3.1.1 The victims: Vulnerabilities in Labor Trafficking

 

To understand the helplessness and vulnerability of the victims, we need to put ourselves into the shoes of the victims.

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Born and raised in a small village in Ghana, Natalia was thirteen years old when she moved to the US to pursue better education, an opportunity provided by family friends. With an eager heart, Natalia flew to the US and was thrilled to deliver good news to her family. However, soon the father of the family she was living with started to physically and sexually abuse Natalia. For the next six years, she was the maid of the house, unpaid but overworked - shec leaneddi shes, washed clothes, cooked, and took care of the three children.

 

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The promise of education was never fulfilled either - she was never allowed to enroll in school or even go outside of the house. Thankfully, Natalia saw an opportunity to run away from the home and a neighbor called the police. But the unfair labor practices and traumatic experience had deeply hurt Natalia.[1]

 

But labor trafficking ranges when it comes to education level. Some victims could be highly educated, and purely moved to the US for better opportunities. Most victims only recently immigrated with an undocumented or uncertain immigration status. Traffickers take advantage of their unstable status by taking away the victims’ legal documents to prevent them from leaving. Since many victims have limited English language skills, they are oftentimes unfamiliar with the local laws and their neighborhood. This turns them away from the legal laws that can possibly protect them and local residents that could potentially help them. Due to this trapped isolation and the trafficker’s constant brainwashing, victims become fearful of law enforcement. Many victims are told that they will be deported and prosecuted if they dare to get caught.

 

3.1.2 The Victims: Vulnerabilities in Sex trafficking

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Many sex trafficking victims have one characteristic in common--- they have a history of childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence and, in some cases, incest. This plants a seed of self-guilt and self-blame in their hearts, which makes them particularly vulnerable to trafficking. Their experiences of having been molested as a child was taken advantage of by the traffickers--- they often play the role of parental figure, sometimes a boyfriend or girlfriend, to make the victims feel that they are finally loved and cared for by another individual. The victims will gradually become emotionally reliant toward the trafficker. This is when the trafficker starts to treat the victim like objects, and when rape, tattoing thier name on the victim’s faces, and so many more examples become more than common. Lost and desolate, the victims are likely to do anything that the trafficker tells them to do, including harmful behavior, to hold on to this loving figure. Most victims also lack networks of support and could possibly have substance abuse or mental health issues. It is crucial for people to understand that these trafficking victims engage in prostitution not out of enthisiasm and will, 

As we mentioned earlier, victims could be anyone - not necessarily someone who has been abused in their childhood. In recent years, high school and college students who want to pursue an acting/modeling/dance career had also been targeted by traffickers. Because many college students are seeking jobs to pay for tuition and rent, they can be easily attracted to sketchy offers by hidden traffickers.

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Rachel Thomas, for instance, is a girl from California who was trafficked during her junior year at Emory University. Although Rachel had always wanted a modeling career, she was suspicious when she first met the professional and well-spoken modeling agent in a club. However, the agent then showed Rahcel his business cards, a portfolio of contracts with recognizable models, and connections to music video directors, casting agents, producers, celebrities, and etc. When another of his models came up to Rachel, Rachel was convinced to join. At the agent’s request, Rachel filled out a w4 form, which includes her parent’s home address, phone number, and SSN (Social Security Number).

 

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The glamours faded after she got the job. Gradually, the modeling agent, or now the trafficker, forced her to sleep with more and more men in order to “promote” her career. This was completely out of her own will. However, when Rachel tried to leave, the trafficker threatened to kill her family or send the pre-recorded sex tapes to her school, relatives, and friends. Rachel was fully under control as this physically and mentally abusive man presents himself as a modeling agent to more college girls.

 

Thankfully, another victim of the pimp was fortunate to escape, and brought this case to the police. Two years later, Rachel’s pimp was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Upon his arrest, the FBI found out that this man had victimized 75+ girls for 7+ years, preying on naive college girls of all races away from home.

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Watch this video to hear Rachel Thomas speak about her story: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqe-3y6THQc

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3.1.3 How Can We Help the Victims?

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First, make sure you call 888-3737-888, the national human trafficking hotline, to report the case. Victims are not always ready to leave the industry. They might still be emotionally attached to the trafficker and it could be psychologically painful for them to leave when they don’t intend to reconnect and readapt to society. In this case, what you can do to help is to be a mentor and a listener. Keep in mind that the victims could be uncooperative, untruthful, and even rude because they see you as a potential threat. Thus, don’t criticize them for their behaviors; instead, listen to their stories, show your respect, and give mild suggestions. When the victims show their determination to leave, you can contact law enforcement for them and guide them step by step to leave the industry.

 

3.2.1 The Traffickers: Their Role

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Unfortunately, there is no one ideal for what the traffickers look like, and they can appear all around us. The diversity that this occupation carries range from family relatives to close friends, and from any person on the street to the seventy-year-old, harmless looking elder waiting with you at the bus stop on a rainy day. They can even appear as a girl or boyfriend figure. In sum, traffickers are people one typically trust the most, or strangers and people one would suspect the least.

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As obvious as it may seem, it is important to acknowledge that traffickers are not necessarily sinister-looking: infact, they may appear extremely attractive. They are the people who “come across” the victims at their most vulnerable times, and use their confident, outgoing, friendly, and engaging character to “guide” the victims to the “right track.”

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Be careful- these are the most common and easiest tactics of manipulation!

 

To put these abstracts into specifics, take “Pretty Hoe” for example. Pretty Hoe, or Melanie Denae Williams, demonstrates an example of online trafficking, and a pimp being glorified by society. During her sentence on February 1, 2019, Williams admitted to the United States District Judges for using the Internet to recruit two minors to engage in commercial sex acts, and retaining the proceeds from the minors’ sex acts for her own use and benefit.[2]

 

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Williams also posted social media videos of her physically abusing and using firearms to threaten young women, according to the affidavit. Williams ordered the victim to strip off her clothes, then Williams threw bleach on her and used a broomstick to beat her, according to court documents. Williams continually threatened to kill the victim if she left Williams, court papers state. Williams also forced the victim to get Williams’s name tattooed on her face, and confiscated the victim’s belongings and identity documents, according to an affidavit filed in the case.

 

Though seemingly obscure, many looked up to this figure. Many teenage girls were spotted taking pictures with her after running into her in public. However, the frequency that these problems occur on social media and in everyday life does not normalize these issues. In other words, the severity of human trafficking is not negligible simply because it was unacknoledged in parts of the society.

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3.2.2 The Traffickers-  How do traffickers approach their victims?

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Aside from these traffickers playing roles as mental and physical supports, it is also important to understand how the “recruiting”process works in the human trafficking industry. Again, the approaches are different for each subcategory of human trafficking. However, in all scenarios, the background of the victims, along with the situations they were in, all factors into their decision making process.

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When Traffickers are targeting teenagers and young adults in their early or mid 20s, they attempt to build closer relationships with the victims through various ways such as invitation to concerts, dance parties, or fancy dinners, which often sound appealing to many whom the trafficker views as potential victims. But once a type of relationship is established, the turning point comes: the trafficker will ask the victim to perform sexual service for “just this one time” possibly due to an alleged “financial hardship” that the trafficking confronts. However, it never ends there. Traffickers would continue to push victims in performing sexual services more frequently, and to a wider audience group. The victims, blinded by trust, love, and sometimes incentives, will then follow the requests. Eventually, the victims would be trapped in the industry before they could process the situation.

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Similarly, the internet and social media apps are also trafficking hotspots. Like those who follow friends of friends (of friends of friends…) to greet them with “send nudes,” traffickers take a similar yet less explicit approach. Among them, the “mutual friend” strategy is considered very common. Before approaching their potential victim, traffickers would sort out his or her close friends through likes, comments, and follows. The trafficker will then follow these close friends and start a genuine conversation. Through these exchanges of messages, traffickers can gather more accurate data about their targets, and gain trust from the victim when they were introduced as just “another of my friend” by their peers. Traffickers will also use existing victims to recruit new victims. The impact of peers and friends on an individual can significantly shape their perspectives. Even when a potential victim is suspicious of the trafficker, getting positive feedback from their peers will counteract this doubt. In Rachel Thomas’ case, she was pushed into the industry under the encouragement of another of the pimp’s victims.

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Labor trafficking victims were often recent migrants to the country, and desperately needed a powerful figure to trust and lean on to. Moreover, although they can either be individual or family migrants, they typically were not from very well off backgrounds, and almost immediately need a source of revenue to sustain themselves. Therefore, traffickers would usually offer the victim with their “connections” to get them a job. The jobs would be extremely appealing with the salary they offer, especially when the job only requires minimum experience and/or education. To further convince the victims, traffickers would also guarantee protections, and to look after them as they progress in their “career.” However, the victims would only realize they were underpaid and being forced to work overtime, and the documents (in the local language they likely don’t understand or were not familiar enough with) they signed can be used against them. Unfortunately, at this point, it has become too late for the victims to pull out, since their documents are already confiscated by the traffickers, and would become illegal, jobless, and homeless individuals unlettered in a foreign country if they ever decide to leave.

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This flyer is an example of a fake job commercial designed to trap youngsters looking for a fast and easy way to make money:

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3.3 The Buyers

 

Similar to the traffickers, buyers range in age, ethnicity, level of education, and marriage status.

 

The human trafficking industry is structured similarly to a pyramid. The traffickers control the “transaction” (victims, buyers, and location) and sit at the top. The buyer comes after. They fuel the consumer market and provide incentives for the traffickers to recruit more victims to please their customers. With a growing customer base, the demand and the market will also continue to expand. The victims, consequently, take up the largest group at the bottom of the pyramid with little to no power.

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One approach to fighting against human trafficking is preventing the expansion of traffickers. However, the trafficking industry itself is an attraction due to the system’s structure of guaranteed profit with minimum effort. Therefore, it is highly likely that more individuals would eagerly step up to fill the space with each trafficker incarcerated.

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Instead, we should stop the buyers. If the younger generation is educated on the atrocities of human trafficking, the buyer population can be significantly reduced, which in turn forces traffickers to compete in a limited market. This can force many traffickers out of business.

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The process of eliminating human trafficking is easier said than done, of course, since eradicating an industry that has existed for decades will take more than being aware and putting forth a verbal statement. However, it is our responsibility as individuals,  collaborating organizations, communities, and a society to highlight the significance of the buyers in this tightly chained industry, and the devastation for the traffickers if their clients cease to exist.

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[1] Polaris. (2015). Natalia | Domestic Servitude Labor Trafficking. Retrieved from

http://www.polarisproject.org/what-we-do/client-services/survivor-stories/618-natalia-domestic-servitude- labor-trafficking

 

[2] https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/los-angeles-woman-sentenced-15-years-prison-federal-sex-trafficking-offense