Trafficking in Persons Report -Report Home Page Released by the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons June 4, 2008 U.S. Government Domestic Anti-Trafficking in Persons Efforts The United States (U.S.) is a destination country for thousands of men, women, and children trafficked largely from East Asia, Mexico, and Central America for the purposes of sexual and labor exploitation. A majority of foreign victims identified during the year were victims of trafficking for forced labor. Some men and women, responding to fraudulent offers of employment in the United States, migrate willingly—legally and illegally—but are subsequently subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude or debt bondage at work sites or in the commercial sex trade. An unknown number of American citizens and legal residents are trafficked within the country primarily for sexual servitude and, to a lesser extent, forced labor.
The U.S. Government (USG) in 2007 continued to advance the goal of eradicating human trafficking in the United States. This coordinated effort includes several federal agencies and approximately $23 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 for domestic programs to boost anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts, identify and protect victims of trafficking, and raise awareness of trafficking as a means of preventing new incidents. Recommendations: The USG annually assesses its efforts in a separate report compiled by the Department of Justice (DOJ) [see www.usdoj.gov/olp/human_trafficking.htm]. Among recommendations from the September 2007 assessment, the USG is working to increase cooperation among U.S. agencies to maximize efficiency in services and information dissemination. Prosecution The federal government worked to bolster efforts at state and local levels. By the end of 2007, 33 states had passed criminal anti-trafficking legislation. In 2007, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) further strengthened the Rescue & Restore Regional Program, employing a community-based intermediary model to regionally develop civil society networks for outreach, identification, and service activities. Protection The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provides two principal types of immigration relief authorized by the TVPA: 1) continued presence (CP) to human trafficking victims who are potential witnesses during investigation or prosecution, and 2) T non-immigrant status or “T-visas,” a special, self-petitioned visa category for trafficking victims. In FY 2007, DHS/ICE’s Law Enforcement Parole Branch approved 122 requests for CP and five requests for extensions of existing CPs. DHS U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued 279 T-visas to foreign survivors of human trafficking in the U. S. and 261 T-visas to their immediate family members in FY 2007. The USG continues to work towards publishing a regulation for the adjustment of status for qualified T-visa holders, creating a pathway for citizenship. As part of the assistance provided under the TVPA, the Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration funds the Return, Reintegration, and Family Reunification Program for Victims of Trafficking. In calendar year 2007, the program assisted 104 cases. Of the cases assisted, five victims of trafficking elected to return to their country of origin, and 99 family members were reunited with trafficking survivors in the United States. Since its inception in 2005, the program has assisted around160 persons from 31 countries. Prevention |