1. Human Trafficking
Overview
Sex Trafficking in the U.S.
Labor Trafficking in the U.S.
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Domestic workers perform work within
their employers’ households, such as
cooking, cleaning, child-care, elder
care, gardening, and other household
work.
Traffickers often exploit a foreign national
domestic worker’s unfamiliarity with the
language, laws, and customs of the U.S.,
and couple this with physical, verbal and/or
sexual abuse to create a climate of fear and
helplessness.
A 19 year old woman from the Philippines was recruited and brought to the U.S.
as a domestic worker by two doctors from Milwaukee, WI in 1985. The couple
forced the young woman to work in their home for the next 19 years until federal
law enforcement removed her. She was isolated, forbidden to go outside, and
threatened by the traffickers with arrest, imprisonment, and deportation if she
was discovered.
Read the Department of Justice press release here.
Domestic workers perform work within their employers’ households,
such as cooking, cleaning, child-care, elder care, gardening and other
household work. Domestic workers may or may not live in their
employer’s homes. Domestic workers may be U.S. citizens,
undocumented immigrants, or foreign nationals with specific visas
types. The following visa types are common: A-3, G-5, NATO-7 or B-1.
When does it become trafficking?
Victims of domestic servitude commonly work 10 to 16 hours aday
or more for little to no pay. A situationbecomes traffickingwhen
the employer uses force, fraudand/or coercionto maintaincontrol
over the worker andto cause the worker to believe that he or she
has no other choice but to continue withthe work.
Victims of domestic servitude inthe U.S. are most oftenforeign
national womenwithor without documentationlivinginthe home
of their employer. Menandboys may also be victims, but these
cases are less common.
Vulnerabilities andMeans of Control
Exclusionfromcertainlabor laws –Domestic workers are particularly vulnerable to exploitation
due to their exclusion, either formally or inpractice, fromlaws governingovertime pay, asafe and
healthy work environment, workplace discrimination, andthe right to organize andbargain
collectively. Insufficient contract oversight andenforcement also contribute to domestic worker
vulnerability to exploitation.
ImmigrationStatus –Traffickers oftenuse the threat of
deportationas well as document confiscationto maintain
control of foreignnational domestic workers. Some domestic
workers holdspecial visas whichtie their immigrationstatus to a
single employer. If adomestic worker withanA-3, G-5 or
NATO-7 visaleaves anabusive situation, he or she becomes
undocumentedandrisks deportation.
Means of Control –Traffickers may exert control over their
victims throughthreats of deportationor other harmto the
victimor the victim’s family, document confiscation, debt,
and/or restrictions onmovement andcommunication.
Traffickers oftenexploit aforeignnational domestic worker’s
unfamiliarity withthe language, laws andcustoms of the US, and
couple this withphysical, verbal and/or sexual abuse to create a
climate of fear andhelplessness. False promises of educationor
abetter life are also common.
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