Study shows U.S. forced-labor victims unclear where to seek help
By Megan Twohey (Reuters) - A study of human labor trafficking in the United States released today shows that many of the victims arrived in the country legally, and some had college degrees. Even so, the study by researchers at the non-profit Urban Institute and Boston's Northeastern University concluded, victims seldom understood their rights or where to seek help. The study focuses on 122 foreign men and women who received services through a coalition of organizations that assist trafficking victims. Researchers also interviewed victims, service providers and law enforcement officials. The average age of victims was 33 at the time they began receiving services. Most had children. Almost a third of the victims had attained higher education, and 71 percent held some type of temporary work visa when they entered the country. The study says traffickers often used the visa status as a tool to exploit workers. Most victims were recruited in their home country, and victims were often deceived about the nature and compensation of the work, researchers found. Typically, the workers came from countries in Central America or Southeast Asia, and were trafficked in domestic work, or in the construction, agriculture or hospitality industries. The study, which was funded by a grant from the U.S. Justice Department, encourages law enforcement officials to better recognize and respond to labor trafficking, defined in federal law as labor through "force, fraud or coercion." "Victims are often hidden in plain sight," said Meredith Dank, a researcher at the Urban Institute who co-wrote the study. Dank said the report shows that authorities need to better understand "the coercion and fraud the traffickers use to control these individuals." Otherwise, she said, "the victims will never receive the assistance and justice they deserve." The International Labour Organization, a United Nation's agency, estimates that approximately 20.9 million people are victims of forced labor worldwide. Human trafficking was criminalized in the United States in 2000. Since then, the federal Justice Department has convicted labor traffickers in Illinois, New York, Georgia and Washington state, among other prosecutions. But U.S. prosecutors have brought no more than an average of two dozen forced-labor cases a year, and there have been no prosecutions under state law, the study found. Many law enforcement officials interviewed by researchers expressed confusion over what labor trafficking was and how they could address it. (Reporting By Megan Twohey; editing by Blake Morrison)
