Human Trafficking in Upstate New York

The United Nations have reported that there are between 27–30 million modern-day slaves around the world that have been human trafficked. The United States State Department has stated that around 600,000–800,000 people are trafficked across the borders every year. The Department of Homeland Security defines human trafficking as “the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act.” There has been this drive to define trafficking throughout the entire world to narrow down exactly what human trafficking is and what it involves. There have been many organizations created such as The Coalition Against Trafficking Women (CATW) and the European Women’s Lobby. The CATW website states, “Since 1988, we’ve been working to end the trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and girls by advocation for strong laws and policies, raising public awareness and supporting survivor leadership globally.” (The Coalition Against Trafficking Women, 2016). The European Women’s Lobby states that their mission is to “bring together the women’s movement in Europe to influence the general public and European institutions in support of women human rights and equality between men and women” (European Women’s Lobby, 2021). Both the CATW and the European Women’s Lobby believe that trafficking women for sexual exploitation is pernicious and define women migrants as sexually endangered and powerless to defend themselves. The whole discourse on the trafficking debate has relied solely on this idea that deceit was used to get women to leave home (Agustín, 2005).

The State of New York has created the Safe Harbour for Exploited Children Act. New York is the first state in the nation to state that sexually exploited minors are victims of these crimes not perpetrators. Children who have been exploited to such trafficking have gone through compounding trauma and need to have supportive services in order to help them heal. The New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) has come up with three values and principles about human trafficking in children. Their first value and principle is “Protecting and providing services to survivors of human trafficking to promote safety, permanency, and well-being of New York’s children, families and communities” (The New York State Office of Children and Family, 2021). The second value and principle is stated as, “Providing youth survivors of commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking comprehensive, specialized through the child-welfare system” (The New York State Office of Children and Family Services, 2021). The third and final value and principle states “Programs and policies are most responsive when they are inclusive of youth, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, cultural background, gender identity, sexual orientation, or other experience” (The New York State Office of Children and Family Services, 2021). OCFS has put in a lot of effort over the last decade to raise awareness and provide training and technical assistance in order to implement the Safe Habour for Exploited Children Act.

Human trafficking happens everywhere in the world, even here in the North Country. There have been multiple efforts to try and stop human trafficking in the North Country by providing trainings to law enforcement on how to handle situations that maybe include a human trafficking ring. There are four prevalent types of human trafficking here in the North Country where the North Country Human Trafficking Task Force has been trying their best to combat. The next few paragraphs are going to talk about these four types of human trafficking as well as stories of human trafficking that has happened here in the North Country.

Four Kinds of Human Trafficking in the North Country

David Sommerstein who is a News Director in Canton, wrote an article about the Four Types of Human Trafficking in the North Country. The North Country Human Trafficking task force stated that “smuggling rings funnel vulnerable people into forced prostitution, indentured servitude, and debt bondage.” (Sommerstein, 2014). The task force has stated that they are holding trainings in order to help law enforcement, not-for-profits, and churches in the area be able to identify victims who may be involved in the human trafficking ring. During the training, the North Country Human Trafficking Task Force organizer Gonzalo Martínez de Vedia told a real story about a human trafficking situation in Upstate New York. Gonzalo reported that there was a woman working on a farm in New York and she was an undocumented immigrant. She had set up a sort of arrangement for people known as the “coyotes” to sneak her brother over the Mexican border and bring him to her. Because she didn’t have the money to pay the smugglers, the “coyotes” offered her a job cleaning houses so she would earn more per hour and be able to pay them back at a faster rate as well as guaranteeing her they wouldn’t harm her brother. Unfortunately, the wage she earned by cleaning houses still wasn’t enough to be able to pay them back in the time they requested the money. She was coerced into prostitution in order to pay back the smugglers. Although this type of human trafficking isn’t the most prevalent in the North Country, it still exists.

There are four prevalent types of Human Trafficking that are prevalent in St. Lawrence County. The first most prevalent type of human trafficking is farm work abuse and other labor trafficking. More often than not, this type of trafficking is most common with individuals who are undocumented farm workers, and it happens most with the region’s dairy farms. Because these farmers are in the country illegally, it causes them to become very vulnerable to those who drove them over the border, the person who sold them their false identification cards and the farmers. A lot of the time, these workers then become indebted to those who smuggled them over and are coerced into unsafe work environments and forced to accept extremely low wages. These workers then have a tough time reaching out to the police because they are scared they might become “victimized by the system” by pushing them through deportation proceedings (Sommerstein, 2014). Another type of human trafficking that happens in St. Lawrence County is pass-through smuggling. The state police’s Northern Border Coordinator, State trooper Lieutenant Scott Heggelke, says that his team has recently figured out that there are people being smuggled into Canada through the North Country coming all the way from Pennsylvania. The New York border with Canada as well as the Washington State border are the two most susceptible borders to smuggling and trafficking in the United States. (Sommerstein, 2014). The third type of human trafficking to happen in the North Country is forced prostitution involving local “Johns.” The task force has been dealing with human trafficking cases that involve prostitutes from big cities that are being trafficked to “Johns” here in the North Country. There prostitutes are women and young girls who are moved around often so they don’t have the time to develop relationships with local people to be able to “escape the ring.” (Sommerstein, 2014). The last type of human trafficking that is prevalent throughout the North Country is foreign women being kept against their will. The director of Renewal House, Ilene Burke, states that most women she encounters in this position are known to be “mail order brides.” Their partners may have taken their passports and forcing them to stay in the house. It may not seem like human trafficking, but they share the same qualities of coercion and the imbalance of power (Sommerstein, 2014).

Ogdensburg Women Speaks Out About Daughter’s Sexual Slavery

A woman in Ogdensburg is speaking out about her daughter and becoming a sexual slave victim, just at the age of 13 years old. Mary said her daughter came back a very changed girl. She came home with tattoos on her neck, malnourished and bruised, not the 13-year-old funny and smart girl who had a passion for riding horse and won ribbons to prove it. Mary came home from work one day and saw her daughter sitting on her doorstep after she finally escaped from sex slavery in her second attempt. Her daughter said she got in a taxi and took it home.

Mary reported her daughter missing immediately, but the police didn’t talk to her for more than 24 hours after she filed a missing person’s report which caused Mary to feel desperate. Her daughter has faced several challenges before with being in family court and a juvenile home for quite some time. Mary said she never thought that her daughter becoming a sex slave in the sex trafficking industry would ever happen to her. Mary is trying everything she can to bring awareness to sex trafficking in the North Country. In 2021, St. Lawrence Country Legislature made January Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Mary is now living in Ogdensburg and her daughter is getting the treatment she needs at a residential facility. (Benman, 2021)

Unfortunately, human trafficking is a problem here in the North Country. There at 30 million modern day slaves around the world, meaning that about 800,000 victims are trafficked over the borders every year. Fortunately, we have organizations like The Coalition Against Women Trafficking and the European Women’s Lobby who are trying to combat against human trafficking worldwide. In the North Country we have the Renewal House which is located in Canton. The Renewal House is a refuge for women fleeing from domestic abuse. Renewal House has a goal of empowering their victims and to bring more community awareness to these situations.

References:

About. (2020, January 16). Retrieved April 09, 2021, from https://catwinternational.org/about/

Benman, K. (2021, February 04). Ogdensburg woman speaks out ABOUT daughter’s sexual slavery. Retrieved April 09, 2021, from https://www.wwnytv.com/2021/02/04/ogdensburg-woman-speaks-out-about-daughters-sexual-slavery/

Human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation in nys. (2021). Retrieved April 09, 2021, from https://ocfs.ny.gov/programs/human-trafficking/

Laura Agustín, Migrants in the Mistress’s House: Other Voices in the “Trafficking” Debate, Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, Volume 12, Issue 1, Spring 2005, Pages 96–117

Mar 24, 2. (2014, March 24). Four kinds of human trafficking in the North Country. Retrieved April 09, 2021, from https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/24407/20140324/four-kinds-of-human-trafficking-in-the-north-country

Mission, vision and values. (2021). Retrieved April 09, 2021, from https://womenlobby.org/Mission-vision-and-values-588?lang=en