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IOL reporter, Sami A. Muhammad takes us to Arizona, U.S. where vice-president of the Arizona State University for Free the Slaves, Carrie Wallinger talks to us about the case of enslaved Mexican migrant workers:
 Listen to Trafficking Out of Mexico>>> (2.29secs)
Transcript:
Walinger –
"I would like to present a case study of how people have been involved in trafficking, and how they have managed to escape from a situation where they were enslaved receiving no pay, abused physically, and led to believe that they had no chance to escape. They actually did manage to get free from the situation despite all the fear that was instilled in them by their enslavers.
"About five years ago, there was a case in Florida of several migrant workers who were brought into the U.S. from Mexico. They were smuggled, and therefore had to live under cover, because they didn't want to be caught by immigration, and sent back to Mexico. They were taken to Florida to work on orange groves, and they were told they would be paid well, given places to live, and that they would be taken care of.
"Once they got to Florida from Arizona, they were placed in trailers where they were watched all the time by people with guns who drove around in trucks. They were told that if they ever tried to leave, that they would be captured, killed or beaten-up. One of them was beaten-up until he died, because his capturers noticed that he was trying to leave.
"These people lived in great fear, because they had family to take care of back in Mexico. They were afraid to go to any sort of authority – afraid to let anyone know what the situation was.
"There was an organization in Florida known as the Coalition of Immokalee Workers: a coalition made up of migrants and U.S. citizens – people interested in the issue of trafficking today. This coalition became involved in their case, and managed to prosecute these slave holders who later went to prison for what they had done.
The migrant workers were taken care of, and they were not deported, sentenced, or separated from their families. They were taken care of because of the illegal actions of their enslavers.
"This is a message of great hope, because it was one of the first cases in the U.S. that we were able to show that this was a trafficking case, and this is abuse of people who were enslaved – a case to hold up to traffickers, and enslavers across the world to show that this is not acceptable".
Anti- Slavery Groups:
Anti-Slavery.org
Coalition of Immokalee Workers
Free the Slaves
Mauritania
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