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Last month, representatives from the Farmworker Legal Services of New York (FLSNY) conducted a free, online training (see below for WebEx
link) for members of Rescue & Restore focused on human trafficking and the farmworker community.  FLSNY underscored the conditions that may lead migrant workers into forced labor situations.  The training also highlighted the need for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and service providers to train their members on working with the migrant farmworker community and connecting to local agencies that can provide immediate and long-term assistance to victims.

In addition to agricultural migrant work, forced labor in the United States can occur in the following situations:  domestic service; small businesses; "Mom and Pop" operations (tree-cutting, nail salons, restaurants, industrial cleaning); factories; construction sites; and even peddling/begging rings.  Labor trafficking victims can be U.S.
citizens or people from other countries. They may be young children, teenagers, or adult men and women.

Victims are often lured with false promises of good jobs and better lives, and then forced to work under the threat of violence or some other form of punishment, and often in inhuman conditions.  In situations of forced labor, traffickers exert a degree of ownership over the victim and restrict the victim's physical and psychological freedom.
Victims are often kept isolated to prevent them from getting help.
Also, victims may have their work or travel documents confiscated by traffickers, only to be blackmailed by the traffickers regarding their status as undocumented aliens or their participation in an illegal industry.  Traffickers also keep victims compliant by threatening to report them to law enforcement or immigration officials.

Labor trafficking can take the form of debt bondage in which the victim's work is demanded as repayment for a loan or services, and terms and conditions have not been defined.  For example, the value of the work of the person in bondage is greater than the original sum of money "borrowed," but the debt is not forgiven.

Possible indicators that a victim of labor trafficking might display include (but are not limited to) the following: malnourishment; signs of physical abuse, such as bruises, broken bones, burns and scarring; skin or respiratory problems caused by exposure to chemicals; infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis and hepatitis, which are spread in overcrowded work environments with limited ventilation; substance abuse problems; untreated injuries; pelvic pain, urinary tract problems (if sexually exploited as well); and psychological problems such as shock, denial, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, panic attacks, and phobias.

65 years we’ve been importing men as cattle
while we rattle their existence like they’re enemies in battle. 
From the Bracero to the H-2A we make them work and
then we make them pay with prison if they wish to stay. 
Pick that fruit!  cut the cabbage, milk the cow
quick fast ‘cause we think of them as savage;
call them illegal if they have no working papers
then convince the population that there eagle came to rape us.
Or is it ego that prevents us from surrendering to equal treatment?
logic is a lonely friend.
Is it predicting end to all existence that has made us distant
from the punch that makes the breathless bend?
Play pretend with politicians if you wish
but I don’t want to fish their fish, I rather play with ammunition. 
My deadly weapon is my word and
I will have their stories heard before a wall assumes submission. 

-Sai-

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