President Obama has called !!

2016

Myths Meet Reality N i. MYths, paniCs, and thE shaping Of anti-traffiCKing pOLiCY We are sixteen years into "fighting" trafficking in the United States, and the earliest mistakes, misconceptions, and myths still guide policy, media storylines, and the public's understanding of human trafficking. This essay addresses how these policies have: (1) left workers not designated as "trafficked" under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) 1 to continue working unprotected, in a kind of labor purgatory; (2) insufficiently helped migrant workers who in fact did qualify for trafficking assistance; and (3) harmed all workers-foreign nationals and U.S. citizens-in the sex sector. True innovations in fighting trafficking must seek to protect all low-wage migrant workers, not just the most exploited. They must not fuel panics that equate all forms of sex work with trafficking. And they must offer more varied forms of assistance, over longer periods of time, to trafficking survivors. The U.S. government defines human trafficking as recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person to work under conditions of "force, fraud, or coercion." 2 Trafficking occurs in all labor sectors, but since the enactment of the TVPA in 2000, trafficking into all forms of labor often has been conflated with trafficking into just one: the sex sector. Since the early years of the TVPA's implementation, trafficking has become synonymous with prostitution. 3 It has been 10. See Denise Brennan, Life Interrupted: Trafficking into Forced Labor in the United States 38-39, 72-73 (2014).

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University Mankato, 2014

Journal of Human Trafficking, 2015

Design Research Society (DRS), 2016

The 3.5 million truck drivers on U.S. highways are in a unique position to identify incidents of human trafficking and to help victims by providing information to authorities. Studies show that truck stops in the United States are a common venue for sex trafficking due to their remote locations and lax security. This research project asks: How can a specifically designed technologically-based communication enable truck drivers to report incidents at a higher rate than is now being reported?

Human trafficking occurs when traffickers use force, fraud, or coercion to compel individuals to provide labor or services-broadly known as labor or sex trafficking. Traffickers often take advantage of individuals who are perceived as vulnerable, including those lacking immigration status. In response, the United States Congress created a T nonimmigrant status (also referred to as a T visa) in October 2000 to protect immigrant victims and to strengthen law enforcement's ability to investigate these crimes. The current study sought to examine the trafficking experiences of foreign national victims from Latin America specifically by interviewing legal representatives who assist these individuals in Nebraska. These representatives were selected due to their intimate knowledge of the T visa process and their unique position to identify human trafficking victims during legal consultations. Interviews were conducted via Zoom with six individuals who provided rich insights into 22 cases involving victims of human trafficking from Latin America. The findings include an overview of the legal representatives who encountered these cases, describes the trafficking experience of victims from Latin America, explores the challenges of filing for a T visa, examines the role of service providers in addressing clients' needs, and reviews the legal representatives' perceptions of barriers to trafficking cases. The report concludes with policy implications that are useful to individuals or institutions (e.g., agencies, legal representatives, law enforcement) in anti-trafficking initiatives.

2006

The WEA Global Issues Series, 2013

“Everyone knows what slavery is, from school, from television documentaries, or from the movies. The abolition of slavery belongs to the triumphs of history. It is an integral component of the path to human rights, democracy, and a free society. And it belongs to history. That is, however, a huge mistake. This is due to the fact today there are more slaves now than in any other prior century. And most of them have been treated and moved around like goods on the global market. While classical slavery was abolished in the Western World by the first great human rights campaign in history, modern day slaves lack an advocate such as one finds in the debate over global warming. For that reason I am thankful to my readers that they are taking time to inform themselves essentially ‘in a nutshell’ about one of the worst present day atrocities that exists. The victims will also be thankful, because only through the aid of a large groundswell on the part of civil society can the battle against human trafficking again be placed among the highest priorities on the political agenda.”

Anti-Trafficking Review, 2014

This edition of the Anti-Trafficking Review explores what happens to the money that is allocated by governments and private donors to stop human trafficking and to assist people who have been trafficked.