Labor Trafficking – The Victims That Do Not Catch Our Eyes
At a recent event, we had an opportunity to share some of the work and knowledge of CrossRoads on combatting human trafficking. A familiar epiphany was voiced by our audience:
“Wow, I didn’t realize labor trafficking was so such a big problem.”
A report released in 2019 by the U.S. Office of Justice Programs (Sheldon Zhang, 2019) found “an estimated annual average of 61,455 migrant farmworkers in NC over the 3-year data collection period, [of which] over 17,000 migrant farmworkers in NC each year may have experienced some form of labor exploitation in their lifetime, with nearly 11,000 experiencing labor trafficking and over 13,000 experiencing other forms of abuse and exploitation.” The 11,000 respondents of this study equates to about 17% of the 61,455 migrant workers interviewed. Relatively, this may not seem like a lot. But those of us who are entrenched in the on-going struggle to bring an end to human trafficking in North Carolina know for a fact that this 17% is truly a drop in the bucket when it comes to the actual amount of labor trafficking victims in North Carolina.
In 2021, the National Human Trafficking Hotline (NHTH) (Statistics - North Carolina, 2023) successfully identified, from calls to the hotline, 9 cases of labor trafficking in a domestic environment, 6 cases of labor trafficking in agriculture, and 19 cases of labor trafficking in other industries which can include anything from restaurants to hotels. In 2020, the NHTH successfully identified 3 cases of labor trafficking in a domestic environment, 4 cases of labor trafficking in agriculture, 3 cases in the construction industry, 4 cases of illicit activity, 3 cases of traveling sales, and 18 cases in other labor fields. In 2019, 33 cases of labor trafficking where successfully identified
Now consider these questions:
If a study conducted over three years identified nearly 11,000 victims of agricultural labor trafficking while the NHTH successfully identified 15 cases of agricultural labor trafficking over a different three-year period, where and what has happened to the thousands of victims that have not been identified?
What can we learn from this huge gap in the data?
What we hope you learn from is that when it comes to labor trafficking, it is woefully under-recognized, under-reported, and the victims/survivors are being ridiculously underserved. We also hope it is clear that sex trafficking is not the only form of human trafficking being perpetrated in North Carolina. It is worth noting here that, again based on calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, between 2019 and 2021, 517 cases of sex trafficking were successfully identified. What should be obvious now is that when it comes to human trafficking, we are more than likely only looking for signs of sex trafficking in our communities, almost completely blind to thousands of people who are also being exploited and victimized in North Carolina.
What can you do? Click the link below to more about the signs of human trafficking and questions you can ask to help identify a person who is being labor trafficked.
https://www.state.gov/identify-and-assist-a-trafficking-victim/
At CrossRoads, we are proud to say we have identified some local businesses in Alamance County that are also committed to bringing an end to labor trafficking.
All That Jas
108 N Williamson Ave, Elon, NC 27244
Acorn Coffee Shop
116 N Williamson Ave, Elon, NC 27244
Pandora Pies
130 N Williamson Ave, Elon, NC 27244
Stop by these locations, snap a picture in front of their CrossRoads stickers, post on social media, and join us in the fight to end labor trafficking in North Carolina.
References
Sheldon Zhang, K. B. (2019). Office of Justice Programs. Retrieved from https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/252521.pdf
Statistics - North Carolina. (2023). Retrieved from The National Human Trafficking Hotline: https://humantraffickinghotline.org/en/statistics/north-carolina