by Kimberly McOwen Yim
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“The best defense against modern-day slavery is a vigilant public. Be a nosy neighbor.” —Kevin Bales, The Slave Next Door
Book cover design by Cindy Kiple (Nick Purser/Getty Images)
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old they will have good-paying jobs when they arrive in the United States, thousands of immigrants, both legal and illegal, get tricked into forced labor annually. Traffickers often deceive these people by offering half-truths, saying the individual will work at a restaurant or in a hotel. Once these people begin working, they are held captive either through never-ending debt or simple physical immobility. Without knowing the language or having someone to trust, and under constant threat of physical violence, these workers silently go about working in the background of public businesses.
In homes Although 80 percent of human trafficking cases in the United States between 2008 and 2010 were sex trafficking cases, not all modern forms of slavery are related to sex trafficking.1 A more subtle form of slavery found in our backyards is the enslavement of domestic help. “One of the most insidious forms of trafficking—the enslavement of domestics and nannies—occurs under our very noses. Here you must be vigilant,” write Kevin Bales and Ron Soodalter in The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today.2 Often working up to 16 hours a day, victims of domestic servitude make up the second-highest form of slavery in the United States.3 Most are foreigners and work under threats of violence. Afraid to run away, they often work in isolation due to a language barrier or lack of interaction with others. Domestic slaves live quietly in fear—fear of deportation, fear of beatings, fear of the well-being of other family members, or fear of humiliation. This fear keeps domestic slaves hidden and submissive. Such was the case in one of the first accounts I heard of in my neck of the woods in Southern California. This case occurred more than 10 years
Where to Look for Slavery
Here are some common places and situations where slavery is known to flourish: ☛ landscape and gardening businesses ☛ households in which domestic home workers are present ☛ large-scale agricultural operations ☛ construction sites ☛ casinos ☛ garment factories ☛ hotels (especially in housekeeping departments) ☛ nail salons ☛ migrant or transitional communities ☛ zones known for prostitution ☛ strip clubs ☛ massage parlors ☛ domestic violence situations
ago, before the Trafficking Victims Protection Act was voted into law, and therefore our courts had to wrestle through the rescue and rehabilitation of a child domestic slave. Shyima was one of 12 children, originally from Egypt, when she was sold to another Egyptian family at the age of 8. This family eventually moved to the United States and settled in a gated community in Irvine, Calif. Shyima slept on a mattress on the floor of the garage and was not allowed to go to school. She spent each day cooking and cleaning and caring for the family’s three children from morning until night. Her captors told her they would kill her family if she tried to flee or if she told anyone about her situation. They also told her law enforcement would beat her and take her to jail. So rather than trusting the police for help, she feared them. For two years Shyima lived as a domestic slave in the United States, rarely stepping outside the door of the house where she worked. Eventually an anonymous tip—possibly from a neighbor—was called in to child protective services, and law enforcement got involved.4 Years later when Shyima was an adult she was interviewed for a training video to teach others what domestic slavery might look like. She said not knowing the language, fear of law enforcement, and physical and psychological threats were what kept her from running away. “Who would I run to? What would I say? There was nobody for me to trust,” she explained. Thankfully, Shyima’s story is a hopeful one. She was adopted by a loving family, enrolled in school, and eventually graduated from high school. Now she is attending college with the dream of becoming a law enforcement officer. She has a special interest in rescuing other trafficking victims. Many stories have been uncovered recently about domestic slaves eventually finding freedom. Some risk it all and run, but many are rescued because of the action of a nosy neighbor. These nosy neighbors are Good Samaritans who reach out to help when something just doesn’t seem right. “Slavery often comes to light because a member of the public sees something odd and speaks up,” write Bales and Soodalter.5
In fields In the United States most workers are protected by the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. This law gives workers the right to organize and protects against unsafe work environments, fixed wages, and health issues. It applies to all kinds of work—but not farm labor. Because of reasons steeped in Deep South politics, farm laborers and household servants were excluded from full rights.6 As you can imagine, this has had tremendous impact on agricultural work standards in the United States, where competitive prices and cheap labor can quickly lead to forced slave labor. Abysmal working conditions in the tomato fields of southern Florida led to the formation of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). Southwest Florida is the state’s most important center for agricultural production, and Immokalee is the state’s largest farmworker community, with many of these workers coming from Mexico, Latin America, and Haiti. Formed in the 1990s to organize for fair wages and to combat other labor violations, the CIW began to discover wellnetworked slavery operations. The organization continued to fight for fairer wages and labor practices, but it also began to uncover, investigate, and assist in the federal prosecution of slavery rings preying on farm workers.
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Look for the signs! Following are some signs that someone might be a human trafficking victim. Any one of these signs should be enough to raise concern and a reason to call the National Human Trafficking Hotline or local law enforcement. A person might be a human trafficking victim if he or she: ☛ is not free to come and go as he or she wishes ☛ is not free to change employers ☛ is afraid to discuss himself or herself in the presence of others ☛ does not control his or her earnings ☛ is unpaid, paid very little, or paid only through tips ☛ has few or no personal possessions ☛ is not in control of his or her own money or has no financial records or bank account ☛ is not in control of own identification documents (e.g., ID, passport, visa)
Working with the Department of Justice and the FBI, the CIW has helped to prosecute seven major cases, freeing over 1,200 people from captivity and forced labor on Florida’s tomato farms.7 Through its efforts the CIW has brought the terrible state of human rights in much of US agriculture today to public light. Although slavery is not the norm in agriculture today, there must be a more concerted effort in addressing the demand side of the US food market. Major food-buying corporations are profiting from extremely low— often artificially low—cost of produce. In the summer of 2012 International Justice Mission partnered with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers for a campaign they called Recipe for Change. Recognizing that for decades slavery and other human rights abuses have existed in US tomato fields, IJM and CIW assert that our local supermarkets can help end slavery in the tomato supply chain. Supermarkets can join with other companies such as McDonalds and Subway by participating in the Fair Food Program. (Editor’s note: See PRISM’s May/June 2012 cover story for an in-depth look at fair food activism.) Developed by the tomato pickers themselves, the Fair Food Program establishes a zero tolerance policy for slavery, child labor, and sexual abuses on Florida’s tomato fields. Corporations that join the Fair Food Program agree to pay a small price increase (1.5 cents more per pound) for fairly harvested tomatoes and promise to shift purchases to the Florida tomato growers who abide by these higher standards—and away from those who won’t. Although many fast food companies have already joined the Fair Food Program, some of the largest US supermarket chains have not. IJM’s Recipe for Change campaign is asking anti-slavery advocates to petition supermarkets to do their part and join the Fair Food Programs. As of December 2012, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods were the only two major supermarket chains that had joined. This campaign is an excellent example of how, with a little bit of knowledge, the consumer has immense power. By going to IJM’s website, you can send a message to the large US supermarkets asking for their participation in the Fair Food Program. You can sign up to receive e-mail updates on the
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☛ is not allowed or able to speak for himself or herself (i.e., a third party insists on being present or interpreting) ☛ has an attorney that he or she doesn’t seem to know or to have agreed to receive representation services from ☛ works excessively long or unusual hours ☛ is not allowed breaks or suffers under unusual restrictions at work ☛ owes a large or increasing debt and is unable to pay it off ☛ was recruited through false promises concerning the nature and conditions of his or her work ☛ is living or working in a location with high security measures (e.g., opaque or boarded-up windows, bars on windows, barbed wire, security cameras) ☛ exhibits unusually fearful, anxious, depressed, submissive, tense, nervous, or paranoid behavior ☛ reacts with unusually fearful or anxious behavior at any reference to law enforcement ☛ avoids eye contact ☛ exhibits a flat affect (e.g., doesn’t display emotion, seems blank or empty, unresponsive)
progress of the campaign and download a petition that asks others in the community to join in. In addition, a family action kit is available on the IJM site that includes information, games, and stories for the whole family to learn and participate in the work of justice for agricultural workers.8
In restaurants David Batstone, an ethics professor in San Francisco, first encountered the reality that slavery existed in his backyard after eating at one of his favorite restaurants outside of Berkeley. Not long after dining at the restaurant, he read in a local paper that a woman who worked there had died due to a gas leak and lack of ventilation in the apartment attached to the restaurant. Threatening to reveal their illegal status, the owner of the restaurant had forced a number of people to work for him without pay. This revelation prompted Batstone to look further into the issue of modern-day slavery, and in 2007 he launched Not For Sale, a campaign whose purpose is to put a final end to slavery. My friend Tracy recently asked the woman who cleans her house, Elise, how she immigrated to the United States. Tracy learned that Elise originally came over on a work visa to work in a restaurant in Orange County, Calif. When she began work, the manager took her documents and told her she’d get them back after she’d worked there for six years. Tracy voiced her concern and asked many more questions, but Elise told her it had worked out okay for her and her husband; they had worked at the restaurant for six years and were both able to become legal citizens. “But I do fear for the others still there,” Elise said. “The manager has become more strict, and it is not a good place to work.” Tracy asked Elise if she would consider telling the police about what the manager was doing. She explained that it was illegal and that under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act her friend would be able to get some help, even if she came here illegally. Elise told Tracy she didn’t trust the police. “Where I come from the police often do nothing, or they make it worse,” she said. Knowing that she would not be able to convince Elise to report what she knew, Tracy contacted the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force.
☛ exhibits unexplained injuries or signs of prolonged or untreated illness or disease ☛ appears malnourished ☛ is under 18 years of age and is providing commercial sex acts ☛ is in the commercial sex industry and has a pimp or manager ☛ shows signs of physical or sexual abuse, physical restraint, confinement or torture ☛ has been “branded” by a trafficker (e.g., a tattoo of the trafficker’s name) ☛ claims to be “just visiting” and is unable to clarify where he or she is ☛ exhibits a lack of knowledge of whereabouts or does not know what city he or she is in ☛ exhibits a loss of a sense of time ☛ has numerous inconsistencies in his or her story ☛ is hungry or malnourished and inappropriately dressed based on weather conditions or surroundings ☛ shows signs of drug addiction9
She was put in touch with a law enforcement agent who took down all the details. A few months later Tracy followed up to see how the case was coming. “Let’s just say it was a very good tip,” the officer said. He couldn’t tell her much more, but Tracy now understood that she could do something— that sometimes a small act such as a phone call could make a difference. Modern-day slavery is happening right under our noses and yet we often don’t see it. Do we know what to look for? What questions do we ask? What do “doesn’t seem right” and “something odd” look like? On page 19 is a list of everyday places where slavery has been documented in the United States, as well as signs that someone may be a human trafficking victim. As you read through the list, keep in mind the places and people around your town who work in these types of environments. You may want to mark or copy these pages for future reference. Also, please put the National Human Trafficking Hotline number in your phone and address book: 888-3737-888. It’s true that we are busy. We run to the carpool line, pick up dry cleaning, go to the grocery store, and we often don’t notice the many people we encounter as we go through our days. Despite this, we all have time to call the National Human Trafficking Hotline number if we notice something suspicious. When my friends and I first learned of the millions of people enslaved in our world today we wished we were young again, when we thought we could take on the world. We were fired up and wanted to correct injustice. But we grieved because we thought there was not a thing we could do. We wanted supernatural abilities to fight the bad guys. We may have even wanted to punch a bad guy in the face. We wanted to personally rescue a child out of slavery and hold her in our arms and tell her everything would be okay. We wanted to save people from this life of terror. After all, we lived blessed lives. We needed to do something. But as Bales reminds us, “joining the fight against human trafficking means accepting that we each have a job to do and that our job might not include being the action hero.”10 Once we got over the desire to find a grandiose response to the injustices of slavery and to punch bad guys in the face, we moved forward in the small, meaningful actions that are needed every day. We came to realize
In addition, a young person might be caught up in sex trafficking if he or she... ☛ has unexplained absences from school for a period of time ☛ is unable to attend school on a regular basis ☛ repeatedly runs away from home ☛ makes references to frequent travel to other cities ☛ exhibits bruises or other physical trauma, withdrawn behavior, depression, or fear ☛ lacks control over her or his schedule or identification documents
we could help right where we were, right in this season of life, right in our neighborhoods—we are the cement in this modern abolitionist movement. We continue to be busy; however, today we live our lives intentionally aware of our surrounding and our neighbors. Slavery still exists in my backyard, but I know now I have resources and power to fight it.
Kimberly McOwen Yim is the founder of Abolitionist Mamas in San Clemente, Calif. She has worked with Women Who Stand, an advocacy group affiliated with World Relief, and writes and speaks on issues related to human trafficking worldwide. This feature is an excerpt from the forthcoming Refuse to Do Nothing: Finding Your Power to Abolish Modern-Day Slavery by Shayne Moore and Kimberly McOwen Yim, © 2013 by Shayne Moore and Kimberly McOwen Yim. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press (PO Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515; IVPress.com).
Take action ❶ Put the National Human Trafficking Hotline number in your phone: 888-373-7888. If a person or situation came to mind while you were reading the list of signs of human trafficking, call now and report it. ❷ Tell one friend about the anti-trafficking hotline and ask her to put it in her phone. ➌ Ask yourself: Are there places in your own community that you now wonder might be places where people are forced to work?
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