Dear Advocacy Organization or Service Provider:
We are writing to invite you to join us in the fight against a
form of worker exploitation that many think ended long ago. Though
slavery has been illegal in this country since 1865, the intelligence
community reports that some 50,000 people are trafficked into
the United States each year for forced labor and servitude in
such areas as prostitution, sweatshops, domestic service, and
migrant farm labor. In response to this emerg ing problem, the
U.S. Departments of Justice and Labor formed the National Worker
Exploitation Task Force, a federal interagency effort to combat
severe worker exploitation and trafficking in persons.
The
mission of the Task Force is to investigate, prosecute, and prevent
trafficking in persons and to protect victims of trafficking and
other exploitive work practices by ensuring that they receive
rightful wages, appropriate services, and assistance. These cases
often involve unscrupulous traffickers who recruit and smug gle
foreign nationals into the country and force them to work in abominable
conditions. Some traffickers force their victims to work for them
to repay a smuggling debt. Others lure the victims with false
promises of good jobs and glamorous lives, only to force them
into servitude upon their arrival in the United States.
The fight against slavery and trafficking is a
bipartisan effort. Last fall, Congress passed
and the President signed the Victims of Trafficking
and Violence Protection Act of 2000. This law
provides new tools to the federal government to
prosecute traffickers, new programs to protect
victims of trafficking by shielding them from
their abusers, and new avenues to obtain legal
immigration status for victims. Information about
the Task Force and an Internet link to the new
legislation can be found at www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/tpwetf.htm.
Neither government nor the advocacy community can solve this problem
alone. We urge you to review the new statutes and alert federal
law enforcement if you become aware of trafficking and worker
exploitation cases. When traffickers use threats of deportation
and jail, victims of trafficking are unlikely to turn to federal
law enforcement for help. Recent cases have come to light because
victims were discovered by immigrant advocates, child protective
workers, and domestic abuse investigators.
We are enclosing fact sheets about the Task Force and a flyer
that we encourage you to photocopy and distribute. If you learn
of cases in which individuals have been forced into servitude
or unlawful working conditions, please call our toll-free complaint
line: 1-888-428-7581. Operators have access to interpreters
and can speak with callers in many languages other than English.
Only with your help can we effectively combat modern-day slavery
and assist its victims.
Sincerely,
