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Trafficking in Persons in the United States

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Trafficking in Persons in the United States The author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and prepared the following final report: Document Title: Trafficking in Persons in the United States Author(s): Kevin Bales, Ph.D.; Steven Lize, Ph.D. Document No.: 211980 Date Received: November 2005 Award Number: 2001-IJ-CX-0027 This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. To provide better customer service, NCJRS has made this Federally- funded grant final report available electronically in addition to traditional paper copies. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Trafficking in Persons in the United States -A Report to the National Institute of Justice- FINAL REPORT Kevin Bales, Ph.D. Principal Investigator Steven Lize, Ph.D. Research Associate March 2005 Croft Institute for International Studies, University of Mississippi This research was supported by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Grant # 2001-IJ-CX-0027 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Acknowledgements We wish to thank everyone who participated in interviews for this project. Although we cannot name many individuals, we are grateful for the more than 75 individuals who generously gave their time to share information for this study. We especially want to thank the survivors of trafficking and violent assault who bravely shared their stories for this research. We hope they find peace and a just resolution to the injustice they experienced – and which some continue to experience. We also thank the non-governmental organizations, social service agencies, and advocates for talking to us and, in some cases, inviting us to participate in their activities. We are especially thankful to Break the Chain Campaign, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, and Midwest Immigrant and Human Rights Center for their assistance in this project. Finally, we thank the law enforcement agents and Department of Justice officials who participated in interviews for this research. We want to thank Chris O’Sullivan and Ginny Baumann for their assistance in writing this report. We are also grateful to Steven Colatrella for carrying out some of the interviews early in the research process. Additionally, we want to thank the following individuals who assisted in various ways throughout this research project: - Michael Metcalf and Glenn Schove of the Croft Institute for International Studies, University of Mississippi - Terry Coonan, Robin Thompson, and Pippin Whitaker of the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights, Florida State University - Bea de Grau, Manolo Salas, and Mar Leyva for assistance with Spanish language translations. We are truly thankful for your work on this project. Finally, we are grateful to the National Institute of Justice for funding this project. We are especially grateful to Jennifer Schrock-Donnelly for her encouragement and advice. 2 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Contents I. Executive Summary 4 II. Introduction 7 III. Literature Review 10 a. Definitions & Concepts 10 b. Current knowledge 12 IV. Research Questions & Research Methods 16 V. The Trafficking Process and its Outcomes 19 a. Vulnerability to trafficking 20 b. Recruitment of trafficking victims 24 c. Transportation of victims 32 d. Exploitation 37 e. Exposure, discovery and liberation 55 f. Arrest of perpetrators 63 g. Stabilizing victims presence in the US – the role of immigration authorities 69 h. Victim/witness protection 73 i. Investigation of cases – lessons from case victims and case studies 77 j. Investigation of cases – lessons from law enforcement professional 94 k. Prosecutions 108 l. Victim assistance and reintegration 112 VI. Related criminal activity 117 VII. Interagency Cooperation 125 VIII. Conclusions and Recommendations 135 Appendix 149 Endnotes 154 3 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. I. Executive Summary This research used case studies to identify points of intervention at each stage of the trafficking process. We looked for points where law enforcement, civil society, business, and the public could take action. We sought to identify actions that would lead to: more successful prevention of trafficking; the discovery, liberation, improved care and rehabilitation of victims; and, especially, ways to increase prosecutions that will shut down trafficking operations. By addressing these points of intervention we believe the United States can become a much harder target for criminal traffickers – a place where the risks of discovery are greater and the consequences more swift and decisive. For each case1, we examined the roles of various actors in the trafficking process: - law enforcement - immigration services - the criminal justice system and judiciary - social services - the victim’s legal representation - collaboration between all these agencies - demand factors and industry of exploitation As well as: - descriptions of the traffickers - an examination of the mechanisms and process of trafficking - a sensitive and extensive exploration of the background and experience of the trafficked person. The case studies were researched in three different areas of the United States: Southwest Florida, Chicago, and Washington DC. The first two of these have been cited as trafficking “hot- spots”, the third as a “newly emerging port of entry.” We collected and organized data for individual cases. Some of these cases involved an individual victim, and some had a group of victims who were trafficked and exploited together. For each case/victim cohort, we conducted interviews with the victim, relevant agencies, community groups, and individuals who played a part in the case. Altogether, we conducted 73 interviews with participants pertaining to 12 cases. In addition to interviews, we used secondary source materials, including previous interviews by participating organizations, medical and psychological assessments, law enforcement reports, court records, immigration authority documents, and news reports. Major Findings • Trafficking victims are most likely to be young and reasonably healthy people from poor, but not necessarily the poorest, backgrounds. Often, trafficking victims often have a level of education that seems incongruent with their enslavement. In the case studies we found that those with the least education were most easily manipulated. Both the lack of, and desire for, education is also a strong predictor of susceptibility to being trafficked. • Recruitment is particularly effective when traffickers rely on victims whom they have turned into loyal enforcers or recruiters. Recruitment is also effective when the potential victim’s family members are involved. 4 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. • One-third of our case studies involved foreign-national victims who were recruited within the United States. • In half of the cases studied in this research, the trafficking operations were simple links between single individuals or agencies providing a single service – smuggling migrants across a border in order to exploit them in the destination country. One quarter of the cases were segmented businesses involving a criminal network and a legitimate transportation or labor recruitment company. One quarter of the cases were relatively sophisticated and complex networks spanning both long periods of time and large geographical distances. • The principal methods traffickers use to control victims include: taking away victims’ travel and identity documents; repeatedly telling victims local police or immigration authorities will arrest, brutalize, or even kill them if they are found; sexual abuse; physical violence; threats of physical violence or death; isolation; and debt bondage. In cases with groups of victims, traffickers used victims as enforcers to intimidate and control the victims. • The types of work that trafficking victims were forced to do in our case studies were prostitution, domestic service, agricultural work, entertainment, factory work, restaurant service, and street peddling. In every case the period of exploitation lasted much longer than that of being trafficked. The length of captivity ranged from one month
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