Labor Trafficking

The COVID-19 crisis has exposed systemic abuses that immigrant workers under the H-2A program suffer every year. Any protection aimed to help the agricultural sector should include these essential workers.

As much of the country has begun working at home for some unknown period of time, the very people we trust to care for those homes, and for our loved ones, are facing economic devastation.

Communities more vulnerable to violence, abuse, and exploitation in the wake of this massive, worldwide economic and social disruption may be at increased risk of human trafficking.

US response to the COVID-19 may potentially harm farmworkers under the H-2A visa program, but their labor is needed to keep food on Americans’ tables.

While we can’t know for certain the effect COVID-19 has on human trafficking, we are worried the economic effects of this virus will increase vulnerabilities that make people susceptible to trafficking in the first place.

Workers in Mexico’s agricultural sector disproportionately come from poor and marginalized communities and are extremely vulnerable to labor trafficking.

Nannies, housecleaners and health aides toil in private homes, behind closed doors, usually without onsite co-workers, and virtually without labor protections. All that makes them extremely vulnerable to labor trafficking. But two recent developments will go a long way toward helping keep this workforce safer in certain cities.

Beginning in January 2015, Polaris has been working to further understand the relationship between drugs and human trafficking using data collected through the National Human Trafficking Hotline.

This matrix depicts the 25 major types of human trafficking in the United States, cross-referenced with eight highlighted systems and industries.

This report gathers information on labor trafficking cases in Mexico, reports on the social composition of victims and the characteristics of the populations that are most at risk, and suggests ways to develop comprehensive approaches to contribute to its eradication.

Nannies, house cleaners, home health aides, and other domestic workers frequently labor for extremely low pay, sometimes in conditions so abusive it amounts to exploitation and human trafficking, according to a report released by Polaris and the National Domestic Workers Alliance.