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     Task forces look to break up human trafficking rings

    Human TraffickingBy Zach Lowe
    Staff Writer

    Stamford Advocate
    October 25, 2004

    Two state task forces formed this fall have begun rooting out human trafficking rings that send victims into Connecticut for use as slaves and prostitutes, officials said.


    State Rep. Andrea Stillman, D-Waterford, led the group that formed the Connecticut Interagency Task Force on Trafficking in Persons, which held its first formal meeting Oct. 14. The group is made up of 50 experts, including lawyers, victim advocates and police officers.

    The goal is to propose a bill outlawing human trafficking and protecting victims who might be afraid to come forward.

    U.S. Attorney Kevin O'Connor formed a second task force of state police and federal officials devoted to finding and prosecuting smugglers who prey on illegal immigrants.
    "We know this is a problem," O'Connor said. "We just don't know how big a problem it is."

    According to a U.S. State Department report, 600,000 to 800,000 people were trafficked across international borders last year. Of those, 18,000 to 20,000 were trafficked into the United States, the report found. The victims, mostly illegal immigrants, are used for forced labor, prostitution and other purposes, the report said. They often receive a small portion of their earnings and are held by captors who threaten to deport them or have their families killed if they escape or contact authorities, the report found.

    Stillman said Connecticut could be a prime destination for traffickers because of its position on Interstate 95 between Boston and New York City.

    Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said a state law would augment federal legislation passed by the Clinton administration in 2000 that bans several types of human trafficking and gives victims access to a special visa that allows them to remain in the United States for one year after they are freed.

    Blumenthal said having dual laws would allow authorities to charge smugglers twice -- once in state court and again in federal court. "We can send a message that exploiting human beings will not be tolerated," he said.

    Leslie Gabel-Brett, executive director of the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women and a member of the legislative task force, said a state law against trafficking would give police the freedom to uncover the traffickers who might be behind crimes such as
    prostitution.

    "In the case of a prostitute, police might find out she is really a victim if they are allowed to ask questions and look deeper," she said. "We need to prosecute the real bad guys."

    Stamford Police Officer Eva Maldonado, a member of the legislative task force, said there are unconfirmed reports of forced prostitution in Stamford. She said she will push the task force to broaden the definition of trafficking to include the so-called "$2 dance nights," when bar owners bring in van loads of women from out of state, Maldonado said.

    Male customers, usually day laborers, pay the women $2 for a dance, Maldonado said. The practice could be considered trafficking if the women are allowed to keep only a small portion of their earnings, she said.

    O'Connor said there have been at least two confirmed cases of trafficking in Connecticut. In January, authorities in Meriden arrested two Rwandan immigrants on charges of smuggling African children through the United States to Canada.

    Earlier this year, police in Texas found a truck full of 19 illegal aliens who said smugglers were taking them to Connecticut, O'Connor said.

    "We don't know how big the problem is, but we know it is much bigger than just these two cases," he said.




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