Indonesian fruit picker landed in debt bondage challenges Home Office

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When Ismael found himself sleeping rough at York station in the late October cold he struggled to understand how an opportunity to pick berries 7,000 miles from his home had so quickly ended there.

He had left Indonesia less than four months earlier, in July 2022. He was 18 and ready for six months of hard work on a British farm to save for a science degree. I thought the UK was the best place to work because I could save up a little money and help my parents," he said.