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- 31 - accessHealthNews.net December 2021 Volume 8 | Issue No. 52 This article was originally published in August 2021. A webinar hosted by Missouri University (MU) Extension Labor and Workforce Development explored the nuances of labor trafficking and identified indicators of possible trafficking. "A Real and Present Danger: Labor Trafficking in the Midwest" featured speaker Renan Salgado, human trafficking director at the Worker Justice Center of New York. "It is ridiculous to engage in the fight against labor trafficking without understanding labor, industry by industry," Salgado said. Salgado discussed how the structures of multiple industries such as agriculture and construction create fertile ground for worker exploitation. TYPES OF LABOR TRAFFICKING Trafficking, unlike exploitation, involves an element of force, fraud, or coercion as means of keeping victims under control. While force, such as physical violence, sexual assault, and confinement, is more prevalent in sex trafficking, more subtle coercion is present in labor trafficking. Employment, housing, residency and identity documents, and other rewards are often promised in exchange for labor. "A lot of what we see in labor trafficking is fraudulent residency documents being given to workers in order to make them work for free or extremely low pay," said Salgado. Bonded labor, or labor demanded as means of repayment, is one of the least known forms of labor trafficking, yet one of the most widely used methods. Salgado provided the example of an unemployed Mexican immigrant seeking employment in the U.S. "Because of their undocumented status, everything they do costs money," said Salgado. "You can arrive with a $10-15,000 debt that never goes away because it's being deducted from your paycheck on a weekly basis. To be able to feed yourself or send money back home – the main reason many do this in the first place – you have to borrow more money. You're in perpetual debt." According to Salgado, immigrants incur debt along every step of their journey, even beyond what they owe smugglers for their assistance in reaching and crossing U.S. borders. Once in the States, migrant workers are often kept in small homes packed with others, accruing rent until recruited for work elsewhere. In Salgado's experience, some arrived at their places of employment with broken bones from being packed tightly into cramped vans. Traffickers use their undocumented status as a means of control, requiring payment for everything. Trips to the grocery store, laundromat, and even hospital are all assigned fees deducted from what little pay the victim receives, or are added to their growing debt. Though trafficking does occur between borders, it does not require movement across or within borders. "The word trafficking sometimes implies a vehicle or movement, but people have been trafficked in their own neighborhoods and homes," said Salgado. "If you work in the labor unions, a lot of the industries you represent, the labor force is made up of immigrant workers. Your contribution to the fight against labor trafficking is key."

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