- My name is Suleman, and I'm a subject matter expert
on labor trafficking and male victimization.
From the start of the TVPA,
the Trafficking Victims Protection Act,
much of the attention has been primarily
on finding ways to combat sex trafficking.
I think where we are now
in this anti-trafficking movement
is that we do have a strong understanding
of what sex trafficking looks like.
But not enough intention is being done
to create separate awareness
on what labor trafficking is constituted as.
When we're talking about labor trafficking, we're talking
about a work environment where an individual feels
that they are unable to leave their trafficking situation,
and that the goods that they produce,
the services that they provide to consumers,
a corporation, a conglomerate, or an individual
is profiting off of that labor
at the expense of that individual.
A trafficker will see an individual not for who they are,
who their family is, where they come from,
what their socioeconomic status is,
they only see this individual as a number,
a number that can produce a certain amount of goods
or a certain amount of revenue
where that trafficker can profit off of.
In order to accomplish this,
a trafficker uses the American Dream
as their vehicle to portray the opportunity
that that worker is going to receive.
The trafficker will sell this idea
to a worker and simply state that without their help,
there is no way this individual is gonna be able to
get financial security for themselves
or financial security for their families.
They're making themselves out to be the only person
that they can trust here in the United States.
They're the only person
that they can trust in this community.
That's where the isolation
and the grooming has already started,
before that individual even signs the paper
or signs some form acknowledging their employment.
What is not discussed is the type
of work environment that they actually are a part of.
The environments that exist among forced labor
have so many different complexities.
They range based off of the types of industries
that are affected.
When we think about construction sites, for example,
forced labor may be as simple as having an individual
work more than they were allotted to work that day,
where they were underpaid or they were not paid whatsoever
based off of the false promises their trafficker gave.
The American reality that many of these workers face
is the reality that they do not have access
to personal protective equipment.
They do not have access to overtime.
They do not have access to an equitable wage
that is in compliance with state and federal laws.
The American reality versus the American Dream is such
that this individual is put in a place where they can simply
not get out of their environment.
Whether an individual or their family is from here
in the United States or an individual is coming from abroad,
debt bondage is a tactic used
by traffickers to place a debt over an individual's head
or even an individual's family's head.
They're unable to move past this current chapter
of their lives without paying off this debt.
But little do they know, that debt will never be cleared.
The trafficker's sole objective is to strip a victim
of any identification that they may have,
their gender identity, their cultural identity,
their family status, their family traditions,
solely to get the individual where they are
at their most vulnerable state.
So when debt bondage is used,
it is an intimidating tactic used to subject somebody
and put them in a place where they can never escape.
Fear is the biggest driver in creating a barrier
between that individual reporting what's happening to them
and continuing to work and be in the same work environment
that they were subjected to.
Fear of law enforcement, fear of deportation,
fear of their legal status being exploited or identified,
fear of, most importantly for male survivors,
of not being believed, and the fear of shame
contribute to the fear of not wanting to leave
their trafficking situation.
There's an inherent assumption
that somebody that has been victimized
through labor trafficking will be able to self-identify
and self-report to a law enforcement entity
or a service provider,
and in the way that they are expected to self-report
and self-identify, must be using language
that may be verbatim
from the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.
And we know that for many individuals that are victimized
it may be difficult to articulate the types
of experiences that they have been a part of
that may directly relate to the TVPA.
But being able to create an environment where
the burden is shifted back on the service providers,
the burden is shifted back on law enforcement
to create an environment of trust
will make it more useful for those that are at risk
or that have already been victimized, to then
be able to share the type of victimization
or the type of work environment
that they have been a part of.
Anyone can be a victim of labor trafficking.
When we take a step back
and ask ourselves, how this is a human issue?
How are people subjected to forced labor?
We can then revisit the question
of who is actually being targeted?
Where are they being targeted?
And how they're being targeted?
When there is more of an emphasis by the media to portray
those questions and answer those questions,
it gets us closer to understand who the traffickers are.
The media can be a great asset
to this anti-trafficking movement
if more attention is focused
on making labor trafficking a human issue,
where the solutions are understanding how traffickers
are finding ways to exploit workers for a new opportunity.
My first piece of advice that I would give
to somebody who is in a work situation that they deem
or they view as hostile, is to first ask them,
is my employer putting me
in a position where I feel threatened
or putting me in a position where if I speak out
about my job outside of work, or even during work,
I may be subjected to retaliation?
Or my supervisor is threatening law enforcement against me?
Am I able to ask for help within my job?
Am I able to ask for help
outside of my job without being retaliated against?
If the answer to both of those questions is no,
my piece of advice at that time is to find someone
that you're able to trust outside of your work environment.