Combating International Human Trafficking

January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention month, and Regent 2012 graduate Keila Molina works with California's Chairman Ed Royce to continue his office's work to combat International human trafficking. 

On Saturday, January 11, 2014, they held National Human Trafficking Awareness Day.  Visit the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force website for more information.  

Raising awareness in order to prevent and abolish this modern-day slavery is the best start toward family restoration for victims of human trafficking.  Keila E. Molina, Esq. is making a tremendous difference as Director of Community Relations, Hispanic Affairs, and Anti-Human Trafficking Efforts for U.S. Representative Ed Royce, the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

She is also making a difference through academic writing, as Keila and I have just published an article with the Berkeley La Raza Law Journal entitled Are We There Yet? Immigration Reform for the Best Interests of Children.   That piece will also be reprinted in the Regent Journal of International Law.  (I have written elsewhere about the challenges of immigration to family law which can be  accessed and downloaded anytime.)  Human trafficking is another tragic incidence of illegal immigration, and could potentially be a significant aspect of any legislative immigration reform to protect children.

Press Release
For Immediate Release January 9, 2014	Media Contact: Shane Wolfe (202) 225-5021
Chairman Royce Continues Work to Combat International Human Trafficking Ahead of Human Trafficking Awareness Day Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, spoke on the House floor to express his support for Human Traffic Awareness Day and encouraged his colleagues to continue to fight against this form of modern-day slavery.  Today’s floor speech follows the Chairman’s recent introduction of H.R. 3344, the Fraudulent Overseas Recruitment and Trafficking Elimination (FORTE) Act of 2013.  The legislation combats the growing problem of international human trafficking by requiring overseas labor recruiters to provide detailed employment information to overseas workers, to avoid the bait-and-switch into slave labor or sexual slavery once they enter the U.S., and creating additional penalties and enforcement mechanisms. Video of Chairman Royce on the House floor is available HERE. Text of Chairman Royce’s remarks on the House floor, as prepared for delivery, follows: “Mister Speaker, this Saturday, January 11th, people throughout our country and around the world will be observing Human Trafficking Awareness Day.  The start of this new year is a fitting time to focus on the shameful fact that human slavery is not a relic of ancient history.   Today it is the brutal reality faced by more than 20 million victims around the world, primarily women and girls. Even in my work as Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I have learned that human trafficking is not just a problem “over there” in faraway countries with developing economies.  It is a scourge even in the communities that we serve and represent. In my own community in the last two years, the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force has assisted more than 250 victims.  Ninety-three percent were women, and more than 80 of those women were from foreign countries.  At our November field hearing in Fullerton, the Orange County District Attorney testified that “Shockingly, the average age of a child being trafficked in this country is 12 -- a little girl who has not even reached her teens.”  We also heard from one brave survivor, Angela Guanzon, who was trafficked from the Philippines into forced labor in Long Beach, California. I have heard many other stories from the members of the Human Trafficking Congressional Advisory Committee that I established last year in my Los Angeles County district office.  This forum for communication between law enforcement, advocates, service organizations, and survivors has contributed profoundly to my own understanding of this issue.  I encourage my colleagues to get to know those on the front lines of the fight against human trafficking in their own districts.  You will be informed, challenged, and inspired by what you learn. This January – designated as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month – is a perfect time to shine a spotlight on this dark issue.  But awareness is only a first step, and needs to lead to action. I urge my colleagues to join me in cosponsoring H.R. 3344, the Fraudulent Overseas Recruitment and Trafficking Elimination (FORTE) Act, to combat one critical form of recurring abuse: Namely, unscrupulous recruiters who bait foreigners to travel to the U.S. with promises of good jobs, but trap them in sexual exploitation or forced labor once they arrive.  For example, in my home county, the Salvation Army’s Network of Emergency Trafficking Services reports that a full third of their clients – 33 percent– were recruited in a foreign country by a labor recruiter.  This represents not only an assault on the dignity of the victim, but also a subversion of United States labor laws and our nonimmigrant visa system.  In response, this bipartisan bill: Requires that prospective foreign workers be given accurate information about the terms of employment, and anti-trafficking protections under U.S. law; Prohibits recruitment fees or hidden charges used as coercive leverage over workers; Requires foreign labor recruiters to register and remain in good standing with the Department of Labor; And it provides new incentives and enforcement mechanisms to ensure that recruiters and employers follow these disclosure and registration requirements. Members may contact the Foreign Affairs Committee to join this important anti-trafficking initiative. As people of goodwill around the world observe Human Trafficking Awareness Day this weekend, let us move beyond mere awareness to abolish this injustice, and to protect and restore the dignity of those who have survived such exploitation.” NOTE:  Last year, Chairman Royce held a number of hearings on human trafficking, including a field hearing to examine international human trafficking and to assess efforts to combat trafficking at the international, Federal, State and local levels.  He also launched a Human Trafficking Congressional Advisory Committee (HTCAC) to address human trafficking concerns, as well as offer policy recommendations; the HTCAC is comprised of victims’ rights groups, local and federal law enforcement agencies, and community advocates.
Connect with the Committee ------------------------------ https://foreignaffairs.house.gov

Regent Law Grad Coordinates Human Trafficking Hearing to Restore Victims

Keila E. Molina, Esq. (Regent Law 2012), is now the Director of Community Relations, Hispanic Affairs, and Anti-Human Trafficking Efforts for U.S. Representative Ed Royce (CA-39), Chairman, House Foreign Affairs Committee, and is actively working on the issue of human trafficking in Southern California.  She is in charge of coordinating outreach and establishing connections with organizations and law enforcement agencies directly working to combat human trafficking and to assist victims.  During her law school career at Regent, Keila garnered the legal training necessary to follow her passion for child advocacy and her heart for pursuing justice through the legal profession. (To hear more about Keila’s work, sign up for Rep. Royce's newsletter).  The press release here demonstrates the work she is involved with now in the global fight against human trafficking, and offers a link for public participation in the hearing process set for Nov. 1.  

Regent Law graduates are making a real difference. 

Press Release
For Immediate Release October 15, 2013	Media Contact: Audra McGeorge (202) 225-5021
Chairman Royce Announces Southern California Field Hearing on Human Trafficking Continues Push to Combat “grievous offense against human dignity” Washington, D.C. – Today, Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, announced that on Monday, November 4 he will hold the Committee’s first field hearing to examine international human trafficking and to assess efforts to combat trafficking at the international, Federal, State and local levels.  The hearing, entitled “Regional Perspectives in the Global Fight Against Human Trafficking,” will begin at 10:00 a.m. PT in the Titan Student Union building on the campus of California State University, Fullerton. Chairman Royce said: “Each year, human trafficking victimizes millions around the world; many are women and girls from our own neighborhoods.  This threat is on the rise in communities across southern California.  This field hearing will examine efforts to combat this form of modern-day slavery and provide the Committee an opportunity to assess the efforts of the State Department, law enforcement officials and community organizations to fight the spread of this grievous offense against human dignity.” Note: Earlier this year, Chairman Royce launched a Human Trafficking Congressional Advisory Committee (HTCAC), which is comprised of victims’ rights groups, local and federal law enforcement agencies, and community advocates.  HTCAC meets on a monthly basis to address human trafficking concerns, as well as offer policy recommendations.  In May, Chairman Royce convened a Committee hearing to examine local and private sector initiatives to combat international human trafficking.  What: Hearing: “Regional Perspectives in the Global Fight Against Human Trafficking” Where: California State University, Fullerton Titan Student Union 800 N. State College Blvd. Fullerton, CA 92834 For a campus map and parking information click HERE. When: Monday, November 4, 2013 10:00 a.m. PT Witness List: Panel I The Honorable Luis CdeBaca Ambassador-at-Large Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons U.S. Department of State Panel II The Honorable Tony Rackauckas District Attorney Office of the Orange County District Attorney Ms. Kay Buck Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking *Witnesses may be added. ***Important planning note for press covering hearing:  The hearing will be webcast at www.foreignaffairs.house.gov.  Members of the media must RSVP by Friday, November 1 at 12 p.m. to Audra McGeorge at audra.mcgeorge@mail.house.gov to receive credentials to cover the hearing from the press viewing area. Following the hearing, there will be a media availability to discuss human trafficking. ###
Connect with the Committee ------------------------------ https://foreignaffairs.house.gov

How to Stop Human Trafficking: Expert’s Answer Hits Close to Home

By guest blogger Elizabeth Oklevitch, Regent University Law School, Candidate for J.D., 2014.

I recently watched the documentary, Not My Life. Depicting the human tragedy and human depravity that is human trafficking, the film exposed real instances of sex trafficking, exploitive child labor, use of child soldiers, and other atrocities that make me grieve for the human race and wonder why God puts up with us. You can get a taste of the film by watching the trailer, and if you get the chance, it would be worth your time to watch the entire documentary.

 

I’ve seen several documentaries and read numerous articles on human trafficking. Not much surprises me anymore. But one interview in this film did. They interviewed a young, European trafficker in prison. The glimmer in his eye, the playfulness. He took delight in telling the world that specific women probably still had nightmares of the way he punched, raped, and sold them. The crimes were a game to him at the time. He didn’t need money; he traded in prostituted women for adventure. The crimes were a game to him now, as his smiling eyes evidenced.  I’m not accustomed to that kind of evil so close to the surface of a human face.

The interview with that trafficker was doubtless one of the factors that prompted a key question from the audience, a question which elicited a striking response. Robert Bilheimer, the director of Not my Life, and Eric Peasah, a Ghanaian on the front lines of anti-trafficking efforts and founder of Right to be Free, were present at the film screening to answer questions. One woman voiced an obvious, nagging question. She noted that the problem seems largely to be violence by men against women and girls and then asked how we can go about changing cultural attitudes, and how we can stop the abuse. Mr. Peasah’s answer: Fathers. He told how over the course of his work on several continents he had observed a trend: those most vulnerable to trafficking lack fathers.

“Fathers,” is not your typical answer to “How do we stop trafficking?” But I don’t think it’s a bad one, at least not a bad start. Going back to our young trafficker, I don’t know anything of his family history, except that he was “well off.” However, I find it difficult to imagine a person who had grown up watching his father model honor, respect, and deference toward his mother treating women the way the young trafficker did, without a hint of shame or remorse.

As to vulnerability, Mr. Peasah’s answer was drawn from experience. He has rescued numerous young boys who were forced to perform arduous, life-threatening work for African fishermen. As the documentary revealed, many of these boys were essentially sold to the fishermen by their mothers – well-intentioned mothers, struggling to feed their children and deceived by false promises of “businessmen” who turned out to be traffickers. All through the film, I kept wondering, where are the dads? Why is mom making all the critical decisions, and why is she alone saddled with the responsibility of feeding her children? I realize these are huge, culturally and situationally sensitive questions, and I’m not attempting to answer them, but merely to point out that we need to be asking them. Mr. Peasah’s answer, based on years of observation, drives one point home: dads are important. When it comes to protecting children, two are better than one. The boys, who, frequently unprotected by fathers, are sent off to work for strangers before they turn ten, often turn around (if they survive long enough) and purchase boys themselves when they are able. It’s not coincidental that the exploited are often fatherless.  Neither is it coincidental that in a world where men are not faithful to the women in their family, they and their sons are not respectful of women outside their family.

As Mr. Peasah highlighted, fathers have the potential for huge positive impact. By setting an example of honor and respect, each dad can play a role in fighting the cultural attitudes that allow human trafficking to flourish. The example doesn’t have to be perfect to be counter-cultural, to go against the self-serving mentality that others are to be used, to undercut the arrogant sense of entitlement that feeds the “demand” side of trafficking, and to avert the vulnerability that stocks the “supply.” With Father’s Day approaching, let’s remember and encourage the dads in our lives who have the power to impact culture.

 

For those in the Virginia Beach area, here are two great events celebrating fathers this week: 

Norfolk Family & Fatherhood Forum, Wednesday, June 12, 2012 (FREE Event)

Who:          Leaders and stakeholders in the areas of government, business, education, media, faith & community based organizations

What:         Forum will feature experts in the field of fatherhood and release data from a Norfolk Family & Fatherhood Report

When:       Wednesday, June 12,2013 from 11:30-3:00pm 

Where:      Murray Center, 455 E. Brambelton Avenue, Norfolk, Virginia 23510

 Norfolk Date With Dad Dinner & Dance, Saturday, June 15, 2013

Who:        Fathers, grandfathers, uncles, big brother, father figures, daughters, girls and ladies of all ages

What:       Dancing, Food, Fun, Games, Comedy, Photos and much more

When:      Saturday, June 15, 2013 from 5:00pm-9:00pm 

Where:    Norfolk State University, Scott-Dozier Dining Hall, 700 Park Avenue, Norfolk,  Virginia 23504

Registration at www.campdiva.org/datewithdadtour

Rescuing Women and Children for Family Restoration

Every day women and children are bought and sold in a human market of insatiable demand. Human sex trafficking is the fastest growing business in America, and around the world, but the Wellhouse, Inc. is rescuing those women and children and restoring them to families.

Robertson School of Government Professor James D. Slack serves on the executive board of the Wellhouse, Inc., and has watched its development. The Wellhouse is a faith-based NPO located in Birmingham, AL. It is dedicated to ministering to women who are victims of human trafficking. Started by one of Dr. Slack’s MPA students when he taught at UAB, Tajuan McCarty, the concept of the Wellhouse and business plan was her culminating MPA project in 2010. God worked miracles on several fronts, and Tajuan’s story is the impetus for it all.

As a prostitute, a lesbian, a cocaine addict, being sexually exploited for years, and kidnapped 2 times, held captive, raped and tortured repeatedly, Tajuan was quite angry when she finally escaped. She tried to pull her life together and entered the MPA program the next year, but got back into drugs and was re-incarcerated at Tutwiler Prison in Alabama.

Tajuan found Christ when she walked into The Birmingham Dream Center and met Lisa "Roxanne" Holifield. She left prison with no hope of a better life. People like Dr. Slack and Lisa "Roxanne" Holifield from WDJC's Morning Radio show in Birmingham began to show her what following Christ looked like. Dr. Slack shared that her culminating project to restore victims of human sex trafficking was not well received at UAB and it was a struggle getting it approved and accepted by a faculty committee.

Within a year of graduation, however, amazing things happened. God opened up miraculous doors, and Tajuan established The Wellhouse, a house for women rescued for trafficking. Corporations volunteer to use their private jets to fly women into Birmingham to stay at The Wellhouse. CNN has told Tajuan McCarty’s story, and NBC is interested in running a story about The Wellhouse ministry.

Watch this video and learn more about how God is working in this ministry, at http://youtu.be/zqCEni99JQ8. Everything for this short video was volunteered, including the actors and the corporate jet.

For more information contact Tajuan McCarty, Executive Director, The WellHouse, at 1-800-991-0948, P.O. Box 320796, Birmingham, Alabama 35232, email info@the-wellhouse.org, or volunteer@the-wellhouse.org, on the web at www.the-wellhouse.org, on FaceBook at www.facebook.com/thewellhousesaves, on Twitter at @the_wellhouse, or on YouTube at thewellhousesaves.

Women and children are being victimized by human sex trafficking at an alarming rate, but ministries like The Wellhouse work to restore them to their families.

Restoring Juvenile Trafficking Victims in Society and in Families

As the Oxford group studies in the United Kingdom students are working through course materials on Immigration Policy and Family Law (while enjoying life at Oxford!). We have been considering key questions such as how to restore children to their families when caught in immigration quandries, and the tragedy of human trafficking when children are left behind by deported parents.

Alana Martinez, Regent Law Juris Doctor Candidate 2012, has researched various State law focused toward restoring such child victims. While surveying the available remedies, her work provides a framework for States to follow as they work to restore children's lives who have been victimized by human trafficking. Read her excellent article here.

Family restoration is possible when State's consider practical strategies to protect children, both before in prevention and after in healing, even in circumstances that take horrendous advantage of their vulnerability.

Child Sex Exploitation and the Silence of Our Culture

Family restoration for children who are victimized by sex trafficking is possible, if victimized innocent children can get legal representation for crimes they've been charged with, and protection from future trafficking.  This weekend Regent University's School of Law held a strategic symposium to begin to combat the horrific problem of child slavery in America today.  See http://www.regent.edu/symposium.

Linda Smith from Shared Hope International (www.sharesdhope.org)  challenged Regent law students and particpants to work toward advocating for the change of state laws that can protect children caught in trafficking and sex prostituion.  Her past experience as a member of the U.S. Congress combined with her work with Shared Hope has been extremely influential in rescuing victims and restoring them to society and their families, while prosecuting those who organize and profit from their victimization.  She was joined by Dr. Mohamed Matar, Executive Director of the Protection Project, and other experts in the issue who are involved in prosecuting these crimes.

Getting justice for child victims  requires special expterise - first to identify a victim, then to identify his or her facilitator, then to identify buyers and suppliers - then to use the correct statutes to prosecute the crimes.  Adolescents cannot give consent to their own victimization because they have no legal capacity to do so being children.  My article "Tracing the Foundations of the Best Interest of the Child Standard in American Jurisprudence," at 10 J. L. Family Studies 337 (2008), details the lack of capacity of children to consent to anything, which certainly includes their own prostitution.  Other scholarship has also shed light on the failure of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child to protect children from sex trafficking and domestic labor, in my ariticle published by the New York International Law Review called "Suffer the Children: How the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Has Not Supported Children," available at 22 N.Y.I.L. Rev. 1 (2009).  

During the Symposium Regent Law launched the Center for Global Justce, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law.  This Center will be strategic in training future lawyers in the advocacy for child victims, as well as any human being who has been manipulated into the lucrative system of human trafficking.  The Center funds law student internships around the globe, as well as right here in the United States, to protect children and their families - with the hope of restoring them to each other.   "For Christ came that we might have life, and have it abundantly."  John 10:10  

No person should ever be exploited for any purpose.  Protecting child victims of sex trafficking is key to alerting our culture of this horror and its destruction of families.  For more information on how you can be involved in the Center for Global Justice, see http://www.regent.edu/acad/schlaw/globaljustice/home/cfm.

Mission Assistance Without Legal Counsel Backfires in Family Restoration

Ten church people, American missionaries to Haiti’s earthquake ravaged families, were trying to help Haitian children find adoptive homes when they were charged with child trafficking at the Haitian border transporting 33 children into the Dominican Republic without the proper authority and documentation as required by Haitian law.

How could well-intentioned good Samaritans be so misunderstood? When a state’s sovereignty is circumvented even the best intentions are beyond comprehension. Here, the ten well-meaning church members, five women and five men, virtually averted Immigration law, adoption law and Haitian public policy concerning the welfare of Haitian children. To learn more about it see the CBN News report here:



Trafficking requires the intent to exploit those who are transported. When trafficking occurs, those victimized become modern day slaves – a horrific tragedy in any era. Prosecuting traffickers is indeed every nation’s responsibility, to protect those who are exploited, harmed, degraded and mistreated.

Professor Kathleen McKee, a scholar in the area of trafficking, has written extensively on the problem, prosecution, and penalties of trafficking. Read her article Modern-Day Slavery: Framing Effective Solutions for an Age-Old Problem, at 55 Catholic University Law Review141 (2005) for a thorough overview of the Thirteenth Amendment, Racketteering and RICO prosecution, and the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000. McKee proffers that legislation to protect children and others caught up in trafficking humanizes the problem rather than commidifying the victims of trafficking. Exploitation of any human being is a serious crime that carries serious penalties.

When good samaritans wish to work for the best interests of others, those good intentions still require wisdom, compliance with appropriate authorities, and adequate informed counsel. When the evidence is clearly put forth and understood in the case of these 10 individuals held in Haiti, it should become clear that the church members did not intend to traffic the 33 children, but to help them, and provide for their welfare. They did, however, neglect to think through their actions, and obtain in advance wise counsel from the proper authorities and a good Christian lawyer.

Call to Cease Production of The Onion's Thailand T-Shirt

Valerie Payne (’09) had been researching, writing and working against the tide of human trafficking that victimizes women and girls for a good portion of her law school career. Now, as an attorney with JustLaw, International, she is fighting the issue in the public square as well as the courtroom. See her article below that exhorts a marketing firm to make a positive difference, and be part of the solution to restore these victims to their families safely.

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URGENT: Attention—The Onion, Public Relations, Customer Service & Marketing Departments
August 28, 2009

To Whom It May Concern:

Millions of women and girls are sexually trafficked, raped, subjected to all forms of physical and verbal abuse, afflicted by a host of diseases, even murdered, or tossed aside to fend for themselves when they are no longer "marketable." This form of exploitation, which often takes place in context of prostitution, is known as human trafficking. The women and girls subjected to human trafficking have experienced unspeakable trauma—the type of trauma you would shudder to think of your own daughter ever experiencing. Like many others who care for the welfare of these abused women and girls, I have spent extensive time researching and writing about this issue. Modern day slavery is tied for one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises in the world. It is real. It is serious. And it is happening now, in America and all over the world.

I am writing to express my great offense at the apparel that is listed for sale at The Onion Store (http://store.theonion.com/my-friend-went-to-thailand-and-all-i-got-was-this-lousy-prostitute-new-p-1027.html ).* Not only is this distasteful, and certainly offensive to the millions who are personally subjected to this treatment by force, fraud, or coercion every day, it is highly inappropriate material for jest.

I hope that your organization comes to realize the reality and gravity of the sad situation of human trafficking. It has become a plague to not only our nation, but the world over. In America, this is a highly punishable federal crime and is criminalized in almost every state as well. In order to put an end to the atrocity and stomp out this criminal enterprise for good, it is vital that the issue is presented for what it is—a serious crime. Unfortunately, in passing this off as a mere laughing matter, your organization is working against the tide of those of us who are fighting to eradicate this evil.

On behalf of the many who are currently in the trenches fighting against human trafficking—and especially the sexual trafficking and enslavement of innocent girls from countries such as Thailand—we implore you to cease production, sale, and marketing of this offensive t-shirt immediately.

Thank you for your consideration about this important issue.

Valerie Payne
Just Law International, PC
Jubilee Campaign USA
9689-C Main Street
Fairfax, VA 22031

(*Editors note: Page now thankfully reads that the product is not currently available.  View an older version of the page here.)