Many American have “helpers”, those that work for them: they clean the house, take care of the kids, and do the things that are normally looked upon as the “wives responsibilities”. Little does the majority of America know, but many of those workers have been brought into America illegally. The percentage of cases of forced labor, in the United States, has reached 27.2 percent. Adults and children are brought into the United States, by force or by being tricked, having been promised a better life here. They are then held captive, told their families lives are endangered, and many more terrible things will happen to them if they do not cooperate and do as they are told. It is when something goes missing or something goes wrong, that the owners call the police on their own employees, and the employees are then deported.
The flawed system lies in Border Control and the law enforcers that deport these innocent people. It’s difficult to know who has been trafficked and who hasn’t, but however, the victims being prosecuted shouldn’t be judged based off of biased opinions. There have been laws passed and acts issued stating zero tolerance policies for any type of government activity to employ anybody who has been trafficked into the United States. But what about those that have been forced or tricked into coming to the United States and working for free lancers, or simply working in someone’s house? Those are the victims that need the most help from our government and they aren’t receiving it in the best way possible. The sad but true reality is, the government is afraid to put human trafficking on the same level as a national security threat.
Like any given issue in America, there are corporations, such as the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center, which work towards fixing this problem. The HSTC has trained employees in legal fields, counseling fields, and many other areas that would help a forced labor victim. The victims of these crimes need to be helped in any way possible. They were tricked and forced into coming here; working, as a slave, isn’t something they should be punished for.
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I agree with you that there needs to be more social services and laws in favor of individuals who have been trafficked. But, I think that those services should also be provided for illegal immigrants or undocumented workers as a preventative measure. I think that not having the correct documents for work puts someone at a higher risk for being trafficked.
ReplyDeleteAlso, It would be interesting to see an estimate of how many illegal immigrants in the United States are here willingly and how many are brought here unwillingly as victims of human trafficking.