“Slave traffickers around the world have rediscovered how profitable it is to buy and sell people. Women are lured into modern-day slavery, hoping for a better life. They could all be your sister, or your best friend, or . . . your daughter. . . . Modern slavery exists only because we choose to ignore it.” Now, that probably sounds to you like a quote from Ambassador Miller, who is the director of the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons—but he is not the one who said it. Oscar-winning actress Mira Sorvino did.
This isn’t another example, however, of a celebrity cause of the day. The quotation comes from Sorvino’s character in the Lifetime Channel’s miniseries called Human Trafficking. Sorvino plays a New York detective working to bust an international sex-trafficking ring.
Also starring Donald Sutherland as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, the show Human Trafficking “reflects a harsh, cold reality of how women and young girls across the globe are being bought and sold as sexual slaves,” according to Lifetime’s website, “some lured . . . by ‘mail-order bride’ ads.” The miniseries airs tonight and tomorrow at 9:00 P.M. Eastern time. Now, I haven’t seen the series, so I cannot speak for its quality or its suitability for the family. But at the least, Lifetime is generating a much-needed dialogue.
In the preview, Sorvino’s character quotes the Thirteenth Amendment—“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude . . . shall exist within the United States”—while images of victims cross the screen: students lured into what they think is “modeling” only to be forced into prostitution; young prostitutes brought in for the entertainment of rich male partiers; a mother blackmailed into prostitution when her three-year-old is kidnapped. These vignettes are based on true stories that the screenwriters learned about from government officials.
The series Human Trafficking makes a point of showing the presence of sex slavery right here in the United States—and it is not fiction. Just this month, the Justice Department indicted Jaron Brice for “his illegal sex trafficking operation that involved the prostitution and sexual assault of females as young as 14 years old.”
For too long, the evil of sexual slavery has continued “out of sight, out of mind”—not any more. President Bush has spoken out on this, and our Wilberforce Forum staff has worked with senators and congressmen in the passage of the sexual trafficking act now being used to crack down on this. And now, of all things, primetime television is shining a light into the dark corners of our communities. The Lifetime Channel’s website provides viewers a wealth of information, including highlights of International Justice Mission’s work in rescuing victims, and practical ideas for what citizens can do. And visit BreakPoint.org for links to this and more information.
“An ounce of cocaine—you can only sell it once,” says Sutherland’s character. “A woman or a child: You can sell them . . . every day over and over and over again. The markup is immeasurable. Human trafficking, ladies and gentleman, is the business of the future.” Sutherland’s character is right. But it doesn’t have to be if we Christians work, as we are doing here at “BreakPoint,” to get our government to enforce the laws.
Federal Grand Jury Indicts 12 for Marriage Fraud, International Alien Smuggling 4 Illegal Aliens Sentenced to Prison for Alien Smuggling
Three Men Charged With Harboring Illegal Aliens in Henderson Home
South Bay Man Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Aliens and Tropical Fish Into United States
ICE Agents Arrest 4 Smugglers Connected to Alien’s Death
2 Men Sentenced for Human Smuggling
Three Alien Smugglers Sentenced for Hostage Taking
Guatemalan Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Transport Illegal Aliens, Illegally Re-entering U.S.
4 Mexican Smugglers Sentenced to Prison
Illgal Alien Sentenced to 21 Months for Transporting Illegal Aliens
Two Mexican Men Sentenced to 6½ Years for Transporting Illegal Aliens Resulting in Two Deaths
10 Charged in International Human Smuggling Ring That Lured Young Honduran Women to U.S. for Forced Labor
24 Indicted in Korean Human Smuggling Scheme That Brought Prostitutes Into the United States
Two U.S. Citizens Charged With Smuggling Five-Year-Old
29 Charged in Connection with Alien Harboring Conspiracy
ICE Arrests 6 Smugglers, 88 Illegal Aliens During Weekend
Mexican Smuggler Sentenced to 12½ Years in Prison for Dragging a Man to Death
Two Charged Criminally in ICE Human Smuggling Case
ICE Arrests Alleged Illegal Alien Smuggler
U.S. Charges Four in Extensive International Alien Smuggling Operation
29 Smuggled Chinese Arrested at the Port of Los Angeles
ICE Arrests 19-Year-Old on Alien Smuggling Charges
Two Charged Criminally for Alien Smuggling
Wisconsin Couple Indicted on Human Trafficking Charges
ICE Investigation Leads to Indictment of Three Men in Human Smuggling Conspiracy
MORE
Human Trafficking
Human Smuggling and Trafficking Unit
ICE strategic priorities of border security and immigration enforcement allow for an unprecedented and comprehensive law enforcement approach to address the scourge of human trafficking, both domestically and internationally. ICE has a Human Smuggling and Trafficking Unit dedicated to human trafficking investigations where adults and children are being recruited, transported and forced into involuntary servitude, including prostitution or other types of forced labor. ICE specifically targets human traffickers and sex tourists, among others, who exploit children. ICE’s aggressive enforcement of the recently enacted PROTECT Act helps prevent children from being sexually abused and lessens the demand for internationally trafficked children. ICE made the first six arrests under the sex tourism provisions of the PROTECT Act.
The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000
provides victims of severe forms of trafficking access to a wide range of benefits and services, such as information about their rights, referral for counseling, medical services, legal assistance, food, housing, and victim restitution. ICE Victim Witness Coordinators, in partnership with the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services, focus on providing that assistance to the victims of trafficking ICE agents identify during their investigations.
House Committee on Financial Services: Addressing the Demand for Trafficking
BUSH ADMINISTRATION HOSTS FIRST NATIONAL TRAINING CONFERENCE TO COMBAT HUMAN TRAFFICKING
President George W. Bush And Attorney General John Ashcroft Address Conference
TAMPA - Today, President Bush joined Attorney General Ashcroft and other senior Bush Administration officials at the first-ever national training conference on human trafficking: Human Trafficking into the United States: Rescuing Women and Children from Slavery. Hosted by the Justice Department, the conference brought together over 500 attendees, comprised of the hundreds of state, local and federal officials who work together to combat human trafficking in communities across America. Trafficking in persons, a modern day form of slavery, is a serious problem in the United States and throughout the world. Each year, an estimated 600,000-800,000 men, women, and children are trafficked against their will across international borders. Of those, 14,500-17,500 are trafficked into America. Victims are forced into prostitution, or to work in sweatshops, quarries, as domestic labor, or child soldiers, and in many forms of involuntary servitude.
Throughout the past three years, the Bush Administration has taken strong steps to combat trafficking at home and abroad. Today at the conference, the Bush Administration announced new steps and resources to combat human trafficking. These initiatives include $14 million to law enforcement to help human trafficking victims, $4.5 million for organizations to assist victims, new interagency cooperation to ensure the timely delivery of benefits and services to victims, a model state law criminalizing human trafficking, new training resources, new task forces, as well as greatly increased investigations and prosecutions of human trafficking.
“From the very beginning of his Administration, President Bush has spoken forcefully and eloquently about the brutal crime of human trafficking,” said Attorney General John Ashcroft. “We will protect the victims, prosecute the perpetrators, and build partnerships to address, attack and prevent human trafficking. These steps send a clear message that America will repel aggressively assaults on our core values of freedom and respect for human dignity. We have had success in the past three years, but we understand that these efforts are only the beginning. It is critical that we work together to track down those who hide their barbaric businesses in the shadows, and to help their victims.”
* $14 Million for Law Enforcement Agencies and Service Providers To Help Trafficking Victims:
The Bush Administration today announced Department of Justice funding to support and implement local efforts to identify, rescue, and restore victims of trafficking. The Justice Department will make available $14 million to law enforcement agencies and service providers, and as many as 25 communities across the country will be eligible to receive this funding. This money will support anti-trafficking efforts to identify, rescue and restore victims of trafficking in communities across the country. The Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) will administer the new grant program.
* $4.5 Million for Organizations To Help Trafficking Victims: Today, the Justice Department awarded $4.5 million to nine local organizations that provide shelter where victims of trafficking can find refuge in the interval between rescue and the determination of eligibility for public assistance and other benefits. The grant program provides comprehensive services for victims of trafficking by building on existing community resources, to strengthen the collaboration and cooperation among existing agencies and organizations that serve trafficking victims; to provide training to criminal justice personnel, social service providers and the public of the rights and needs of trafficking victims; and to support the ability of trafficking victims to cooperate with law enforcement and prosecutors in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases. The Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) is administering this grant program. Grant recipients include:
Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition, CA: $500,696
Safe Horizon: $500,000
(For work in the five boroughs of NYC)
New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance: $500,000
(For work in the state of NY, minus NYC’s five boroughs)
International Institute of Boston, MA: $500, 000
International Rescue Committee, NY: $499,999 (For work in the state of WA)
World Relief Corporation, Baltimore, MD $499,998 (For work in Al, FL, KY, MD, MS, NC, LA, TN, TX, SC, OK)
U.S. Conference on Catholic Bishops, Washington, DC: $413,298
(For work in MD, DE, PA and NJ)
U.S. Conference on Catholic Bishops, Washington, DC: $372,237
(For work in OR)
Refugee Women’s Network, Inc.: $311,708 (For work in GA)
* Cooperation to Combat Trafficking: To ensure the smooth and timely delivery of benefits and services to trafficking victims as well as comprehensive investigations and prosecutions, the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security are working together to share information and provide benefits to victims most in need. In addition, the charter for the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center went into effect July 2004 and brings together representatives from law enforcement, intelligence, and diplomacy to combat alien smuggling, trafficking in persons, and terrorist travel networks.
* Comprehensive Anti-Trafficking State Laws: While many states have laws that address various aspects of the crime of trafficking in persons, comprehensive anti-trafficking statutes are needed to deter and punish the wide range of coercive tactics used by traffickers. To meet this need, the Justice Department has drafted a model anti-trafficking statute for states. Texas, Washington, Minnesota, Missouri, and Florida already have comprehensive state trafficking laws.
* Increased Investigations and Prosecutions of Human Traffickers: The Bush Administration has greatly increased human trafficking prosecutions. From FY 2001-2003, the Justice Department initiated prosecutions of 110 persons, nearly a three-fold increase compared to the previous three years. Of those, 78 involved allegations of sex trafficking. From FY 2001 to now, the Department obtained convictions and guilty pleas from 107 individuals. From FY 2001-2003, the Department opened 210 new investigations, more than double the number opened in the previous three years. At present, the Department has 168 open investigations into possible human trafficking crimes, more than twice as many as were open in January 2001.
* Anti-Trafficking Training for Law Enforcement and Organizations that Help Victims: The Department of Justice provides anti-trafficking training to federal, state and local prosecutors, as well as law enforcement agents and officers, to non-governmental organizations and to officials of foreign governments. The training program will be made available to trafficking response teams attending the conference to enhance their efforts. The Justice Department is also developing a model curriculum for the victim-centered approach to identifying and rescuing trafficking victims and investigating and prosecuting their traffickers and abusers.
* Anti-Trafficking Task Forces: To combat trafficking, the Bush Administration has convened anti-trafficking task force coalitions in Philadelphia, Phoenix, Atlanta, and Tampa and will create a dozen additional task forces this year. These task forces bring together federal, state, local, and non-governmental sectors to combat trafficking and provide comprehensive assistance to victims. Additionally, public service announcements have been issued in Spanish, Russian, Polish, Chinese, and Korean to inform victims of their rights.
These new efforts will support the Bush Administration’s ongoing initiatives to combat human trafficking and provide assistance to trafficking victims. Since 2001, President Bush has provided more than $35 million to 36 faith-based and community organizations across the country to aid victims of trafficking with services such as emergency shelter, legal, mental, and health services, as well as English-proficiency instruction. In addition, the Department of Health and Human Services has launched a referral hotline to help victims. The Administration has also worked to provide immigration relief for trafficking victims through a new class of visa (T-visas) that allows trafficking victims to remain in the U.S. for three years with work authorization and access to benefits and services. Additionally, on an international level, President Bush’s budget has provided more than $295 million to support anti -trafficking programs in more than 120 countries since 2001.
The conference was attended by trafficking response teams made up of federal, state and local law enforcement, prosecutors and victim service providers from at least twenty-one cities with known concentration of trafficking victims. Teams came from communities including Atlanta, GA; Charlotte, NC; Chicago, IL; El Paso, TX; Houston, TX; Las Vegas, NV; Long Island, NY; Los Angeles, CA; Miami, FL; Newark, NJ; New Orleans, LA; New York, NY; Metropolitan Washington, DC; Philadelphia, PA; Phoenix, AZ; Richmond, VA; San Diego, CA; San Francisco, CA; St. Louis, MO, Seattle, WA and Tampa, FL. These teams learned how to uncover and investigate cases, as well as how to provide services to trafficking victims. The conference emphasized the importance of combating trafficking using a victim-centered approach. Rescuing victims requires proactive law enforcement strategies and an understanding of the collaborative approach to human trafficking that includes community members, first responders, restorative care service providers, victim advocates, as well as state, local, and federal law enforcement.
The latest U.S. government interagency report on human trafficking, Assessment of U.S. Government Activities to Combat Trafficking in Persons can be found at www.usdoj.gov/trafficking.htm
HUMAN TRAFFICKING (SLAVERY) - Legislative Update - (up to 900,000 victims each yr; mostly children)
Today, RFC Legislative Director Peggy Birchfield is participating in the release of the fifth annual Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Secretary Rice, along with Ambassador John Miller, the Secretary's Senior Advisor on Trafficking in Persons, will brief the media and Non-Governmental Organizations on the contents of the 150-country report. This year's focus will be on forced labor trafficking. The report's findings are a continued effort to increase global awareness and to encourage all countries to act to stop all forms of human trafficking, which is the second largest criminal industry in the world, after drug dealing. Liberal organizations do not favor trafficking laws because they see prostitution as a "right," believing that women should be allowed to sell their bodies. This is also the prevailing belief in much of Europe, yet it is Third World nations that supply the girls and boys and young women who have been sold into sexual and forced labor slavery. This administration has taken a leadership role in the world, with our State Department, Justice Department, and Department of Health and Human Services actively involved to prosecute traffickers and to help victims.
Earlier this week, the Religious Freedom Coalition participated in a planning and strategy meeting sponsored by the Administration to develop a stronger program to combat human trafficking, which is a form of modern day slavery. Approximately 800,000 to 900,000 victims are annually trafficked across international borders world wide. Victims include homeless and runaway children, children "sold" to traffickers by their parents, as well as young women who mistakenly believe they are being taken to another country to work at a legitimate job. Between 18,000 and 20,000 of those victims are trafficked into the United States and half of those are usually children. Victims are subjected to forced prostitution, sexual exploitation and/or forced labor.
Look Beneath the Surface, a new project of Rescuing and Restoring Victims of Human Trafficking, will be initiated in 2005 to focus on reaching those likely to encounter trafficked victims. New and better methods of detecting, reassuring and rescuing these victims will be developed A year and a half ago, as part of the effort to help identify and assist victims of human trafficking in the United States, the U.S. Department of Health and Human services launched The Campaign to Rescue and Restore Victims of Human Trafficking." This program has been very successful in building a network of concerned non-governmental organizations (NGO's) that are committed to identifying victims of trafficking, rescuing them and assisting them to rebuild their lives. The campaign has identified and assisted more than 717 victims of trafficking in the last year. Better yet, this project has now disseminated more than 700,000 informational packets aimed at raising awareness about trafficking, identifying potential victims and offering resources to help them. More than 450 NGOs have worked as coalition partners to help in this project.
The Religious Freedom Coalition worked very hard to get the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 passed, making Human Trafficking a Federal crime. Prior to 2000, no law existed to protect victims of trafficking or to prosecute their traffickers. The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003 provided the tools to combat trafficking in persons both worldwide and domestically. HHS has developed materials, videos, hotline numbers and educational training in many languages, and new ways are constantly being developed to enhance this program. Establishing a full community response system to help find and discover and recognize these victims will be the main focus of the Look Beneath the Surface campaign in 2005.
If you think you know of someone who is a victim of human trafficking, please call the special toll-free Trafficking Information and Referral Hotline at 1-888-3737-888.
New York targets immigrant slavery in `human trafficking' bill
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Earlier this year, a couple in Michigan was accused of enslaving a 14-year-old African girl, hitting her with a belt and shoes and sexually abusing her for three years. Last fall, a 60-year-old Filipino woman in California won an $825,000 lawsuit after claiming she was enslaved and assaulted, working 18 hours a day, and sleeping in a dog bed. And last month, federal agents broke up a prostitution ring in Brooklyn exploiting Asian girls.
They are among as many as 20,000 immigrants smuggled into the U.S. each year headed toward possible slavery or prostitution often through the major ports of New York, California and Florida, according to federal officials and a study by Florida State University. (more at link)
'Slavery' called a growing fear for immigrants
PARAMUS - Victims of human trafficking are growing in numbers "right underneath our noses," North Jersey Asian-Americans were told Saturday in a workshop designed to help community activists identify and assist the casualties of this "modern-day slavery."
According to government estimates, between 18,000 and 20,000 immigrants are smuggled into the United States every year for labor or sexual exploitation - including some 4,000 coming to New Jersey - mostly from Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. (more at link)
Nevada Attorney General Asks for Human Trafficking Bill
A bill to crack down on human trafficking and involuntary servitude has cleared another hurdle in the Nevada Assembly. The proposal, passed by the Assembly Judiciary Committee, is backed by Attorney General Brian Sandoval. It would make it illegal to enslave someone by confiscating a passports, threatening deportation or threatening to harm family members. Offenders could get up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $50,000. (more)
Report: Japan sex industry ensnares Latin women Posted by LouAvul
On News/Activism 04/30/2005 1:53:08 AM EDT · 65 replies · 2,224+ views
cnn ^ | 4-29-05
LIMA, Peru (AP) -- At least 1,700 women from Latin America and the Caribbean are lured each year into sexual slavery in Japan's huge illicit sex industry, according to a new report. A team of researchers hired by the Organization of American States found that most of the women come from Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico and Peru. (more)
Migrant Women Trapped in Europe's Sex Industry
The money Rosa was earning in a Turkish shoe factory was not enough to support the three children she had left behind in Ukraine.
Then her new friend in Turkey, Katerina, told her she could earn $700 a month as a casino waitress in Bosnia and convinced Rosa to come home with her to Moldova and then make their way to Bosnia.
"I began to think of all the things I could do to change my life to help my children, my family."
As the time came to leave Moldova, Katerina said she had a problem with her passport and would join Rosa in Bosnia a week later. At the station, she introduced Rosa to a Romanian man who would accompany her.
Rosa felt something was wrong when she said good-bye and Katerina just turned away.
"I pushed my feelings aside," said Rosa, who declined to give her real name. "I don't usually trust anyone, but I told myself that sometimes you have to have faith."
Rosa paid Katerina $300 to get her a job but a criminal gang had already paid Katerina $700 to make Rosa their slave.
She was smuggled across Europe in cars and once in a fold-away bed on a train, was sold and resold, beaten, raped and forced to work in brothels. (more)
Unicef cites rising rate of child-trafficking
Unicef warned Monday that millions of children round the globe are being trafficked annually in an illegal industry worth $10-billion (U.S.) a year, rivalling the trade in illicit drugs and arms. UN Children's Fund executive director Carol Bellamy urged legislators worldwide to ensure the protection of children by instituting laws that stop their exploitation and abuse.
“Parliamentarians have a choice,” Ms. Bellamy said at the launch of a handbook to help legislators combat child trafficking that coincides with the Inter-Parliamentary Association's annual meeting in Manila, attended by hundreds of legislators from all over the world.
“They can make decisions that ensure the protection of children, or they can make decisions that leave children vulnerable to being exploited and abused,” she said.
She said legislators can enact laws to protect children, allocate funds from national budgets and use the power of parliamentary inquiry to hold governments, industries and civil society accountable.
IPU President Sergio Paez said ensuring respect for the rights of children “is part of our social responsibility” and calls “not only for the expression of political will, but also for the establishment of institutions, standards and a new international culture.”
Ms. Bellamy said child-trafficking persists because criminal syndicates are behind the illicit trade, tourism is sometimes involved and victims often are afraid to come forward. (more)
