Border controls leave an army of invisible workers trapped on floating sweatshops

Ronbert Bibat had been trapped inside the rusty belly of a lumbering 39,000-tonne cargo ship for well over a year.

“Four times we received the news that we can go home, but it suddenly got cancelled,” he said. “I don’t know why.”

He was one of 22 Filipino crew members confined to the bulk carrier MV Starlight as it crisscrossed the oceans, hauling coal, manganese ore…