Souce: Your Houston News
'Thursday, September 27, 2012 4:00 am | Updated: 9:42 pm, Tue Sep 25, 2012.
This week, more than 80 human smuggling victims were rescued in a raid by law enforcement officials.
Unfortunately, those rescued represent only a tiny fraction of the modern day slaves who remain in captivity.
Houston is a hub for human smuggling and trafficking, yet our knowledge of this issue is only recently beginning to scratch the surface. Public awareness of the existence of human trafficking, and the magnitude of this scourge, has only just begun to materialize.
Recent cases
Last Tuesday, police received a call from a mother who was frantic that her daughter was being held against her will. Smugglers — “coyotes” — were holding her 16-year-old daughter in lieu of a ransom payment of thousands of dollars. Law enforcement investigated.
Their investigation ultimately resulted in a raid that discovered 83 persons being held against their will. Inside the home, captives were clothed only in underwear; they had no shoes nor food.
This rescue illustrates some common characteristics of human trafficking, including the difficulty in locating and rescuing these victims, and the victimization experienced by the persons who are trafficked.
Smuggling vs. Trafficking
Persons who are engaged in illegal human smuggling are generally paid a fee to facilitate the clandestine transfer of a person across our border. Conversely, human traffickers lure their victims into forced labor or prostitution through threats, fraud, or coercion. Often, victims of human smuggling and trafficking have similar characteristics. They find themselves in captivity in a foreign country with no resources, support or means of escape.
The case highlight this week illustrates a different outcome for these victims only because law enforcement received a report. In the case of the 16-year-old victim who was being held for ransom, her mother called the police. Because her mother had the courage to call police and report the extortion by the smugglers, more than 80 victims were ultimately rescued.
Unfortunately, this outcome is rare. Usually those who have engaged in illegal border crossing refuse to contact police, even in the face of their own victimization. In the mother’s case, she likely struggled with admitting to the police that she paid a smuggler to bring her daughter into our country illegally. However, when faced with her daughters’ continuing captivity and the ransom demands, she reached out.
Her courage is admirable, though unfortunately atypical. More often, these captives live in fear of their captors. They refuse to contact law enforcement for fear of their own prosecution for wrongdoing.
As a result, the traffickers force them to work off their “debt” through labor or prostitution. As time passes, their “debt” only grows. Smugglers and traffickers demand payments for transportation, food, housing, and other expenses. Captives remain at the mercy of their captors, forced into situations that they never intended nor expected.
Rescues
Most often, trafficking victims are discovered during law enforcement’s investigation of some other type of criminal activity. Raids of prostitution rings are the most common example; bars and massage parlors that are fronts for prostitution often result in the discovery of women and children who are forced into this criminal activity.
Rather than a rescue situation, however, these trafficking victims are often treated as criminals. They may be arrested for the prostitution or another criminal offense.
Our traditional methods of law enforcement have not kept up with the changes in criminal activity in our community. Our new understanding of trafficking recognizes that these women are victims, not perpetrators.
Based on the new understanding of modern day slavery, we must focus our efforts to fight crime on the traffickers. Traffickers must be prosecuted, and victims must be rescued.
Human smuggling and trafficking are not issues of illegal immigration or even border security. They are criminal enterprises, second in the world in profit only to the drug trade. Fighting illegal immigration and securing our borders are wholly different issues from recognizing and rescuing victims of human trafficking.
As public awareness increases, so also will the safety of our community. Those who are victimized and held in captivity will find rescue and resources to facilitate their recovery. As victims emerge, public awareness comes to light. Modern day slavery will be eradicated in our jurisdiction. Lives will be saved.
Katherine Cabaniss is a former prosecutor in the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, and currently the Executive Director of Crime Stoppers, a nonprofit organization. She can be contacted at cabanissk@yahoo.com.
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