Human Rights Center | Completed Initiatives

7. Social and Legal Services

While the Trafficking Act has greatly amplified the federal government's role in investigating and prosecuting forced labor cases in the United States, the job of providing basic social and legal services to survivors has fallen squarely on the shoulders of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and social service agencies. With limited resources, these groups must identify forced labor survivors, attend to their immediate needs for physical safety and housing, refer them for health care, facilitate their access to protection and rehabilitative services, and help them return to their countries of origin or begin new lives in the United States. Yet according to our survey of forty-nine social service providers, fewer than half of these agencies are able to meet these needs.

Identifying Survivors

Social service providers and legal advocates must be able to assess whether a person seeking their assistance is a survivor of forced labor. Yet most of these professionals, through no fault of their own, lack the skills to do so. Until recently, service providers and legal advocates encountered relatively few, if any, forced labor survivors in their daily work. With the passage of the Trafficking Act in 2000, however, that situation has changed rapidly, so much so that a growing number of service agencies and advocacy groups are developing criteria to help their staff distinguish forced labor survivors from other types of clients.

Survivors gain their freedom and come to service providers and legal advocates in a variety of ways. In six of our case studies, victims received initial assistance from a "Good Samaritan" or from a local social service agency. In the case of Khai, the enslaved Thai domestic worker, it was a Good Samaritan who first brought Khai to the Thai Community Development Center (CDC), a nonprofit organization in Los Angeles serving Thai immigrants. The CDC helped Khai find shelter and later a permanent home and a job. The organization also referred Khai's case to federal prosecutors and throughout the trial served as her liaison with the office of the prosecutor.¹⁵⁸ In some cases, forced labor survivors are discovered by chance. Over time, however, one NGO has learned how to investigate forced labor operations in agriculture. Laura Germino with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers explains how her organization uncovered a recent forced labor operation: "The guy first called in to say his employer owed him money. The crew-leader hadn't paid him. So we invited [the laborer] to come to the meetings. We began trying to get the money back for him, and during the course of the cobro [recovery of unpaid wages], we learned that there was a slavery operation."¹⁵⁹

Some forced labor victims have even been liberated by local law enforcement personnel, as happened in the Reddy case. Local law enforcement agents could play a more active role in identifying and ending forced labor operations, but most lack training in the identification of forced labor operations and continue to view people in such situations as illegal immigrants and undocumented workers. In more isolated areas of the United States, local law enforcement complaisance has benefited employers who use forced labor. In recent years there has been a growing recognition among government agencies and private organizations that finance anti-trafficking efforts of the role that nongovernmental organizations, such as members of the Freedom Network, can play in educating and training local police to identify and refer victims of forced labor to appropriate service providers and federal authorities.

Safety, Housing, and Protection

The first priority in assisting survivors of forced labor is to ensure their safety. Not all survivors are at the same risk of harm, so their security needs vary. In most parts of the United States service providers, community groups, and advocates have taken the lead in protecting forced labor survivors, including managing survivors' privacy and housing to shield them from retribution or unwanted contact with an alleged perpetrator's defense attorneys.

"The important thing," says Laura Germino of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), "is to place survivors in a community [group] that will 'ground' them ... make them feel safe and comfortable ... and help them understand the process of the federal investigation and prosecution."¹⁶⁰ In the case of the Florida citrus pickers, Germino's organization provided peer counseling for the liberated workers, while the local Catholic church gave them clothes and toiletries. Another local religious organization provided housing and paid for their phone calls to their families in Mexico. This coordinated effort created a safe environment that enabled the workers to speak freely about their experience to federal investigators.

Not all efforts to coordinate security arrangements for survivors have gone smoothly. In the case against JB Farm Labor Contractor/Victoria Island Farms, the asparagus harvesters' attorney had initially contacted the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) for assistance in investigating violations of federal labor law. Before revealing the identity of any of the parties, the attorney asked the local DOL representative for assurances that the workers would not be detained and deported by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (now U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement). In the end, the DOL acknowledged it could not provide such assurances and the attorney, wishing to protect her clients, declined to involve the DOL.¹⁶¹

Social service agencies report that finding appropriate housing for survivors has been one of their greatest challenges. In 2004, for example, the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST) was finally able to open its first shelter for forced labor survivors—indeed, it was the first of its kind to be inaugurated in the United States. Before that time, the organization had housed clients in two apartment units and, when those units were filled, in hotels and shelters operated by other groups.¹⁶²

Housing for survivors of forced labor must serve two purposes. First, it should provide a safe and comfortable environment. Second, the facility should serve as protective barrier that screens survivors from unwanted intrusions. The facility's staff should function as "survivor advocates" by assisting their clients' access to needed services and helping them to make decisions about their future. If the survivor wishes to cooperate with law enforcement, the staff should be able to help facilitate such interviews.

As a rule, forced labor survivors should not be placed in shelters for the homeless or with victims of domestic violence. Survivors have reported feeling extremely uncomfortable in homeless shelters, especially if fellow lodgers have substance abuse or mental health problems. Similarly, women liberated from forced prostitution have reported feeling shunned or discriminated against in shelters for domestic violence victims.¹⁶³ Such facilities are often poorly equipped to meet the needs of forced labor survivors.

Nalini Shekar, the director of a shelter in northern California which has housed both victims of domestic violence and trafficking, said that programs designed for domestic violence victims, such as support groups, may not be appropriate for trafficking survivors who have been socially isolated and under the control of a trafficker for a significant amount of time. Such shelters, she added, often lack adequate security measures to protect trafficking survivors from perpetrators, particularly if they are part of a highly organized, extensive, and well-financed trafficking network.¹⁶⁴ Many of Shekar's concerns were borne out in the Reddy case by the attempt of an intruder to break into the shelter and find two of the survivors.

Forced labor survivors are not the only ones in need of protection. Persons who witness violent incidents involving forced labor or human trafficking as well as private citizens and organizations that help survivors escape risk retaliation from perpetrators. In the Florida citrus pickers case, the perpetrators or their associates reportedly menaced the homes of several staff members of CIW who had help liberate the workers. Despite repeated requests, the local police failed to answer the organization's calls for protection. Only after the NGO reported the threats to the justice department prosecutor who headed the investigation did local law enforcement, in conjunction with federal agents, monitor the situation more closely.

Prosecution and Benefits

Forced labor survivors (and their service providers) are often caught in a bind when they try to balance their desire for justice and benefits with their needs for privacy and security. The Trafficking Act requires that forced labor survivors share information about themselves (and possibly others in a similar situation) with federal law enforcement agents in order to receive federal benefits. But in doing so survivors may be increasing their vulnerability in at least two ways. First, by alerting law enforcement to their presence, survivors without legal immigration status risk deportation if their account is found to lack credibility. Second, alleged perpetrators who are defendants in criminal proceedings have a right to review information provided by survivors to federal investigation. As a result, survivors and their families may be at a greater risk for retaliation. According to CAST's Jennifer Stanger, these dilemmas have had "a chilling effect" on survivors who wish to apply for T visas but are reluctant to place themselves at greater risk. "Rather than cooperating with government authorities," says Stanger, "victims of trafficking may be reluctant to come forward if they believe that this information may be turned over to their traffickers or be used to have them removed."¹⁶⁵

Both our governmental and nongovernmental informants agreed that all forced labor survivors should have a legal advocate. As an attorney in the Reddy case put it: "I think it's in the victim's best interest to have a consistent figure in her life who's going to be advocating for her and helping her navigate through this really confusing minefield."¹⁶⁶

In the best of worlds the survivor should be assisted by one agency that offers both legal and social services. In this way the survivor will receive both social services, such as housing, clothing and transportation, and legal counseling on immigration status and work authorization. There are a small number of service providers linked through the Freedom Network, a national coalition of anti-trafficking organizations, which have adopted an empowerment model of working with survivors. The empowerment model encourages self-sufficiency and increased self-esteem so that survivors may make informed decisions of their own choosing. For example, network member CAST has developed a management system that addresses a wide range of survivor needs, including access to mental and physical health, housing, legal counseling, education, and employment. CAST case managers work with survivors in one of two modes: "intensive" cases receive the most comprehensive, personalized, and individualized attention. For example, a CAST case manager will routinely accompany a survivor who is receiving "intensive" case management to medical appointments. Other cases are handled on an "information and assistance" basis and receive less frequent and individualized attention.¹⁶⁷

CAST will provide assistance to survivors for as long as they desire such help. For example, Khai, the former indentured domestic worker, continues to receive "intensive case management" at CAST two years after her liberation. Khai's case manager has helped her put together a successful T visa application; stabilize her employment; make arrangements to bring her son over from Thailand; apply for federal benefits, including food stamps, health care and Refugee Cash Assistance; and ensure that she keeps her medical appointments and understands her physician's instructions.¹⁶⁸

T visas

By the end of the Fiscal Year 2003, the U.S. Department of Justice reports that a total of approximately four hundred fifty survivors have accessed immigration benefits under the TVPA by receiving continued presence and/or by receiving a T visa.¹⁶⁹ In 2003 alone, 297 of these T visas were issued.¹⁷⁰ Such progress notwithstanding, legal and social service providers point to several flaws in the special immigration program. To begin with, the application process is slow and cumbersome. Law enforcement may wait several months before issuing the endorsement survivors need to prove eligibility for immigration relief. On average, it takes the federal agency administering the program four to twelve months to process and approve a T visa application. Access to agency personnel also is restricted. The agency maintains only a general telephone number, which, according to users and advocates, requires callers to navigate complicated electronic voice instructions and wait on hold for long periods of time. Service providers say that rectifying these problems would help make the agency more "user-friendly" for all concerned.

Language and Culture

Service providers and legal advocates are learning to be sensitive to the varied backgrounds of survivors and the ways in which they interpret their experiences. Many survivors have minimal formal education, so it can be difficult for them to understand the roles of law enforcement and service providers or to fathom the complexities of the United States legal and welfare systems. The survivors of Reddy's abuse, for example, had never used public transportation or managed their personal finances, let alone navigated a complex criminal justice system, before they were freed. Not only do service providers need to translate these systems for their clients, they also may need to educate their families and communities in their home countries and in the United States.

Service providers and legal advocates must be aware of the difficulties their clients might face from the local migrant community once they denounce their captors. When it was discovered that Khai and the Thai Community Development Center had contacted federal authorities to report Supawan Veerapool's abuse, many members of the local Thai community accused Khai of being disloyal and ungrateful to a generous patron who had arranged for her to come to the United States. "I felt that eighty percent of the community was against me," Khai recalled in an interview for this study. "They regarded Supawan as a 'high soul'. . . and couldn't believe how bad Supawan really is . . . I felt like I did the right thing. But in Thai culture, I am seen as ungrateful."¹⁷¹

Finally, service providers and law enforcement alike find it difficult to communicate with survivors because of language differences. Some social and legal service providers have in-house interpreters or are themselves proficient in the language of the survivor. But, as our study found, the need for interpreters is a pressing problem for many service agencies and federal and local investigators. CAST case manager Erica Tumbaga said language capacity was one of the greatest challenges faced by her organization. Even though federal agents have access to official language specialists, they are not easily mobilized in a timely manner, which can delay investigations. In the case against R&A Harvesting, the lead federal investigator assigned to the case did not speak Spanish, which restricted his ability to gather criminal intelligence and corroborating evidence. He thus had to rely on another, Spanish-speaking agent, which meant the investigation took longer as the two men had to double up for interviews.¹⁷²

Reintegration

Reintegration is hard to achieve for many of those freed from forced labor. Service providers point to several barriers, including language and cultural differences, the effects of trauma, poor job skills, and a lack of education. Reintegration, for some, may mean repatriation to their country of origin where they may face stigmatization because of their experience.

Yet despite these challenges, many victims of forced labor have successfully reintegrated into society. Khai, the domestic servitude survivor, has done well in adjusting to a life of freedom in Los Angeles. "Khai is really one of our success stories," her case manager said. "She is a pretty stable person. Her English is good. She has housing and a job and a good relationship with her family. And the experience had not wholly traumatized her emotionally."¹⁷³ Khai agrees: "I have freedom now. I eat what I want. I am not afraid. I don't worry that people are watching over me. I feel like an ordinary person. I think that this is good."¹⁷⁴

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IN THIS SECTION Burma Congo (DRC) El Salvador Guantanamo Iraq Kosovo Rwanda Sudan Uganda U.S. Berkeley-Tulane Completed Initiatives	Projects Hidden Slaves Download full report in PDF format 7. Social and Legal Services While the Trafficking Act has greatly amplified the federal government's role in investigating and prosecuting forced labor cases in the United States, the job of providing basic social and legal services to survivors has fallen squarely on the shoulders of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and social service agencies. With limited resources, these groups must identify forced labor survivors, attend to their immediate needs for physical safety and housing, refer them for health care, facilitate their access to protection and rehabilitative services, and help them return to their countries of origin or begin new lives in the United States. Yet according to our survey of forty-nine social service providers, fewer than half of these agencies are able to meet these needs. Identifying Survivors Social service providers and legal advocates must be able to assess whether a person seeking their assistance is a survivor of forced labor. Yet most of these professionals, through no fault of their own, lack the skills to do so. Until recently, service providers and legal advocates encountered relatively few, if any, forced labor survivors in their daily work. With the passage of the Trafficking Act in 2000, however, that situation has changed rapidly, so much so that a growing number of service agencies and advocacy groups are developing criteria to help their staff distinguish forced labor survivors from other types of clients. Survivors gain their freedom and come to service providers and legal advocates in a variety of ways. In six of our case studies, victims received initial assistance from a "Good Samaritan" or from a local social service agency. In the case of Khai, the enslaved Thai domestic worker, it was a Good Samaritan who first brought Khai to the Thai Community Development Center (CDC), a nonprofit organization in Los Angeles serving Thai immigrants. The CDC helped Khai find shelter and later a permanent home and a job. The organization also referred Khai's case to federal prosecutors and throughout the trial served as her liaison with the office of the prosecutor.¹⁵⁸ In some cases, forced labor survivors are discovered by chance. Over time, however, one NGO has learned how to investigate forced labor operations in agriculture. Laura Germino with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers explains how her organization uncovered a recent forced labor operation: "The guy first called in to say his employer owed him money. The crew-leader hadn't paid him. So we invited [the laborer] to come to the meetings. We began trying to get the money back for him, and during the course of the cobro [recovery of unpaid wages], we learned that there was a slavery operation."¹⁵⁹ Some forced labor victims have even been liberated by local law enforcement personnel, as happened in the Reddy case. Local law enforcement agents could play a more active role in identifying and ending forced labor operations, but most lack training in the identification of forced labor operations and continue to view people in such situations as illegal immigrants and undocumented workers. In more isolated areas of the United States, local law enforcement complaisance has benefited employers who use forced labor. In recent years there has been a growing recognition among government agencies and private organizations that finance anti-trafficking efforts of the role that nongovernmental organizations, such as members of the Freedom Network, can play in educating and training local police to identify and refer victims of forced labor to appropriate service providers and federal authorities. Safety, Housing, and Protection The first priority in assisting survivors of forced labor is to ensure their safety. Not all survivors are at the same risk of harm, so their security needs vary. In most parts of the United States service providers, community groups, and advocates have taken the lead in protecting forced labor survivors, including managing survivors' privacy and housing to shield them from retribution or unwanted contact with an alleged perpetrator's defense attorneys. "The important thing," says Laura Germino of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), "is to place survivors in a community [group] that will 'ground' them ... make them feel safe and comfortable ... and help them understand the process of the federal investigation and prosecution."¹⁶⁰ In the case of the Florida citrus pickers, Germino's organization provided peer counseling for the liberated workers, while the local Catholic church gave them clothes and toiletries. Another local religious organization provided housing and paid for their phone calls to their families in Mexico. This coordinated effort created a safe environment that enabled the workers to speak freely about their experience to federal investigators. Not all efforts to coordinate security arrangements for survivors have gone smoothly. In the case against JB Farm Labor Contractor/Victoria Island Farms, the asparagus harvesters' attorney had initially contacted the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) for assistance in investigating violations of federal labor law. Before revealing the identity of any of the parties, the attorney asked the local DOL representative for assurances that the workers would not be detained and deported by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (now U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement). In the end, the DOL acknowledged it could not provide such assurances and the attorney, wishing to protect her clients, declined to involve the DOL.¹⁶¹ Social service agencies report that finding appropriate housing for survivors has been one of their greatest challenges. In 2004, for example, the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST) was finally able to open its first shelter for forced labor survivors—indeed, it was the first of its kind to be inaugurated in the United States. Before that time, the organization had housed clients in two apartment units and, when those units were filled, in hotels and shelters operated by other groups.¹⁶² Housing for survivors of forced labor must serve two purposes. First, it should provide a safe and comfortable environment. Second, the facility should serve as protective barrier that screens survivors from unwanted intrusions. The facility's staff should function as "survivor advocates" by assisting their clients' access to needed services and helping them to make decisions about their future. If the survivor wishes to cooperate with law enforcement, the staff should be able to help facilitate such interviews. As a rule, forced labor survivors should not be placed in shelters for the homeless or with victims of domestic violence. Survivors have reported feeling extremely uncomfortable in homeless shelters, especially if fellow lodgers have substance abuse or mental health problems. Similarly, women liberated from forced prostitution have reported feeling shunned or discriminated against in shelters for domestic violence victims.¹⁶³ Such facilities are often poorly equipped to meet the needs of forced labor survivors. Nalini Shekar, the director of a shelter in northern California which has housed both victims of domestic violence and trafficking, said that programs designed for domestic violence victims, such as support groups, may not be appropriate for trafficking survivors who have been socially isolated and under the control of a trafficker for a significant amount of time. Such shelters, she added, often lack adequate security measures to protect trafficking survivors from perpetrators, particularly if they are part of a highly organized, extensive, and well-financed trafficking network.¹⁶⁴ Many of Shekar's concerns were borne out in the Reddy case by the attempt of an intruder to break into the shelter and find two of the survivors. Forced labor survivors are not the only ones in need of protection. Persons who witness violent incidents involving forced labor or human trafficking as well as private citizens and organizations that help survivors escape risk retaliation from perpetrators. In the Florida citrus pickers case, the perpetrators or their associates reportedly menaced the homes of several staff members of CIW who had help liberate the workers. Despite repeated requests, the local police failed to answer the organization's calls for protection. Only after the NGO reported the threats to the justice department prosecutor who headed the investigation did local law enforcement, in conjunction with federal agents, monitor the situation more closely. Prosecution and Benefits Forced labor survivors (and their service providers) are often caught in a bind when they try to balance their desire for justice and benefits with their needs for privacy and security. The Trafficking Act requires that forced labor survivors share information about themselves (and possibly others in a similar situation) with federal law enforcement agents in order to receive federal benefits. But in doing so survivors may be increasing their vulnerability in at least two ways. First, by alerting law enforcement to their presence, survivors without legal immigration status risk deportation if their account is found to lack credibility. Second, alleged perpetrators who are defendants in criminal proceedings have a right to review information provided by survivors to federal investigation. As a result, survivors and their families may be at a greater risk for retaliation. According to CAST's Jennifer Stanger, these dilemmas have had "a chilling effect" on survivors who wish to apply for T visas but are reluctant to place themselves at greater risk. "Rather than cooperating with government authorities," says Stanger, "victims of trafficking may be reluctant to come forward if they believe that this information may be turned over to their traffickers or be used to have them removed."¹⁶⁵ Both our governmental and nongovernmental informants agreed that all forced labor survivors should have a legal advocate. As an attorney in the Reddy case put it: "I think it's in the victim's best interest to have a consistent figure in her life who's going to be advocating for her and helping her navigate through this really confusing minefield."¹⁶⁶ In the best of worlds the survivor should be assisted by one agency that offers both legal and social services. In this way the survivor will receive both social services, such as housing, clothing and transportation, and legal counseling on immigration status and work authorization. There are a small number of service providers linked through the Freedom Network, a national coalition of anti-trafficking organizations, which have adopted an empowerment model of working with survivors. The empowerment model encourages self-sufficiency and increased self-esteem so that survivors may make informed decisions of their own choosing. For example, network member CAST has developed a management system that addresses a wide range of survivor needs, including access to mental and physical health, housing, legal counseling, education, and employment. CAST case managers work with survivors in one of two modes: "intensive" cases receive the most comprehensive, personalized, and individualized attention. For example, a CAST case manager will routinely accompany a survivor who is receiving "intensive" case management to medical appointments. Other cases are handled on an "information and assistance" basis and receive less frequent and individualized attention.¹⁶⁷ CAST will provide assistance to survivors for as long as they desire such help. For example, Khai, the former indentured domestic worker, continues to receive "intensive case management" at CAST two years after her liberation. Khai's case manager has helped her put together a successful T visa application; stabilize her employment; make arrangements to bring her son over from Thailand; apply for federal benefits, including food stamps, health care and Refugee Cash Assistance; and ensure that she keeps her medical appointments and understands her physician's instructions.¹⁶⁸ T visas By the end of the Fiscal Year 2003, the U.S. Department of Justice reports that a total of approximately four hundred fifty survivors have accessed immigration benefits under the TVPA by receiving continued presence and/or by receiving a T visa.¹⁶⁹ In 2003 alone, 297 of these T visas were issued.¹⁷⁰ Such progress notwithstanding, legal and social service providers point to several flaws in the special immigration program. To begin with, the application process is slow and cumbersome. Law enforcement may wait several months before issuing the endorsement survivors need to prove eligibility for immigration relief. On average, it takes the federal agency administering the program four to twelve months to process and approve a T visa application. Access to agency personnel also is restricted. The agency maintains only a general telephone number, which, according to users and advocates, requires callers to navigate complicated electronic voice instructions and wait on hold for long periods of time. Service providers say that rectifying these problems would help make the agency more "user-friendly" for all concerned. Language and Culture Service providers and legal advocates are learning to be sensitive to the varied backgrounds of survivors and the ways in which they interpret their experiences. Many survivors have minimal formal education, so it can be difficult for them to understand the roles of law enforcement and service providers or to fathom the complexities of the United States legal and welfare systems. The survivors of Reddy's abuse, for example, had never used public transportation or managed their personal finances, let alone navigated a complex criminal justice system, before they were freed. Not only do service providers need to translate these systems for their clients, they also may need to educate their families and communities in their home countries and in the United States. Service providers and legal advocates must be aware of the difficulties their clients might face from the local migrant community once they denounce their captors. When it was discovered that Khai and the Thai Community Development Center had contacted federal authorities to report Supawan Veerapool's abuse, many members of the local Thai community accused Khai of being disloyal and ungrateful to a generous patron who had arranged for her to come to the United States. "I felt that eighty percent of the community was against me," Khai recalled in an interview for this study. "They regarded Supawan as a 'high soul'. . . and couldn't believe how bad Supawan really is . . . I felt like I did the right thing. But in Thai culture, I am seen as ungrateful."¹⁷¹ Finally, service providers and law enforcement alike find it difficult to communicate with survivors because of language differences. Some social and legal service providers have in-house interpreters or are themselves proficient in the language of the survivor. But, as our study found, the need for interpreters is a pressing problem for many service agencies and federal and local investigators. CAST case manager Erica Tumbaga said language capacity was one of the greatest challenges faced by her organization. Even though federal agents have access to official language specialists, they are not easily mobilized in a timely manner, which can delay investigations. In the case against R&A Harvesting, the lead federal investigator assigned to the case did not speak Spanish, which restricted his ability to gather criminal intelligence and corroborating evidence. He thus had to rely on another, Spanish-speaking agent, which meant the investigation took longer as the two men had to double up for interviews.¹⁷² Reintegration Reintegration is hard to achieve for many of those freed from forced labor. Service providers point to several barriers, including language and cultural differences, the effects of trauma, poor job skills, and a lack of education. Reintegration, for some, may mean repatriation to their country of origin where they may face stigmatization because of their experience. Yet despite these challenges, many victims of forced labor have successfully reintegrated into society. Khai, the domestic servitude survivor, has done well in adjusting to a life of freedom in Los Angeles. "Khai is really one of our success stories," her case manager said. "She is a pretty stable person. Her English is good. She has housing and a job and a good relationship with her family. And the experience had not wholly traumatized her emotionally."¹⁷³ Khai agrees: "I have freedom now. I eat what I want. I am not afraid. I don't worry that people are watching over me. I feel like an ordinary person. I think that this is good."¹⁷⁴ Back to Table of Contents \| Previous \| Next