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Morales

Crystal Morales
Professor Eric Kufs
ENG 114B
25 April 2016
Modern Day Slavery In The United States
According to the 13th amendment in the United States Constitution, December 18th, 1865,
was the day slavery ended, but is that completely true? In the U.S. alone there are over 50,000
people working in forced labor. Modern day slavery still exists and the government should
change visa requirements and provide safer job opportunities for foreign workers. Victims that
are lured in by labor traffickers by promising great opportunities and basically a better life than
the one they have already. Once these victims are captured, it is hard for them to regain their
freedom. Victims are taken away from their families and homelands, and are forced to work in a
variety of countries that are foreign to them, including the United States.
A majority of people originate from different countries all over the globe and are
trafficked into the United States because there is a large market for their services. In Carol
Giacomos Are Your Food and Clothes Produced with Slave Labor, the author states how most
consumers have bought something produced by slave labor, from food to clothes and the United
States is the worlds biggest importer. Domestic services are the second highest incidences of
forced labor that occurs in the United States. The U.S. laws prevent domestic workers from
having a voice because they are not considered employees according the National Relations
Labor Act. Their requests for higher wages and better treatment is denied due to the fact that
most of these victims, are immigrants.

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Most victims of labor trafficking are identified in various ways, some immigrants, others
women and most are children. Child labor is one of three different forms of labor trafficking and
is a hazardous type of work. It can affect a childs physical health by causing bruising on the
body, mental health by causing PTSD, and emotional health by causing depression. This type of
work can interfere with a childs education as well. According to the Office On Trafficking in
Persons, over 246 million children all over the world are involved in debt bondage, forced
recruitment for armed conflict, illegal drug trade, and other illegal activities. Children and
women are overwhelmingly trafficked because of their lack of rights and their overall status
compared to men.
Neha Misra, a Solidarity Center Senior Specialist, states, Trafficking in persons has
become a big business, globally it is a $32 billion industry. Labor trafficking often goes
undetected and is not a topic really talked about in todays society. When most people think of
human trafficking, they assume it is just people captured and used for prostitution, but it is far
more than that. It is not really thought about where most of our food and clothes actually come
from and what types of abuse go on to the victims who make them. The agricultural sector
probably experiences one of the highest occurrence of forced labor in the United States.
Due to the increasing number of undocumented workers, the absence of labor standards
and regulations, immigrants have no legal protection. Perpetrators use threats, torture and verbal
abuse especially because the victims are uneducated, have no family or social connection, and
fear deportation. This causes the victims to become extremely dependent on those who hold them
captive and often find themselves losing their sense of control. Depending on their captivators,
usually they delay or most of the time prevent the victims from escaping the labor work, when all
they wanted was a better life for themselves.

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Some of Americas most vulnerable immigrant workers are victims of modern day
slavery. According to U.S. Admits Modern-Day Slavery Exists at Home, Jennifer Turner states
how a young man named Prakash Adhikari left his village in Nepal to look for a better life to
help his family. A labor recruiter he met along the way, falsely promised him work in high end
hotels and restaurants. He was then held against his will in Iraq and him as well as dozens of
other men were transferred to do labor work for a U.S. company called Daoud & Partners. He
and 11 others were later on executed along the way.
Since 2003, it is insanely common for thousands of foreigners to work on U.S.
government contracts in some of the most dangerous parts of the world such as Iraq and
Afghanistan. Abusive employers are found to be empowered by a system that allows a criminal
offense of obtaining money to make it difficult for workers to declare their rights. These victims
are coached to create a cover story when people approach them and ask them what their reason
of being here is. Most lie and say they are tourist or Students. It is difficult to identify a
victim of labor trafficking, mainly because they keep it very low-key, and if a victim is able to
escape, they face difficult health issues for the rest of their life.
One of the most popular health impacts of labor trafficking is physical abuse. According
to the Office On Trafficking in Persons, scars, headaches and hearing loss are the least of the
worst. Most victims get respiratory and/or cardiovascular problems or even limb amputation. The
psychological effects these victims experience, is shame, humiliation, confusion, anxiety,
phobias. Strategies to help allow these works to escape safely from this horrible type of work,
will make a huge difference in a persons life.
A few ways to solve this problem is that the government can enforce policies to help
prevent this from happening or to save those who have already gone through it, is by acting on it

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rather than saying something will be done. People believe that actions speak louder than words.
The U.S. Immigration laws contribute to labor trafficking happening by not offering other
opportunities like changing visa requirements for foreign workers so they can change employers
(Buckley, 3). It would make a difference by decreasing the helplessness of workers and could
prevent them accidently falling into forced labor thinking it is something better. A way to address
the core root of the problem is to fight against it using the federal Trafficking Victims Protection
Act (TVPA).
There are three different types of Trafficking Victims Protection Acts. The first one is the
act of 2003 is a federal, civil right of action for trafficking victim to be able to sue their
traffickers. It also adds human trafficking to the list of crimes charged against the trafficker and
protects the victims and their families from deportation. The second one is the act of 2005, which
provides a program to shelter minors who have escaped and also provides a $5 million program
for treatment of trafficking victims abroad. The last TVP Act is the the act of 2008. It states how
the government has created new systems to gather and report human trafficking data. All
unaccompanied illegal children are screened as potential victims of human trafficking which
enhances criminal sanctions against the traffickers and expands different ways trafficking can be
expressed to make the prosecution process easier.
In conclusion, modern day slavery still exists whether people know it or not, its out there
in different countries especially the United States. The only thing most foreign workers want is a
better life financially. There are some laws enforced to help prevent this from happening to
people, but what about the people who have been or are still going through it? Helping provide
safer work for illegal immigrants You cannot blame the victims either, they come from poor parts
around the world and are promised plenty money and a better life than the one they already had.

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Jennifer Turner asserts that human beings should not be blamed, but the government should act
against human trafficking.

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Works Cited Annotated
Giacomo, Carol. "Are Your Food and Clothes Produced with Slave Labor?" Taking Note. The
New York Times, 30 June 2014. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.
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Slave labors produce products most consumers buy, from food to clothing, the only
reason why most people dont know of this is because the trafficking occurs in secret.
About 29 million victims are trafficked worldwide and are stuck working 7 days a week
creating popular name brand clothing, especially fake high brand clothing including
Gucci, Chanel and Nike. Trafficking exists from the money made from it. The U.S. is the
worlds greatest importer. A bill has been introduced by Carolyn Maloney which is a
legislation that requires companies that have global gross receipts of about $100 million,
need to publicly disclose any measures they have taken to prevent human trafficking,
slavery and child labor as part of their annual reports to the Securities and Exchange
Commission.

Misra, Neha. "Human Trafficking: A Big Business Built on Forced Labor." The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, 3 Apr. 2013. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.
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Trafficking a person is a big business globally. It is a $32 billion industry involves about
161 countries, the U.S. included. In such places such as the United States, Europe and
Japan have seen an increase in cases of immigrant teachers, nurses, construction workers
and even service workers, basically anyone who holds a valid visa. Summed up, human
trafficking is an increasingly legitimate business. The media portrays traffickers as
organized criminal tactics or underground black marketers. Trafficking for labor
exploitation often goes undetected and gets little to no attention. In 2010, about 400 Thai

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migrant workers who were trafficked to the U.S. were investigated by the U.S. Justice
Department. It was explained that the Thai workers took a crushing debt ranging from
$9,500 to $21,000. After arriving to the U.S., their passports were taken away and they
were put in a small house and if they complained or fled, they could be fired, arrested,
and deported.

"FACT SHEET: LABOR TRAFFICKING (English)." Home. U.S. Department of Health and
Services, 31 Dec. 2015. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.
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There are three types of labor talked about in this article; child, bonded, and forced labor.
Bonded labor is also considered debt bondage and is the least known type of labor
trafficking but it is the most used method to enslave people. This has no relation toward
the liquidation of debt, it is far greater than an original sum of money borrowed. Forced
labor is when victims are forced to work under their own will under the threat of violence
or a far worse punishment. Freedom is restricted, and forms of forced labor include
domestic servitude, agricultural labor, sweatshop factories, food service, etc. Those who
are trafficked expect something far better, but end up getting the worst possible thing
done to them. The last form of labor is child labor. Child labor is when children are
forced to work in hazardous and dangerous areas that affect a childs education mental
and/or physical health.

Buckley, Chrissey. Forced Labor in the United States: A Contemporary Problem in Need of a
Contemporary Solution. University of Denver website. Topical Research Digest, n.d. Web. 24
Apr. 2016.

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In this source, the author Chrissey Buckley talks about labor trafficking both as a whole
and here in the United States. She provides information that most people like myself did
not know about when it came to human trafficking. In this PDF, she talks about the
50,000 victims are trafficked from all over the globe to work just in the United States.
Most victims that are targeted are illegal immigrants looking for a better life, women, and
children (mainly because they have less power over men). These victims are promised a
life full of wealth and education but end up getting lied to and forced to work against
their will. If the victims do not cooperate or listen to the traffickers, they are then
physically or sexually abused and/or threatened. The author then states how the lack of
legal protections and legal means of migration to the U.S. is a big issue, causing people to
rely on these methods as their way to enter the country.

Turner, Jennifer. "US Admits Modern-Day Slavery Exists at Home." American Civil Liberties
Union. N.p., 24 June 2014. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.
In this article, the author Jennifer Turner talks about how nowadays, the most vulnerable
labor workers are victims of modern day slavery. They are protecting the U.S.
government but the U.S. government is not protecting them. According to an annual
Trafficking Persons Report in 2014, trafficking and forced labor still does exist in
America. The author then goes on to talk about a young boy named Prakash Adhikari
who left is village in Nepal in 2004 to find a better life for his family. He then met a labor
recruiter along the way who made false promises of Adhikari working in a five star hotel
and having a better life than he had at that moment. It turned out he was lied to and was

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forced to work against his will in Iraq for the United States government subcontractor
called Daoud & Partners. He and eleven others were then executed.

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