genderberg.com - U.S. Has 10,000 Forced Laborers, Researchers Say

By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 23, 2004; Page B01
At least 10,000 people are working as forced laborers at any given time
across the United States, according to a new report that details the
nature and extent of "modern-day slavery." The study says the laborers
are working for little or no pay on farms, in restaurants and sweatshops
and as domestic servants and prostitutes.

The report, "Hidden Slaves: Forced Labor in the United States," is to
be released today on Capitol Hill by the University of California at
Berkeley's Human Rights Center and the Washington-based anti-slavery
group Free the Slaves. Most people think slavery is a problem that was solved long ago, said
Laurel Fletcher, one of the study's authors and a professor at UC
Berkeley's law school. "But in fact, it's alive and well. It has simply
taken on a new form," she said. Forced labor has been documented in at least 90 U.S. cities, including
some Washington area communities, and it is concentrated in poorly
regulated industries with a high demand for cheap labor, the study says.
Most victims are trafficked into the United States through force, fraud
or coercion and are brought from more than three dozen countries, with
China, Mexico and Vietnam topping the list, researchers said. Most cases are in heavily populated states that have large immigrant
communities, such as California, Florida, New York and Texas. In the
Washington area, cases were reported in the District, Alexandria, Falls
Church and Silver Spring. The report is based on a survey of 49 service providers involved in
forced-labor cases, eight case studies and an analysis of 131 incidents
reported in the U.S. media, most of which involved many victims, the
report said. The report's figure of 10,000 is less than a U.S. Justice Department
estimate that at least 14,500 people are trafficked into the country
annually. But cases often are hidden and victims are afraid to report
the abuse to authorities, making it difficult to pinpoint a number. "That's 10,000 major crimes," said Kevin Bales, a co-author and
president of Free the Slaves, who ranked enslavement "right up there
with torture and kidnapping and murder." Employers use physical and
psychological violence to hold victims captive, confiscating passports
and threatening to harm family members. In one case, a Texas faith-based mission group recruited dozens of
young boys from Zambia to perform in church choirs in Texas and other
states. The boys performed several times daily, but never were paid or
allowed to go to school and were forced to do hard physical labor, Bales
said. He said the U.S. government needs to raise public awareness of the
problem and train more local police to recognize signs of trafficking
and forced labor. In another case, a Mexican woman forced to work in a Los Angeles
sweatshop said she was regularly beaten by her trafficker. She had been
recruited to the United States with promises of a job and free room and
board. Instead, she was forced to work 17-hour days making silk party dresses
and was given one daily meal of rice and beans. She was paid about $100
a week and was forced to pay off a "debt" of $2,550 to the trafficker,
she said in a telephone interview. Guards outside the sweatshop prevented her from leaving, and the
trafficker -- who owned the sweatshop -- threatened to call authorities
if she tried to escape. Eventually, local police raided the factory
after receiving a tip. U.S. officials investigated her case and granted
her permission to stay in the United States under a 2000 federal law to
combat trafficking. The woman, 32, fears for her children's safety in Mexico. The
trafficker recently contacted the woman's family in her hometown of
Pueblo, she said. "Sometimes I feel like I want to fly or run to my kids," said the
woman, who did not want her name used because she feared retaliation by
her trafficker. "I pray for them every day." Staff writer Darragh Johnson contributed to this report.