Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor; a modern-day form of slavery; and the fastest growing criminal industry in the world and is tied with the illegal arms industry as the second largest, after the drug-trade.[1]
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According to a 2007 Washington Post expose entitled "Human Trafficking Evokes Outrage, Little Evidence", human trafficking into the United States is essentially nonexistent.[2] In response to this article in the Washington Post, Donna M. Hughes of the National Review countered the claims raised by the Washington Post writer questioning the seriousness of human trafficking in the United States. She notes: "The Washington Post article says that only 1,362 foreign victims of human trafficking have been identified since 2000. The Post reporter slants the article to imply that relatively few victims have been found because few victims exist. This number represents the number of foreigners confirmed as victims of trafficking. There are many more known victims than those who have applied for and been granted certification. First of all, certification requires that the victim be willing to cooperate with a police investigation. Following a police raid, some victims just want to go home, some victims don’t want to cooperate with police and are deported, and some victims are afraid to testify against vicious traffickers. The application for certification requires support from law enforcement. If the victim is not seen as useful for a case, or if the police don’t want to pursue a case, they have no support to stay in the U.S. and will not be counted as victims of trafficking. One cannot discount the fear that victims live under. They usually have been physically and sexually assaulted, and the emotion-battering involved in psychological control is constant. A frequent and effective hold that traffickers have over victims is to threaten to harm family members, sometimes even the children of the victims. Even after a woman or girl is safe herself, her family is still at risk. That prevents many victims from admitting that they are victims and cooperating with police. ... Millions of dollars were spent on a hotline that almost no one called, because there was a false assumption that victims would just pick up the phone and call for help. The highly paid contractors didn’t understand that victims are physically and psychologically controlled. When a victim does get access to a phone, she usually calls home, not the police or a hotline.[3]
The United States’ Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 defines "severe forms of trafficking in persons" as:
Human trafficking in the United States has become a serious social problem in many parts of the country, and both federal and state authorities have taken measures to prevent it. On a global scale, the victims of human trafficking are used in a variety of situations, including forced labor (bonded labor or debt bondage), child labor (for purposes which include labor, military, adoptions, and commercialized sexual exploitation of children), sexual slavery, commercialized sexual exploitation, and other forms of involuntary servitude.
The findings of the U.S. Department of Justice's 2011 report, “Characteristics of Suspected Human Trafficking Incidents, 2008-2010,” include: 1) From 2008 to 2010, Federal anti-trafficking task forces opened 2,515 suspected cases of human trafficking; 2) 82% of suspected incidents were classified as sex trafficking; nearly half of these involved victims under the age of 18; 3) Approximately 10% of the incidents were classified as labor trafficking; 4) 83% of victims in confirmed sex-trafficking incidents were identified as U.S. citizens, while most confirmed labor-trafficking victims were identified as undocumented immigrants (67%) or legal immigrants (28%); 5) Only 25% of the confirmed victims of human trafficking received a “T-visa,” part of a federal program designed to aid victims of trafficking. While the findings represent the government’s best estimate, the authors caution that “the data described in this report reflect the information that was available to, and entered by, these state and local law enforcement agencies,” and such data systems are still being established and are likely not recording all incidents.[5]
According to the National Human Rights Center in Berkeley, California, there are currently about 10,000 forced laborers in the U.S., around one-third of whom are domestic servants and some portion of whom are children. In reality, this number could be far higher due to the difficulty in getting exact numbers of victims, due to the secretive nature of human trafficking. On the other hand, it could be far lower - and possibly approach zero - since there are virtually no arrests for this in the country, despite great attention paid to it by many NGOs and by law enforcement agencies. In addition, the US government only keeps a count of survivors, defined as victims of severe instances of human trafficking, who have been assisted by the government in acquiring immigration benefits.[6] The Associated Press reports, based on interviews in California and in Egypt, that trafficking of children for domestic labor in the U.S. is an extension of an illegal but common practice in Africa. Families in remote villages send their daughters to work in cities for extra money and the opportunity to escape a dead-end life. Some girls work for free on the understanding that they will at least be better fed in the home of their employer. This custom has led to the spread of trafficking, as well-to-do Africans accustomed to employing children immigrate to the U.S.[7]
Asian apartment massage parlors exist all over the USA, especially in Silicon Valley, California. Many of the prostitutes are females from North Korea, either brought illegally across the borders of Mexico and Canada, or with the use of fake student visas. A Sunnyvale, California police officer was accused of human trafficking and taking bribes from the local highly organized crime syndicate.[8] They are forced to work out of apartment complexes for many hours a day. They are forced to use narcotics and amphetamines and to have sex with many men.[9] Also, they often have to undergo plastic surgery and forced abortions.[10]
Victims of human trafficking in the United States are largely from Mexico and East Asia, with some coming from South Asia, Africa, Central America, and Europe as well, though US citizens have also been victims of human trafficking [11] . In the 2003 report released by the National Human Rights Center, the general pattern of origin for victims of forced labor in the United States suggested that China is estimated to be the largest country of origin of victims, followed by Mexico and Vietnam. When looking at the origins of forced laborers up to that year, however, victims who were US citizens had a disproportionately high number of reported cases, second to only Mexico, compared to victims from other counties, which may be attributed to an increased likelihood of media coverage and ease of detection. Patterns of where human trafficking occurred was consistently in areas with high-population areas that serve as hubs for international travel and also have large immigrant populations.In the study, higher numbers of reported cases were found in California, New York, Texas, and Florida. This is consistent with the US Department of Justice report that the largest concentrations of survivors of human trafficking were located in California, Oklahoma, New York, and Texas.[12]
Research conducted by University of California at Berkeley on behalf of the anti-trafficking organization Free the Slaves found that about 46% of people in slavery in the United States are forced into prostitution. The U.S. Department of Justice prosecuted 360 defendants for Human Trafficking from 2001 to 2007 and gained 238 convictions.[13]
From January 2007 through September 2008, there were 1,229 alleged cases of human trafficking nationally. 1,018 of them, nearly 83 percent, were sex trafficking cases. Sex trafficking has a close relationship with migrant smuggling operations headed by Mexican, Eastern European, and Asian crime organizations. Research on forced prostitution in the US is difficult because it there is limited data on the connection between forced prostitution of migrants and the sex market that already exists in the US.[14] Domestic servitude claims 27% of people in slavery in the US, agriculture 10%, and other occupations 17%.[15][16]
Trafficking within the US occurs as well. It is estimated that between 240,000 and 325,000 children are at risk for sexual exploitation each year in the US. Children who are considered runaways are at particular risk of prostitution or trafficked into the sex industry. Of the 1,682,900 children who were considered runaways for a period of time in 1999, 71% were considered at risk for prostitution. In 2003, 1,400 minors were arrested for prostitution, 14% of whom were younger than 14 years old. A study conducted by the International Labor Union indicated that boys are at a higher risk of being trafficked into agricultural work, the drug trade, and petty crime. Girls were at a higher risk of being forced into the sex industry and domestic work. In 2004, the Department of Labor found 1,087 minors employed in situations that violated Hazardous Occupation Standards. The same year, 5,480 children were employed violating child labor laws. Due to the secretive nature of trafficking, it is difficult to piece together an accurate picture of how widespread the problem is.[17]
An estimated 14,000 people are trafficked into the United States each year, although again because trafficking is illegal, accurate statistics are difficult.[18] The United States Justice Department estimates that the number may be as high 17,500 people a year, but it is unclear how they calculated this estimate. According to the Massachusetts based Trafficking Victims Outreach and Services Network (project of the nonprofit MataHari: Eye of the Day) in Massachusetts alone, there were 55 documented cases of human trafficking in 2005 and the first half of 2006 in Massachusetts.[19] In the 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report, Secretary Hillary Clinton addressed that the global financial crisis has decreased the global demand for labor and increased the number of people willing to take risks for economic opportunities will likely increase the prevalence of cases of forced labor and prostitution.[20]
Evelyn Chumbow, 21, was lured from Cameroon by a rich Maryland couple promising a bright future and a top rate education, as she was a top ranked student in her native country. Instead she was given no education and forced into servitude for the wealthy couple.[21]
R&A Harvesting was a Florida citrus farm that coerced workers into forced labor with little or no pay. In 2002 four men were charged with organizing forced labor and sentenced to 15 years in jail. They were ordered to turn over their $3 million dollar estate and all their property.[22]
Cristina Andres pleaded guilty to two counts of commercial sex trafficking. She recruited two girls 13 and 17 at the time and told them she would get them a job in Nashville at a restaurant. Physical force and threats against the victims and their families were used to keep the girls under the control of those in charge.[23] Other operations can be larger. 31 people were taken into custody following allegations of illegal smuggling of women through Canada and Mexico into the U.S. The Korean women involved were forced to pay off their smuggling debts through prostitution and were shipped around seven different states, including Maryland and Washington, D.C. In total, 70 women were freed from the suspected trafficking ring.[24]
Laws against trafficking in the United States exist at the federal and state levels. Over half of the states now criminalize human trafficking though the penalties are not as tough as the federal laws. Related federal and state efforts focus on regulating the tourism industry to prevent the facilitation of sex tourism and regulate international marriage brokers to ensure criminal background checks and information on how to get help are given to the potential bride.
The United States federal government has taken a firm stance against human trafficking both within its borders and beyond. Domestically, human trafficking is a federal crime under Title 18 of the United States Code. Section 1584 makes it a crime to force a person to work against his will, whether the compulsion is effected by use of force, threat of force, threat of legal coercion or by "a climate of fear" (an environment wherein individuals believe they may be harmed by leaving or refusing to work); Section 1581 similarly makes it illegal to force a person to work through "debt servitude." Human trafficking as it relates to involuntary servitude and slavery is prohibited by the 13th Amendment. Federal laws on human trafficking are enforced by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, Criminal Section.
The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 allowed for greater statutory maximum sentences for traffickers, provided resources for protection of and assistance for victims of trafficking and created avenues for interagency cooperation. It also allows many trafficking victims to remain in the United States and apply for permanent residency under a T-1 Visa.[25] While previously, trafficked individuals who were often in the country illegally were treated as criminals. According to the section on Severe Forms of Trafficking in Persons, the definition extends to include any "commercial sex act... in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age." [26] This means that any minor engaged in prostitution is a victim of human trafficking, regardless of citizenship or whether or not movement has taken place.[27] The law defines trafficking as “the prohibition against any individual who provides or obtains labor or services for peonage, slavery, involuntary servitude, or forced labor.” The law distinguishes trafficking, where victims are coerced into entering the United States, from smuggling, where migrants enter the country without authorization.[28] The act also attempted to encourage efforts to prevent human trafficking internationally, by creating annual country reports on trafficking and tying financial non-humanitarian assistance to foreign countries to real efforts in addressing human trafficking. The benefits of the law, however, are dependent on the survivor’s cooperation with prosecuting the perpetrators. This can be complicated if the victim fears retribution from their trafficker or has a fear of authority that remains from their country of origin.[29]
The original TVPA of 2000 has been reauthorized three times, the most recent being the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008. These reauthorizations have clarified definitions of trafficking and forced labor in order to aid in both prosecution of traffickers and in aiding the victims of trafficking. The reauthorized versions have also required the federal government terminate all contracts with overseas contractors involved in human trafficking or forced labor. Extraterritoriality jurisdiction was also extended to cover all U.S. nationals and permanent residents who are living overseas.[30]
In ”October 2000, the Trafficing Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) (Public Law 106-386) was enacted. Prior to that, no comprehensive Federal law existed to protect victims of trafficing or to prosecute their trafficers”. [9] In 2003, the Bush Administration authorized more than $200 million to combat human trafficking through the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003 (TVPRA). TVPRA renews the U.S. government's commitment to identify and assist victims exploited through labor and sex trafficking in the United States. The U.S. has also set up programs to help those who have been victims. In the U.S. the government can help victims, once identified, by stabilizing their immigrant status. The Health and Human Services (HHS) enables victims who are non-U.S. citizens to receive federally funded benefits and services to the same extent as a refugee; as well U.S. citizens who are victims are eligible for many benefits.
International NGOs such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have called on the United States to improve its measures aimed at reducing trafficking.They recommend that the United States more fully implement the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children and for immigration officers to improve their awareness of trafficking and support the victims of trafficking.[31][32]
Several state governments have taken action to address human trafficking in their borders, either through legislation or prevention activities. For example, Florida state law prohibits forced labor, sex trafficking, and domestic servitude, and provides for mandatory law enforcement trainings and victim services. A 2006 Connecticut law prohibits coerced work and makes trafficking a violation of the Connecticut RICO Act. Washington State was the first to pass a law criminalizing human trafficking in 2003.[33] In 2011, California enacted a new law called the “Transparency in Supply Chains Act.”[34] The law requires certain retailers to disclose their efforts to eradicate slavery and human trafficking from their supply chains. The law goes into effect January 1, 2012 and it applies to any company that is in the “retail trade” that has annual worldwide gross receipts in excess of $100 million and annual California sales exceeding $500,000.[35]
A number of authorities and critics of contemporary anti-prostitution activism have pointed out that the hysteria over human trafficking and its conflation with voluntary adult prostitution has all the hallmarks of a moral panic, and indeed closely resembles the white slavery hysteria at the beginning of the 20th century. As is typical in such panics, broad claims are made with insufficient factual support, "horror stories" of victims take the place of research, and legislators rush to enact dangerously broad and vague legislation which infringes on civil rights. Anthropologist Laura Agustín has written at great length about the way voluntary migration is purposefully conflated with involuntary trafficking, and how anti-trafficking laws tend to assume any foreign or underage prostitute is a "trafficking victim" even if she denies it. In a similar vein, ethnographers studying US born adolescents involved in street-based sex markets have argued that the relationships that these adolescents have with the adults in their lives who help facilitate their market activity typically have a far greater mutuality and equality than is understood by policy-makers, social service providers, and not-for-profit advocates who embrace the human trafficking model..[36] Such critiques of this narrative have generally been dismissed by activists as evidence of Stockholm Syndrome, thus denying the prostitute agency and treating her as mentally ill.[37][38][39][40][41][42][43]