Monday, April 20, 2009

Enough about illegal guns and drugs, let's talk about people

"The United States (U.S.) is a destination country for thousands of men, women, and children trafficked largely from East Asia, Mexico, and Central America for the purposes of sexual and labor exploitation. A majority of foreign victims identified during the year were victims of trafficking for forced labor. Some men and women, responding to fraudulent offers of employment in the United States, migrate willingly—legally and illegally—but are subsequently subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude or debt bondage at work sites or in the commercial sex trade. An unknown number of American citizens and legal residents are trafficked within the country primarily for sexual servitude and, to a lesser extent, forced labor."

Whether for sex or labor, it's slavery, and the U.S. has had an anti-trafficking program since 2000. In 2007, the last year for records (in the 2008 report) $23 million was allocated for domestic programs to boost anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts, identify and protect victims of trafficking, and raise awareness of trafficking as a means of preventing new incidents. Sounds like a drop in the bucket, for the size of the problem. We give much more to the children of illegal immgrants than we do stopping slavery streaming across our borders.

President Obama needs to toss some more change this direction. And the 2008 report is still up. Reports from the Bush years are fast disappearing from the web. Get them while they last, or before they've been digitally altered. Trafficking in Persons Report, 2008.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Think how much the Murtha airpork money could have done for this.