2 Mississippi catfish farms settle suit alleging immigrants were paid more than local Black workers

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Attorneys say two Mississippi catfish farms have settled a lawsuit over using immigrant workers and paying them more than they paid local Black farmworkers. Southern Migrant Legal Services and Mississippi Center for Justice sued Jerry Nobile, his son Will Nobile and their farms in August on behalf of 14 Black farmworkers. The plaintiffs’ attorneys said Tuesday that the lawsuit concluded on “mutually agreeable terms” in a confidential settlement. An attorney for the Nobiles did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It was the eighth settlement on behalf of Black farmworkers who said they were pushed aside after higher-paid immigrants were hired at farms in the impoverished Mississippi Delta.