Modern Slavery Trial set
The employer’s claims aside, this is the modern version of debt slavery. Human Trafficking is merely a euphemism used for human slavery. Just another example of why we need to put an end to the populist ranting and fear mongering about illegal immigrants and instead implement good immigration reforms.
The huge demographic wave of baby boomer retirees hitting now pretty much demands that we have to have more foreign workers in future years, no matter what unemployment rates look like now. At the same time we need to treat those foreign workers with dignity and
I feel it’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Miles said. They try to determine if there are specific indicators of force, fraud or coercion and since 2008 have recorded 340 domestic servitude situations “with high indicators” that the cases constitute human trafficking. The callers are referred to a network of nonprofits and police across the country.
Miles said other highly publicized household forced labor cases over the past decade involved émigrés from the Philippines, Indonesia and Egypt. His organization is guided by a federal definition of human trafficking from the 2000 federal law and looks for types of control that include violence, threats, isolation or holding debt over someone’s head.
The 40-year-old George, who faces trial Aug. 27, is accused of harboring an illegal immigrant for private financial gain, a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. U.S. District Judge Gary Sharpe dismissed the charge in July on a scheduling technicality but prosecutors got a new indictment days later. George has pleaded not guilty.
Her lawyer, Mark Sacco, had requested dismissal and said he hoped prosecutors had better things to do with their time. He also said the pay dispute, using corrected math, was about $40,000 and could easily be settled in civil court. Prosecutors said V.M. is due at least $240,000 in wages and $79,000 in overtime based on the minimum wage.