The landmark sweatshop case that shaped Biden’s labor secretary pick

Julie Su has led profound immigration and labor reforms as California's labor secretary, but faces uphill battle to confirmation as Republicans criticize her record

Julie Su, President Joe Biden's pick to lead the Department of Labor, was just 26 and two years out of Harvard Law School when she took on the defining case of her career that led to profound immigration and labor reforms.

In 1995, as a staff attorney at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Su led a team of lawyers to secure legal immigration status and $4m in stolen wages for 72 enslaved Thai nationals in a garment sweatshop in El Monte, California. The case eventually led to federal protections for victims of human trafficking. Su, a Wisconsin-born daughter of Chinese immigrants, later earned a MacArthur genius award for her representation of the garment workers.