FLSNY's Fight to End Modern Day Slavery - The Human Trafficking
Project
What is Human Trafficking?
Human trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, harboring, or
receipt of people for the purposes of slavery, prostitution, forced
labor (including bonded labor or debt bondage), and servitude.
Trafficking victims typically are recruited using coercion, deception,
fraud, the abuse of power, or outright abduction.
Why are migrant and seasonal farm workers so vulnerable?
Cornell University estimates that over 47,000 migrant workers are
employed on farms throughout New York State. Many if not most of these
individuals are undocumented and therefore, particularly vulnerable to
the specific exploitation of trafficking. They live in isolation, are
not assimilated into the communities they live in or near and seldom
have access to community services. Many farm workers are unaccompanied
minors with little or no formal education. They may not be able to
speak, read or write English. Their isolation is further
exacerbated by the lack of transportation and reliance on their employer
to provide for their basic needs.
How FLSNY became a the primary player in combating trafficking in
New York State
In 1996 FLSNY started investigating a case of severe trafficking.
Workers were being held against their will, they were prevented from
leaving the farm by armed guards, and they were monetarily exploited
through unlawful debt practices. This investigation was to become
the first case prosecuted in New York State under the Trafficking
Victims Protection Act of 2000. The trafficker and her sons had
been operating as a recruiter in Western New York for years, providing
local agricultural growers with labor. At her trial, it was revealed how
she and her sons trafficked workers from Mexico through Arizona, housed
them and prevented them from leaving while they worked off their debt.
This experience brought FLSNY face to face with the reality that
trafficking of migrant farm workers was a major issue in New York. The
perpetrators of this trafficking case were prosecuted and are serving
significant prison time.
What role does FLSNY play in combating human trafficking?
Long before FLSNY received the first grant to combat trafficking,
FLSNY's advocates educated workers about their rights, wage and
employment issues, and pesticide poisoning. We were talking
to farm workers about being victimized and exploited. Human
trafficking in the migrant farm worker community was not new. Laws
like the Fair Labor Standard Act and the Agricultural Worker Protection
Act were designed to minimize the financial exploitation of farm
workers. The human trafficking laws newly recognize that the scope
of the exploitation is broader and encompasses the actually methods by
which a farm worker is recruited and transported.
When FLSNY received its first trafficking grant in 2005, the Human
Trafficking Project was initiated with a three-pronged approach:
- Provide outreach and education on trafficking to the migrant
farm worker community. The project developed educational and
training materials used for outreach.
- The trafficking staff initiated training materials and training
sessions for the outreach staff of other migrant health and
educational programs. Besides direct outreach to migrant and
seasonal farm workers, FLSNY staff made it a priority to educate
others who have significant contact with farm workers to be aware of
the prevalence of human trafficking.
- FLSNY was instrumental in establishing meetings with local,
state and federal law enforcement agencies to discuss the
establishment of a regional task force to coordinate services. In
cooperation with the U.S. Attorney, a joint task force of law
enforcement agencies representing the U.S. Attorney, FBI, U.S.
Immigration Services, including the Border Patrol, U.S. Department
of Labor, the New York State Police and local sheriff departments
was formed and continues to meet regularly. In addition, FLSNY is
forming local subcommittees of service providers in many upstate
counties.
