RECOVERY FEATURE
A New American Dream A human trafficking survivor becomes a voice for the voiceless
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or Harold D’Souza, the opportunity to come to the United States from his home country of India was like being awarded a ticket to heaven. “In 2003, when I told my friends and family that I would be going to the U.S., they said I was going to swarg, or paradise. They called me God’s chosen,” says Harold. Harold really did feel like “God’s chosen.” As a boy, Harold’s father was a farmer who wanted all his children to have a good education. Harold had more than exceeded those wishes, earning various degrees in human resources and labor, as well as a master’s in marketing. He was married to Dancy, and they had two sons, Bradly, and Rohan. At 37 years old, Harold also had a job as a manager for an electronics company. In India, Harold had received an offer to work as a manager in Ohio. The man who made the proposal said he had secured Harold an H–1B Visa, a special kind of visa that allows foreign nationals with special skills to work in the U.S. He assured Harold that he would earn substantially more in the United States than he could back home. “I came to the United States on four things: trust, faith, a promise, and to live my American Dream. But my wife perfectly summed up what later happened—we were shown the moon, but given the dust,” says Harold. There would be no high-salary job waiting for Harold in Ohio. Instead, he and Dancy would be forced to work long hours in a restaurant, for no pay, while living in a
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small apartment that lacked furniture and beds for their sons. For almost two years, the couple and their children would be degraded, threatened, and abused by the man who had promised the moon. “I felt like a failure. I had failed as a parent, a provider, a protector, and as a person. For many years I could not talk about what we had gone through,” says Harold. Today, Harold is the president of Eyes Open International, a non–profit organization focused on the education, protection, and empowerment of victims of labor trafficking. Through his organization, he has met with fellow advocates, governors, and U.S. Presidents. Actor Martin Sheen, whose own parents immigrated from Europe to Ohio in the 1930s, has talked to Harold about doing a documentary on him and other victims of labor trafficking. “I always say that in life, survivors are poor starters but strong finishers. I am grateful now to share my journey and how I turned all these terrible obstacles around with purpose, power, and prayer.”
The trafficker’s techniques When Harold and his family arrived in Ohio, the man who had promised to fulfill his American Dream was there to greet him. He asked Harold if he had any cash on him; Harold said he had $1,000. “He said to me, ‘Harold, you cannot carry that much cash on you in America. It’s not safe!’ I agreed to give him my money and all our documentation,” says Harold. “Looking
back on it, that was the first red flag. I wasn’t realizing that my trafficker was working to manipulate me, trick me, and track me.” Harold’s path followed all the steps and techniques that human traffickers use to control their victims and create fear in them. “First, the trafficker pays for your lodging, which is usually right above or very close to the place they want you to work. In labor trafficking, these are mostly restaurants, motels, salons, farms, and convenience stores,” says Harold. The trafficker refuses to pay a salary, and reminds the victims that they have no way to manage their earnings. “They will say, ‘Why would I give you a check? Where would you cash it?’ Instead, they promise to pay you when you return to your country,” says Harold. “That’s when they have you in their grip, and you never see that money.” “Labor traffickers use certain words and phrases that can be especially scary to foreign nationals,” says Harold. “These phrases keep them from fighting for their freedom. They say, ‘I will have you arrested, put in jail, put in handcuffs, or deported. “My trafficker never called me by my name. He would only say ‘Hey, illegal.’ What happens to your mind, body, and soul when you are called an illegal? You see yourself as the criminal, not the victim,” says Harold. Harold came to believe that he would never escape his situation. He remembers one night telling Dancy that he could see himself dying at the hands of his trafficker. As they talked, their youngest son Rohan
Volume 8 Number 4, 2022
© Meg Vogel/USA TODAY NETWORK
by HUGO BRAVO
