Human trafficking in the United States
Encyclopedia
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.
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.
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
.
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.
, 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. 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. Also, they often have to undergo plastic surgery and forced abortions.
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
. 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.
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.
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. Domestic servitude claims 27% of people in slavery in the US, agriculture 10%, and other occupations 17%.
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.
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. 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.
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.
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.
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. 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.
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.
. 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." 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. 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. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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. In 2011, California
enacted a new law called the “Transparency in Supply Chains Act.” 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.
, 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..
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.
Human trafficking
Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery...
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.
Overview
According to a 2007 Washington Post expose entitled "Human Trafficking Evokes Outrage, Little Evidence", human trafficking into the United States is essentially nonexistent. 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.
The United States’ Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 defines "severe forms of trafficking in persons" as:
- Sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age, OR
- The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.
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
Debt bondage
Debt bondage is when a person pledges him or herself against a loan. In debt bondage, the services required to repay the debt may be undefined, and the services' duration may be undefined...
), child labor (for purposes which include labor, military, adoptions, and commercialized sexual exploitation of children), sexual slavery
Sexual slavery
Sexual slavery is when unwilling people are coerced into slavery for sexual exploitation. The incidence of sexual slavery by country has been studied and tabulated by UNESCO, with the cooperation of various international agencies...
, commercialized sexual exploitation, and other forms of involuntary servitude
Involuntary servitude
Involuntary servitude is a United States legal and constitutional term for a person laboring against that person's will to benefit another, under some form of coercion other than the worker's financial needs...
.
2011 Report, Department of Justice
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.10,000 forced laborers
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. The Associated PressAssociated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
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.
Geographic Distribution of Forced Laborers
Asian apartment massage parlors exist all over the USA, especially in Silicon ValleySilicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. 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. 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. Also, they often have to undergo plastic surgery and forced abortions.
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
. 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.
Forced prostitution and domestic servitude
Research conducted by University of California at Berkeley on behalf of the anti-trafficking organization Free the SlavesFree the Slaves
Free the Slaves is an international non-governmental organization and lobby group, established to campaign against the modern practice of slavery around the world. Formed in 2001, it is the largest anti-slavery organization in the U.S. It is the sister-organization of Anti-Slavery International...
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.
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. Domestic servitude claims 27% of people in slavery in the US, agriculture 10%, and other occupations 17%.
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.
14,000 people trafficked each year
An estimated 14,000 people are trafficked into the United States each year, although again because trafficking is illegal, accurate statistics are difficult. 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 MassachusettsMassachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
based Trafficking Victims Outreach and Services Network (project of the nonprofit MataHari: Eye of the Day
MataHari: Eye of the Day
MataHari: Eye of the Day is a Boston based non-profit organization that organizes and supports community members impacted by human trafficking, domestic and sexual violence, labor exploitation, and other human rights abuses. MataHari seeks to build a just and equitable society that refuses to...
) in Massachusetts alone, there were 55 documented cases of human trafficking in 2005 and the first half of 2006 in Massachusetts. 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.
Examples
Evelyn Chumbow, 21, was lured from CameroonCameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
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.
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.
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. 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.
Laws against trafficking
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.Policy of the federal government
The United States federal governmentFederal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
has taken a firm stance against human trafficking both within its borders and beyond. Domestically, human trafficking is a federal crime
Federal crime
In the United States, a federal crime or federal offense is a crime that is made illegal by U.S. federal legislation. In the United States, criminal law and prosecution happen at both the federal and the state levels; thus a “federal crime” is one that is prosecuted under federal criminal law, and...
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
Debt bondage
Debt bondage is when a person pledges him or herself against a loan. In debt bondage, the services required to repay the debt may be undefined, and the services' duration may be undefined...
." Human trafficking as it relates to involuntary servitude
Involuntary servitude
Involuntary servitude is a United States legal and constitutional term for a person laboring against that person's will to benefit another, under some form of coercion other than the worker's financial needs...
and slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
is prohibited by the 13th Amendment
Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, passed by the House on January 31, 1865, and adopted on December 6, 1865. On...
. Federal laws on human trafficking are enforced by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division
United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division
The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division is the institution within the federal government responsible for enforcing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion, and national origin. The Division was established on December 9, 1957, by...
, Criminal Section.
Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act
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 VisaT visa
A T visa is a type of visa allowing certain victims of human trafficking and immediate family members to remain and work temporarily in the United States if they agree to assist law enforcement in testifying against the perpetrators.- Background :...
. 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." 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. 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. 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.
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.
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.
Pressure from human rights groups
International NGOsNon-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
such as Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
and Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
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
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
The Convention against Transnational Organized Crime is a United Nations-sponsored multilateral treaty against transnational organized crime, adopted in 2000...
Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children
Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children
The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children is a protocol to the Convention against Transnational Organised Crime...
and for immigration officers to improve their awareness of trafficking and support the victims of trafficking.
Policy of state governments
Several state governmentsState governments of the United States
State governments in the United States are those republics formed by citizens in the jurisdiction thereof as provided by the United States Constitution; with the original 13 States forming the first Articles of Confederation, and later the aforementioned Constitution. Within the U.S...
have taken action to address human trafficking in their borders, either through legislation or prevention activities. For example, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
state law
State law
In the United States, state law is the law of each separate U.S. state, as passed by the state legislature and adjudicated by state courts. It exists in parallel, and sometimes in conflict with, United States federal law. These disputes are often resolved by the federal courts.-See also:*List of U.S...
prohibits forced labor, sex trafficking, and domestic servitude, and provides for mandatory law enforcement trainings and victim services. A 2006 Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
law prohibits coerced work and makes trafficking a violation of the Connecticut RICO
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization...
Act. Washington State was the first to pass a law criminalizing human trafficking in 2003. In 2011, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
enacted a new law called the “Transparency in Supply Chains Act.” 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.
Trafficking as a moral panic
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 panicMoral panic
A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order. According to Stanley Cohen, author of Folk Devils and Moral Panics and credited creator of the term, a moral panic occurs when "[a] condition, episode, person or group of...
, 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..
Such critiques of this narrative have generally been dismissed by activists as evidence of Stockholm Syndrome
Stockholm syndrome
In psychology, Stockholm Syndrome is an apparently paradoxical psychological phenomenon wherein hostages express empathy and have positive feelings towards their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them...
, thus denying the prostitute agency and treating her as mentally ill.