Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/illinois/news/stevepokin/pokin-around-prosecutors-fbi-say-human-trafficking-hard-to-detect/article_a123188c-94ae-5235-b179-702733cda26a.html#ixzz1mYYipcHD
You might not see it, but the problem of human trafficking is here and getting worse.
Don't take my word. Take the word of Thomas Gibbons, Madison County state's attorney; Stephen R. Wigginton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Illinois; two FBI agents; and others who spoke Wednesday in Edwardsville at the Madison County Administration Building.
They say there's a growing problem. They say you and I can be helpful by being more attentive.
On the other hand, I should also point out that there are currently no human trafficking prosecutions under way either on the state level in Madison County or the federal level in Southern Illinois.
"This is a difficult crime to detect," Wigginton says.
Human trafficking is like slavery. There are two kinds of human trafficking: sex and labor. They both employ force, fraud or coercion to exploit a victim.
Victims include immigrants, drug addicts and the poor. They could be runaway teenage girls who are U.S. citizens or immigrant men from Guatemala who end up at a meat-packing plant where they are charged so much for food and lodging that they remain forever in debt to their employer.
The force or coercion can be physical beatings; or getting the victim addicted to drugs; or threatening to harm loved ones; or holding hostage the documents the victim needs to remain in the United States.
In St. Louis, Waquita Wallace in 2009 was sentenced to 20 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to sexual trafficking. She held hostage a mentally disabled 18-year-old woman — beating, burning and torturing her — in order to sell her for sex.
In Brookfield, Wis., near Milwaukee, two doctors from the Philippines were convicted in 2006 for keeping their housekeeper, also from the Philippines, a virtual prisoner in their home. Jefferson and Elnora Calimlim were sentenced to six years in prison.
Eileen Shanahan, with the FBI office in Springfield, told an audience of a dozen police officers and prosecutors that pimp and street gangs have come to realize that a human being can be sold over and over again, unlike drugs and guns.
Law enforcement needs the public's help to combat trafficking. For example, plumbers and electricians, Shanahan says, should call authorities if they happen to spot several mattresses in the basement of a business or home.
Rarely does a trafficking victim escape and contact police. That's because some have developed a bond with their abuser, says Mark Ranck, a special agent with the FBI in Springfield.
In addition, Ranck says, their horrible conditions here might be better than living conditions in their home country.
Oftentimes, someone who has been trafficked will not have a cell phone or credit cars. They might not speak English or know their whereabouts because they have been moved so frequently.
The employer or abuser will often insist to police that he or she interpret for the victim, says Rosie Lange, with the International Institute in St. Louis. Instead, she says, a third-party should interpret.
Another obstacle to prosecution, Lange says, is that many victims come from countries where police are corrupt and not trusted.
"In Cambodia there was a girl who escaped from a brothel and went to law enforcement and then law enforcement returned her to the same brothel where they punished her severely," she says.
Jeffrey Othic, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, says there are incentives police and prosecutors can offer victims to get them to testify.
The federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 was the first comprehensive federal law to protect victims and prosecute traffickers. The law provides help with housing and education, for example, for victims trying to rebuild their lives.
The law created the T-visa, allowing victims to become temporary residents of the United States during criminal investigations and prosecutions. Prior to that, many were quickly deported as illegal aliens.
Othic says those unfamiliar with trafficking might question how victims allow themselves to become victims. Why wouldn't someone try to call police? Why wouldn't someone try to escape at every opportunity?
To answer that, he says, "In St. Louis all you have to say is two words: Shawn Hornbeck."
Hornbeck was 11 when abducted by sexual predator Michael Devlin. Hornbeck had become so fearful and traumatized that he had stopped trying to escape. He was rescued five years later in January 2007
The National Human Trafficking Hotline is 1-888-373-7888.
POKIN AROUND Steve Pokin is a columnist for the Suburban Journals. He can be reached at spokin@yourjournal.com or by phone at 618-344-0264, ext. 126. His column is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PokinAround.
No comments:
Post a Comment