Disclaimer: This will just be one of the sides of the various types of human trafficking happening in the United States and the world as a whole. What would be stated here was not as same degree as everybody else, there were different experiences within this general experience.

Facts.

The United Nations defines human trafficking "as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation."

They determine the three elements to human trafficking: Act, Means, and Purpose.

The International Labor Organization estimates that there are 20.9 million victims of human trafficking a year. That is three out of every 1,000 people around the world. 14.2 million (68%) of those victims were victimized for labor purposes.

And in the last eight years, there had been an estimate of 21,000 reported cases of human trafficking in the United States. Most of those reported cases came from California, Florida, and Texas. There had been about 5,544 cases reported in 2015 (about 721 are reported as labor related) and 75 came from Louisiana (about seven of which are labor related).

As of March 2016, there had been an estimate of 1,654 reported cases nationwide, 200 are labor trafficking cases. In Louisiana there had been about 22 cases reported this year about three of which are labor trafficking cases.

Their Story

Why did I specifically stated the facts that pertains to Labor Trafficking and Louisiana? This article specifically will discuss something about a Labor Trafficking case that happened in the State of Louisiana less than a decade ago. Here is their story:

From 2007 - 2009, there has been an enormous vacancies on many teaching positions in certain civil parishes (counties) in Louisiana. And there were no enough locals qualified enough for those positions. The vacancies that needed to be filled were particularly for Mathematics, Science, and Special Education.

The largest vacancy on teachers came from southern parishes like East Baton Rouge Parish (EBR). The EBR Parish Public School District (EBRPPSD) has reached out to a placement agency based in California who were known to recruit nurses from Philippines to various hospitals United States called Universal Placement Agency. Word has came out to other Louisiana school districts that EBRPPSD was hiring teachers through an agency. Other school districts in the state like Caddo, Madison, East Carroll, Avoyelles, Jefferson Davis, Jefferson, Lafourche, and Orleans followed the suite and also reached out to the agency to help them find teachers in the Philippines.

Meanwhile in the Philippines, word got around the circles of educators in the country that an opportunity to teach in the United States has opened and this opening was in this peculiar state called Louisiana. In our defense, when we think of US we only think California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey, and Hawaii. No one would really bother to look where any of those places were in the United States.

So representatives from different school districts flew to the Philippines during those period of time to interview potential employees. There was estimately thousands who were interviewed by these various school districts. Out of those thousands, less than 400 people were hired to fill the vacant positions around the state.

Who are they?

If you would ask me who are these people that wanted those vacant positions? Here's my answer. They hold Masteral and Doctoral degrees on their various fields. Many were college professors. Some were principals on their villages. Some were ESL teachers who were trained to teach Koreans and Chinese to be fluent in English. There were many who were just your Average Joe teachers. There were some who even owns Montessori Pre-schools or Daycare facilities in their subdivisions. Some were teachers in SpEd Centers. A few were even dentists and bankers.

What were they looking for?

You might ask, so wait, you are they seem to have had good jobs in the Philippines, why would they want those jobs in the Louisiana Public Schools? They have many reasons here's to name just a few.

What's in the Philippines?

Before they left, here is what they were dealing with. Widespread corruption in the country. Ailing relatives that was not being treated properly due to crappy government hospitals, expensive private hospitals, and some doctors or specialists who were greedy for money. Sons, daughters, nephews, and nieces that has to be sent to good schools in order to get better education. Public schools in the Philippines were way crappy as you can imagine, so be grateful that our public schools here in the United States are air-conditioned and has various technologies. A very unattainable cost of living. House that needed repairs, renovations, re-modelings, and finishings. Loans and mortgages that needed to be paid. And the list goes on.

What's in the United States?

As simple as Dollars! Dollars! And lots of Dollars! Why US Dollars? On the exchange rate, $1.00 can equal to ₱40.00 - ₱ 50.00 depending on the condition of the economy and foreign markets. Those dollars that they would have sent to pay for good healthcare and education for their families back home. They would have sent those earnings to maintain their properties back home.

But not everything went as planned.

What happened instead?

Do you all think that it just ended like that and they got what they really wanted out of this whole chance? That would be a big NO!

While in the Philippines, the agency asked all the applicants to produce a $1,000.00 charge to secure the position, $595.00 charge for credential evaluation, $2,100.00 charge for processing and another charge to expedite the process, $80.00 for medical examination, and $95.00 for visa interview. And their placement fee varied depending on their teaching experience, educational degree, and their expected annual salary in the United States (Their placement fee was 10% of their supposed annual salary).

Okay, it was given that you had to pay for the interview in the embassy, credential evaluation, plane ticket, and medical examination. A little gratuity doesn't hurt. But that was not where the trafficking was.

The trafficking entered upon the act of those people in the placement agency. It entered when they forced these teachers to produce those exorbitant amount of money in an instant without a care for them. It entered when they forced these poor people to sign documents without even reading what's in it. It entered when the labor traffickers still insisted on the amount agreed upon even though it was no longer the amount they were supposed to pay. Trafficking entered when these traffickers let greed took over them and let goodness and humanity be eaten up by that same greed. It entered when they emotionally harassed these teachers in many ways they can.

What about the school districts?

In these whole scenario our school districts were both the victims and the co-traffickers.

They were victims because they somewhat relied on what the placement agency had said about certain laws and procedures and might never looked some of the laws and procedures themselves. They were victims they had no idea what the traffickers was doing to them and the teachers on their backs.

They were by sense the co-traffickers even though only the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board and their former superintendent Charlotte Placide were sued and named explicitly on the court case. They were co-traffickers because they all not informed all those teachers that theirs years of experience in the Philippines will not be credited. They became co-traffickers because they didn't give those foreign teachers a proper job security when they refused to petition them and their families for the proper Green Card Status on the proper time. They were indirectly involved in trafficking because many of their students and parents didn't welcome these new teachers well. Their students and parents emotionally harassed these teachers specifically due to their actions and misdemeanors.

Here's what you don't know about them

They are just hardworking people who had a dream for themselves and their families. They have someone back home that they need to send to the doctor. They had people they need to send to school. They had families that depend on them. They have experienced homesickness and the pain of being far from their love ones. They have suffered loss of love ones. They were oppressed by the very people they thought would be their friend. They had to abandon everything in order to educate young Louisianians.

Imagine if it was your love ones who are in their position. Imagine if it was you in their place. Wouldn't you cry because you missed your family? Wouldn't you weep because your delinquent students says a lot of things of why you have to do it? Wouldn't you be sad and upset that you have to miss many important milestone with your family?

Where are they now?

Those who stayed in Louisiana.

For those who chose to stay here in Louisiana many things happened. Some stayed on their respective schools. Some have transferred schools within or outside their original district. Some after getting their T-visa have changed professions.

Those who left Louisiana.

For those who left the state, many things have also happened. Some who chose to leave the state found teaching positions in states like Texas, New Mexico, Maryland, New Jersey, and California.

There have been a few who tried their luck outside Louisiana for a year or so who had found their way back in Louisiana! I guess Louisiana doesn't suck that much compared to Texas or California, huh? You can still find your way back home no matter how far you've been as they say!

What's the brighter side?

The brighter side is this: they, like any trafficking victims living in the United States are protected by law. Particularly the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 which was reauthorized thrice in the Bush administration (2003, 2005, 2008) and once in the Obama Administration (2013). This law guarantees that all the victims who will cooperate with the law enforcement agencies will be protected against their traffickers and the traffickers will be prosecuted in the court of law. The law also made sure that the traffickers will pay all the damages with that they have and own. The law also guarantees any victims who are foreign citizens a legal immigration status.

For further resources regarding this particular trafficking case, Mairi Nunag Tanedo et al v. East Baton Rouge Parish School Board et al, you can visit Southern Poverty Law Center, Justia, Law360, and FindACase.

If you think that there was someone you know who might be a victim of any kind or form of human trafficking, please do not hesitate to contact the National Human Trafficking Resource Center so that they could receive the proper help that they needed.