New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice

High Plains Reader editorial by Zach Kobrinsky

Nov. 20, 2008

A century-and-a-half after the Emancipation Proclamation, these United States of America are still sick with the grossest kind of exploitation—slavery. We have come a long way in terms of human decency, but not nearly far enough.

The U.S. Bureau of Public Affairs defines human trafficking as “modern-day slavery, involving victims who are forced, defrauded or coerced into labor or sexual exploitation.  Annually, about 600,000 to 800,000 people—mostly women and children—are trafficked across national borders, which does not count millions trafficked within their own countries.”

On the global scale, the issue is far more severe. Slavery in Niger only officially became illegal in 2003, and even then, an estimated 8 percent still remain in bondage. The trafficking of sex slaves is even more appalling. A report by DePaul University’s International Human Rights Law Institute said an estimated 30,000 women (some as young as six) die annually from abuse, torture, neglect and disease, as a result of sexual slavery worldwide.

Sex slavery and bonded servitude may seem like opposite ends of the slavery spectrum, but slavery is slavery, no matter how you look at it. The willful exploitation of another human being should simply not be tolerated.

Signal International

Right now, 23 Indian men sit in the Cass County Jail, as a result of human exploitation. Their story began in Pascagoula, Miss. where they were employed by Signal International as welders and pipe-fitters to help in the post-Hurricane Katrina rebuilding effort.

The Cass County 23, along with a couple hundred other Indian workers, claim that they paid $20,000 to come to the United States and work for Signal International in exchange for permanent resident status. They said that the promise of a green card was not kept, and that they were given only temporary worker visas. Once could argue that a language barrier is accountable for this discrepancy, but that seems far-fetched.

The Indian men of Signal International said the living conditions were unspeakable, and that they were mistreated, abused, and threatened with deportation. Through a long and perilous series of events, including an Immigrations raid, 30-day hunger strike, and a grievance with the U.S. Department of Justice, these men ended up dispersed throughout the country.

Their visas were null and void, having left the worksite, and they remained stranded in the U.S., without money or legal status. Twenty-three of them found employment at an ethanol plant near Casselton. On Oct. 29 they were arrested by Immigrations, and have resided in the Cass County Jail ever since.

The Cass 23

India has an estimated 40 million bonded laborers within its borders. How cruel that these men should spend such a horrendous amount of cash in the name of a better life, only to be tricked and trampled on by the boot of America.

Maybe if we spent more time and effort investigating companies that utilize such questionable hiring tactics, and less time investigating the employees, we might stumble upon an important piece of the puzzle.

Men like the Cass 23 had no intention of being illegal aliens. They were promised the world, and when it didn’t pan out, they were left with no choice but to break immigration laws. Who is to blame here? Why are we spending so much time and effort incarcerating victims of human trafficking, instead of seeking out American employers who force the situation upon them?

In a 2006 report (under the direction of George W. Bush), called the Assessment of U.S. Government Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons, necessary steps to combat human trafficking are listed.

“In the September 2005 Assessment, four recommendations were made for improving the U.S. Government’s efforts to combat TIP [Trafficking in Persons]:

- The U.S. Government, its state and local partners, and nongovernmental organizations (“NGOs”) need to improve their ability to find and rescue victims.

- The U.S. Government should conduct more research to determine an accurate estimate of the scope of the trafficking problem in the United States, including both domestic and foreign victims.

- The U.S. Government should attempt to measure the impact of its anti-trafficking activities both domestically and internationally, including, for example, enhancing U.S. embassies’ abilities to monitor and evaluate anti-trafficking projects, requiring grantees to provide self-assessments of their anti-trafficking projects, and conducting more site visits.

- The U.S. Government should ensure that its Task Forces are well-functioning and should encourage states to adopt and aggressively implement their own anti-trafficking laws.

This notion of helping victims of human trafficking was apparently ill-achieved under Bush’s reign. Perhaps now, with a new, promising president, we can reach a new age of human decency. Don’t let us down, Barack.

As for the Cass 23, that is in our hands. We urge everyone to learn as much as they can about this case, and to take action. Write some senators. Stand on a soapbox. Do whatever it is you do, but do something. They stand trial on Jan. 12. If we don’t do something now, it could be too late by then.