Royal Canin USA, Tur-Pak terminated from one lawsuit over J-1 Visa program

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — Two Siouxland businesses have been terminated as defendants in a lawsuit accusing a Siouxland college and businesses of unlawfully using a Visa program to exploit international students for labor.

An August 23 court filing shows that the lawyer for the Chilean students who sued Siouxland businesses and Western Iowa Tech Community College (WITCC) has asked for the court to dismiss all counts against Royal Canin USA Inc. The lawyers made another filing on Sept. 23 asking to dismiss counts against Tur-Pak.

There was no reason given in the filings as to why the students’ lawyers asked to dismiss Royal Canin and Tur-Pak. KCAU 9 reached out to the students’ lawyers who gave no comment. Lawyers for Royal Canin and Tur-Pak have not responded at the time of publishing.

Court records show that Royal Canin and Tur-Pak have been terminated from the suit. The case remains open for the other defendants in the lawsuit, Premier Services as J&L Staffing and individual Nancy Albrecht with a jury trial set for January 5, 2026.

In May, Royal Canin’s lawyers had asked the court to suspend a motion deadline as they were working on a settlement with the students but had not yet come to a conclusion.

In November 2020, Chilean students filed a lawsuit against Western Iowa Tech, Premier Services as J&L Staffing, Royal Canin, and Tur-Pak, and many individuals claiming trafficking and forced labor of a J-1 visa program.

The students were recruited to the college under promises of a two-year degree program in Culinary Arts or Robotics, free tuition, room and board, and internships, court documents said.

The lawyers for the students said the college started to close the visa program in late 2019 after complaints were made to the Department of the State, adding that the students were encouraged to self-deport. The defendants then allegedly used the COVID-19 pandemic to try to evict the students from student housing and out of the country.

A group of Brazilian students filed a similar lawsuit a few months later .

WITCC settled its role in the lawsuit with the Chilean students in April . The settlement among WITCC and the students was about $3 million. At the time of announcing the settlement, the college said in a statement that while they feel the program did not meet the standards set, they deny the allegations that were made against them.

Members of the community criticized the WITCC board of directors lack of transparency over the settlement, saying taxpayers deserve to know as to from where the college was getting the $3 million.

WITCC and the Brazilian students reached a settlement later in July. The WITCC Board of Directors unanimously approved a $2.3 million settlement with the 10 Brazilian students.

“Litigation is long, expensive and unpredictable. As good financial stewards, we determined the best way to manage financial risk was to settle,” Terry Murrell, president of WITCC, said in a release at the time. “I am grateful to close this chapter and focus on the future.”

WITCC announced in March 2020 that it would end the J-1 Visa Exchange Program due to the global outbreak of COVID-19. Just two months before closing the program, students and lawyers spoke about being misled and the issues they later filed a lawsuit over . WITCC President Terry Murrell addressed the claims a day later saying the college did it’s best to provide international students with work experience and college education, but a lack of communication with students caused problems for the program.

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