Go ICE! Stop Modern-Day Slavery!

We have frequently posted stories on cases of involuntary servtitude of immigrants, which have increased with the heightened border  enforcement operations over the last 15 years.  here is teh latest.

Three people have been charged in an investigation by the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) into a scheme involving Filipino nationals who were brought into the United States and forced to work in local residential elder care facilities. Federal agents arrested the defendants on criminal complaints filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles last this week.

According to the complaints, the victims were recruited with promises of employment in the United States, then forced to work to pay their “travel expenses.” The ICE Press release quotes several federal officials on the case.

“The luring of persons into the United States on the promise of legitimate work and a better life, only to be held in what is, essentially, modern-day slavery is, regrettably, taking place in our community,” said Salvador Hernandez, assistant director in charge of the FBI in Los Angeles. “The charges allege that these victims were forced into debt bondage under threat of arrest or deportation, so the defendants could profit. The Human Trafficking Task Force in Los Angeles will continue its efforts to dismantle trafficking organizations and raise awareness of the problem within the law enforcement community and among the public.”

“Forced servitude is an unconscionable crime and, as this case shows, it can take many forms,” said Robert Schoch, special agent in charge for the ICE Office of Investigations in Los Angeles.”Holding people against their will and making them work under inhumane conditions amounts to modern day slavery. ICE is working closely with the FBI and its other law enforcement partners to ensure that crimes like these do not go unchecked or unpunished.”

We are rooting for ICE in these cases.  However, we need to more generally reconsider whether our enforcement efforts are contributing to the rise in modern-day slaveryin the United Sattes.

KJ