The American Dream Up for Sale: A Blueprint for Ending International Labor Recruitment Abuse by The International Labor Recruitment Working Group
Executive Summary: Each year, hundreds of thousands of people from around the world are recruited to work in the United States on temporary work visas. Internationally recruited workers are employed in a wide range of U.S. industries, from low-wage jobs in agriculture and landscaping to higher-wage jobs in technology, nursing and teaching. They enter the United States on a dizzying array of visas, such as H-1B, H-2A, H-2B, J-1, A-3, G-5, EB-3, B-1, O-1, P-3, L, OPT and TN visas, each...
Read MoreRead Now: “And Boys, Too” by ECPAT-USA
ECPAT-USA’s groundbreaking report “And Boys, Too” addresses the widely overlooked prevalence of commercial sexual exploitation in young boys and men. Currently the little notice given to boys primarily identifies them as exploiters, pimps and buyers of sex, or as active and willing participants in sex work, not as victims or survivors of exploitation. “And Boys, Too” breaks the silence with startling information about sex trafficking in boys and the shortage of...
Read MoreReconceptualizing Approaches to Human Trafficking: New Directions and Perspectives from the Field(s) by Kathleen Kim and Grace Chang
Scholars and advocates across several movements have attempted to develop approaches to human trafficking that would best serve the needs and support the rights of all migrant workers and survivors of trafficking. Many U.S.-based and international groups organizing for immigrant, labor, sex worker, and sexual and reproductive health rights, understand the need for collaborations among them. Yet, such connections have been largely obstructed by the U.S. federal government approach to...
Read MoreThe Trafficked Worker as Private Attorney General: A Model for Enforcing the Civil Rights of Undocumented Workers by Kathleen Kim
This Article seeks to prioritize the civil workplace rights of undocumented immigrants over the goals of immigration enforcement by placing primacy on the role of the immigrant undocumented worker as private attorney general. In developing this concept, this Article draws from the legal framework addressing human trafficking. In theory, undocumented workers victimized by exploitive employment practices may act as private attorneys general in the enforcement of workplace harms and may sue their...
Read MoreThe Coercion of Trafficked Workers by Kathleen Kim
Theories of coercion exist across multiple disciplines to explicate the ability of one actor, the coercer, to diminish the free will of another, the coercee, in the absence of overt physical force. A valid claim of coercion places legal blame on the coercer or relinquishes the coercee from legal responsibility for a coerced act or omission. Defining the point at which coercion occurs, however, is the conceptually more difficult task. Recently, coercion has emerged as a significant source of...
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