By Vanessa Formato

January 19, 2012
 

When Alissa was 16, she moved in with her boyfriend. It wasn’t long before the arrangement became a nightmare: the boyfriend, an older man, began to sell Alissa’s body on the Internet. The young girl, who had been tattooed with her boyfriend’s name to identify her as his property, was advertised as a prostitute online to men she was forced to meet for sex in Dallas hotel rooms. She complied, as many people would if their captor kept an assault rifle in the closet.

 

Alissa is not unique; stories like hers, provided by the U.S. Department of State’s 2011 Trafficking in Person’s Report, are examples of modern slavery. Human trafficking – which encompasses labor trafficking as well as sex trafficking – is one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises in the United States.

 

“[When we refer to human trafficking] we are referring to people who have been coerced or forced to work for someone else’s financial benefit in a number of industries,” explains Jozefina Lantz, director of Services for New Americans of Lutheran Social Services. Lutheran Social Services of New England is a nonprofit anti-trafficking organization based in Worcester that provides pro bono legal services to trafficking victims.

 

“We see cases of both sex and labor traffi cking [in Massachusetts],” says Julie Dahlstrom, the program manager of the Immigration Legal Assistance Program at Lutheran Social Services. “We often see cases involving domestic servitude, brothels and massage parlors.”

 

“It’s hard to say exactly what we have going on in Worcester as far as trafficking,” Lantz adds. Because trafficking is so underground, it can be difficult to track. Individuals who are trafficked may also fear coming forward about their experiences, even after escaping, due to threats of retribution. “One recent case we had was a Worcester case: a young woman who was kept in somebody’s home as a domestic servant and was not allowed to go to school, to go out or to freely talk to anyone,” Lantz says.

 

Trafficked individuals occur across all genders, education levels and national origins, but according to Lantz, the majority of trafficking survivors are women. Many of these women are not fluent in English or have received little education, factors which aid traffickers in isolating their victims.

 

According to statistics provided by the Polaris Project, there were five calls made to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline from Worcester between January and September of 2011. In that period, the hotline received 13,530 calls nationwide, 119 of which were placed from Massachusetts.

 

The U.S. Department of State estimates that between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked to the United States each year.

 

On November 21, 2011, Gov. Deval Patrick signed legislation that established trafficking offenses in Massachusetts, including sexual slavery and forced labor. This legislation will make it easier to convict traffickers, though measures should also be taken to address survivors, who often need extensive rehabilitation to re-enter society successfully. Lutheran Social Services offers help in this arena as well.

 

Of the utmost importance in the fight to end human trafficking is awareness. Many trafficking survivors are unable to seek help due to fear of physical violence, social isolation, language or education barriers, and simply not knowing what to do—some are even quite literally locked away. If the general public is aware of the warning signs of trafficking and who to call with tips, they can play a key role in liberating those in need.

 

On January 11, Lutheran Social Services, along with local officials, organized a rally in front of Worcester’s City Hall to raise awareness of human trafficking. Mayor Joseph M. Petty attended, declaring the day Anti-Human Trafficking Day.

 

“This is slavery,” Lantz says. “It’s such a despicable crime, and in today’s day and age, is there anyone that shouldn’t care about that?”

 

Contact Lutheran Social Services at 877-500-8263 to learn more.