Republican Rick Jackson blanketed Georgia’s airwaves this spring with ads vowing a crackdown on undocumented immigrants if elected governor, a company in his healthcare empire was in the throes of a costly legal battle over the treatment of its immigrant workforce. A lawsuit filed by foreign-born nurses accused Avant Healthcare Professionals of luring them to the United States with the promise of the American Dream, only to pay them substandard wages and trap them in rigid contracts for years. According to their lawsuit, when they tried to quit, Avant threatened to contact Immigration and Customs Enforcement and sought to charge them five-figure fees for leaving. ‘Avant’s ‘employment’ is essentially indentured servitude,’ the plaintiffs wrote in their complaint. Avant denied wrongdoing. But on June 22 — days after Jackson became the GOP nominee for governor — the company agreed to a settlement that would give more than 5,000 current and former immigrant workers a share of a $3 million payout and waive unpaid fees." [CNN, 8/20/26]
2023: The Foreign Nurses Claimed Avant Repeatedly Threatened To Report Nurses Who Breached Their Contracts To U.S. Immigration Officials Despite Being Required To Sign Their Contracts Swiftly, And Noted They Were Paid Less Than American Counterparts. According to the Daily Caller, "Both Lewis and Byron alleged they were paid less than their American counterparts and claim Avant repeatedly threatened to report nurses who breached their contracts to U.S. immigration officials — despite assurances that they would receive prevailing wages, the Florida Trend reported. Lewis further claimed that Avant did not uphold a promise to help bring her daughter to the U.S. Lewis and Byron claimed they did not fully understand several provisions in their contracts and were required to sign them swiftly, according to the Florida Trend." [Daily Caller, 3/17/26]
2023: Foreign Nurses Latoya Lewis And Lucinda Byron Sued Avant For Violating The Trafficking Victims Protection Act And Fair Labor Standards Act After Avant Allegedly Threatened To Report Them To USCIS And Misled Them To Believe Quitting Would Affect Their Immigration Status. According to CNN, "Nurses Latoya Lewis and Lucinda Byron saw Avant as a ticket to new lives in the United States. Lewis arrived in 2021 from Jamaica; Byron, originally from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, began working at a South Dakota hospital in 2022. Both signed multi-year contracts with Avant. According to a lawsuit first filed in 2023, they soon found themselves in an inflexible arrangement where they could take little time off, were paid less than colleagues employed directly by the hospitals and had little opportunity for advancement. They struggled to get by on their wages, the complaint said. When they tried to quit, Avant warned them they would face fees to recoup the costs of bringing them to the US, the complaint said. Staff allegedly threatened to contact Immigration and Customs Enforcement and misled them into believing that leaving could jeopardize their immigration status. Like many foreign nurses, they arrived on EB3 visas, which come with a green card that generally doesn’t require them to stay with the company that helped bring them to the US. Avant wanted $41,832 from Byron when she left and had 30 days to pay, the complaint said. Lawyers for Lewis and Byron argued these contracts and Avant’s efforts to enforce them violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act. Lewis and Byron were not available to speak to CNN, their lawyers said." [CNN, 8/20/26]
2023: The Foreign Nurses Contended Working For Avant Was “Essentially Indentured Servitude,” Arguing The Case Was About Labor Trafficking And Its Impact On The Workforce, Including The Failure To Pay Minimum Wages, Suppression Of Wages, And Unfair Competition. According to the Daily Caller, "In 2023, two nurses — Latoya Lewis of Jamaica and Lucinda Byron of St. Thomas and the Grenadines — filed a lawsuit against Avant Healthcare Professionals in connection with EB-3 visas. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, read, ‘This case is about labor trafficking and its impact on an essential workforce, including failure to pay minimum wages, suppression of wages, and unfair competition.’ [...] ‘Avant led Plaintiffs and its other foreign-recruited healthcare workers to believe that they would come to the United States to practice nursing in a safe environment with a good employer who would treat them fairly,’ the lawsuit alleged. ‘But working for Avant was nothing like that. Rather, Avant’s ‘employment’ is essentially indentured servitude.’" [Daily Caller, 3/17/26]
HEADLINE: “‘Deported Or Departed’: Georgia Candidate Targets Immigrants In Ad Blitz” [Guardian, 4/13/26]
Rick Jackson Launched Campaign Ads That Targeted Undocumented Immigrants, Calling For Them To Be “Deported Or Departed” And Saying, “I Don’t Care If You’re Muslim Or A Mongolian, You Don’t Have The Right To Force Your Culture On Our Country.” According to the Guardian, “A campaign ad from Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson pledging that unauthorized immigrants committing violent crimes will end up ‘deported or departed’ has inundated streaming services and social media in Georgia for weeks. ‘I don’t care if you’re a Muslim or a Mongolian, you don’t have the right to force your culture on our country,’ the Jackson ad begins. ‘Too often, criminal illegals commit sick, violent crimes, victimize our children and get away with murder. So here’s my guarantee to them: do that when I’m governor, and you’ll end up deported or departed. Any questions?’ The ad, which taps imagery of the murderer of college nursing student Laken Riley in a Willie Horton-esque turn, typifies the tenor of the contest facing Republican voters two weeks before early voting begins in Georgia.” [Guardian, 4/13/26]