The federal government has filed suit against a west valley farm for the way it treats temporary farm workers.

The lawsuit, filed Monday, claims G Farms in El Mirage was housing about 70 people, all here on migrant worker visas, in subhuman conditions.  

The suit claims housing consisted of school buses, semitrailers, a cargo container and an open-air shed.

The Department of Labor filed the suit and plans to give arguments on its findings this week.

Part of those findings include unsanitary conditions inside sleeping quarters, dangerous lighting situations with electrical chords strung through a makeshift shower and a portable air conditioner capable of blowing only hot air into the back of a school bus.

On paper, payment for harvesting onions is about $11 an hour, for up to 50 hours a week. But, the lawsuit claims only a fraction of those hours were paid since the workers arrived in April.

An attorney for G Farms denies the workers were threatened with deportation if they reported the conditions. He said the workers are now in apartments and hotels and his client will comply with all regulations.