Modern-day slaves' story repeats daily in plain sight

Modern-day slaves' story repeats daily in plain sight

www.miamiherald.com

The case of dozens of Filipino workers held captive spotlights a widespread human- trafficking problem.
BY AUDRA D.S. BURCH
[email protected]
For up to 16 hours daily, they worked at posh country clubs across South Florida, then returned to deceptively quiet houses in Boca Raton where they were captives -- and in the most dreadful cases, fed rotten chicken and vegetables, forced to drink muriatic acid and repeatedly denied medical help.
The 39 servers, lured to the United States by the cliché of a decent dollar and a promising next chapter, instead became imported modern-day slaves t

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I found this story to be extraordinary and highly disturbing in three important ways.

One is if the Federal Authorities are being truthful here, large and entrenched networks of human trafficking rings are using basically enslaved forced laborers imported into the country and supplying them as cheap servants to some of the ritziest hotels and country clubs of all places.

Two is just how much of our immigration problem the result of this kind of activity where groups of foreigners are recruited overseas, brought in the country in mass, and forced to work in group type work settings were large numbers of workers are required cheap and quickly primarily for the benefit of the wealthiest Americans.

Three is Homeland Security, TSA and Customs apparently keeping a standard where the only thing you have to do to be welcome in America is not come in with a bomb! It seems absolutely astounding that entire groups of foreign nationals are being imported into the country with evidently no background checks at all as to their true circumstances being conducted by the government.

With the economy in the continued doldrums, and many Americans looking for work, any kind of work, that pays an honest dollar, it’s troubling to think that so many jobs might actually be filled with people from other nations forced to work them and to surrender their pay to criminal slave trafficking organizations.

You really have to wonder what the heck is going on up there in Washington.


www.miamiherald.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Muratic acid? Dont see how you could survive after drinking that.

Originally posted by mayabong
Muratic acid? Dont see how you could survive after drinking that.

Assuming it's not an embellished account I imagine it would not be very pleasant, yet it does appear that these trafficers use fear based ellements to keep the people they brought in under their control, keeping their mouths shut, and surrendering their wages.

It's truly troubling to think this has been going on right here in my own backyard even in places in my own neighborhood!

That it is not even isolated, but apparently wide spread if the government is to be believed.

This is something I feel very strongly about. Yes, I've known this is going on. and also, when you don't buy fair trade coffee, chocolate when you can, same thing. Slaves, instead of children in school in South America and abroad. Its absolutely repulsive and it must be stopped, followed to the heads, the invisible head of tptb for they are the ones promoting this, they get off on it, its so sickening we need to have them all exposed completely for all their corrupt dealing and set things right and equal for all.

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler

With the economy in the continued doldrums, and many Americans looking for work, any kind of work, that pays an honest dollar, it’s troubling to think that so many jobs might actually be filled with people from other nations forced to work them and to surrender their pay to criminal slave trafficking organizations.

You really have to wonder what the heck is going on up there in Washington.

Very disturbing, to say the least...

And the US talks about China, etc. about so-called human rights violations?...

We need to come up with a better system sooner than ASAP, if this is all *true*!

Time to crack down on these illegal slave operations and trade them in for at best, more jobs for Americans, or at least, some type of valid "worker status" program.

Some countries in the Middle East, for example, have been criticized for their foreign worker programs. However, at least in the bulk of them, they are documented/recorded with the government, and the workers are at least *paid*, albeit perhaps not fairly.

Thanks for posting and exposing...

Sshhhhhh.

That's the dark side of illegal immigration problems that your not supposed to talk about. Everyone's here for a better life, not to be slave labor, not to force other illegals in to slave labor and prostitution, and definitely not here to carry-out cartel business.

Sshhhhhhh.

Originally posted by Unity_99
This is something I feel very strongly about. Yes, I've known this is going on. and also, when you don't buy fair trade coffee, chocolate when you can, same thing. Slaves, instead of children in school in South America and abroad. Its absolutely repulsive and it must be stopped, followed to the heads, the invisible head of tptb for they are the ones promoting this, they get off on it, its so sickening we need to have them all exposed completely for all their corrupt dealing and set things right and equal for all.

I think it's pretty disturbing that 150 years after the Civil War we still have not eradicated forced slavery in this country.

How groups of 20, 50 or more could all be getting work visas to work for individual staffing companies and brought in like this with out the Government not knowing what time of day it was, is just rediculous.

So yea, considering where they are being employed clearly the elites are condoning this practice. After all if you have to discuss the details of your own conspiracies and crimes with servants waiting on you in a luxurius setting, having servants that don't speak much of the language and live in constant fear of arrest, deportation, beatings, or worse, sure does come in handy, when it comes to keeping loose lips from sinking ships.

This is just another example of how the government presently utterly fails to keep people secure. You aren't entirely secure from being enslaved, and the job market that citizens depend on for a lawful livelihood isn't secure either. Your jobs can be illegally filled by slaves imported right under the nose of a incompetent government bent on terrorizing the citizens, and fighting foreign wars for corporate resources all at our expense too.

This is the world we live in.

Very sick Proto, I am sure this is just the tip of the iceberg, you can be sure that this isn't the only place that it is going on, next time anyone goes to these events they should watch the wait staff very closely to see if something doesn't look right.

Doesn't look like this made the mainstream media now does it?

Sorry that is is happening in your own back yard so to speak.

S&F

Originally posted by Aquarius1
Very sick Proto, I am sure this is just the tip of the iceberg, you can be sure that this isn't the only place that it is going on, next time anyone goes to these events they should watch the wait staff very closely to see if something doesn't look right.

Doesn't look like this made the mainstream media now does it?

Sorry that is is happening in your own back yard so to speak.

S&F

The article stated Miami is one of three major gateway cities when it comes to the human trafficing business. I would guess New York City and Los Angeles are likely the other two.

I would imagine any major U.S. City that has an appeal to tourism and the international jet set crowd is some place potentially infested with these kinds of rings.

Very disturbing indeed, thanks for posting.

Hand in hand with this is a discovery I made a couple years ago.

Here in Canada, and most western nations actually, indentured servitude is still legal. This came to light at the time because of stories about nannies travelling abroad with families and the conditions that they can be forced to tolerate.

Look in your local newspaper, there are probably ads for these types of jobs right now.

The run around given to avoid claims of slavery in the modern world are that these people (in this particular case) signed an agreement and therefore existed outside conventional labor laws. On top of that, the fact that thier travel expenses are paid by the family is considered part of thier salary (or deducted from it).

Although this is a unique and mostly beneign example, it sets the stage for any person to be abused in ways that are supposed to be illegal.

Given the current status of regulations, as long as you provide food and shelter for a 'worker' as part of the compensation agreed upon there is little or nothing that can be done.

The person agreed to the terms and conditions.

Disturbing that as long as a person marks an 'X' on the bottom of the page, they can legally be a slave.

reply to post by sonjah1

Time to crack down on these illegal slave operations and trade them in for at best, more jobs for Americans, or at least, some type of valid "worker status" program.

Some countries in the Middle East, for example, have been criticized for their foreign worker programs. However, at least in the bulk of them, they are documented/recorded with the government, and the workers are at least *paid*, albeit perhaps not fairly.

This is what's amazing and very sad too, because by and large most of these workers have entered the country legally on valid passports and even legally had temporary work visas issued.

So the government has documented and knows they are here, they just don't seem to care in any way shape or form to follow up with these people through some reasonable supervision period to make sure life in America is living up to the travel brochures and text books.

With all the money we spend on security and military that's just absurd.

You almost have to wonder if this ring was busted because like the manager at the Indian Creek Country Club said, one time these workers didn't just show up at all. You have lost your slave franchise, we had to help our selves to the truffles from a buffet table! Oh the horrors of it all.

This is definately something we should all be talking about.

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler



There's no real point in Carmen Pino, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations Assistant Special Agent in Charge telling us ``What people need to realize is that human trafficking is happening here, it's a big problem. It could be happening in the restaurant where you eat, at your nail salon, in your neighborhood. It's not just something that happens in foreign countries.'' if Customs and the police just turn a blind eye to it.

Food Matters (the documentary) reported on this type of thing in 2008 giving the unbelievable example of the Smithfield hog operation where Smithfield bused illegal immigrants into the country without a blink from the authorities. When called to account, they started deporting them 15 at a time, just enough to make it look they were complying but not to affect operations. No penalties whatsoever were applied to the company or management for hiring illegals in the first place or continuing to employ them while making $billions.

reply to post by [davinci]


A disturbing yet very realistic and intelligently presented discription of individual domestic servants. The protections that they are afforded are few, and it all seems to be done legally, with the proper documents and contracts, etc., etc.

Yet it really does boil down in essence to owning and controlling another human being, by controlling every aspect of their environment and life.

More disturbing though, is that so many people live in such a presumed even worse state of affairs before taking these jobs, that this is actually a step up in life that they actually want to pursue.

It goes to show you just how few opportunities there really are for people, when you consider the hundreds of millions of people unemployed world wide.

Thanks for sharing that.

Great post

This phenomenon is very disturbing, Proto. It has gone on for far to long, and in our own backyards. We never think about who some of these workers are at catered events. Or people busing tables at the our favorite restaurant. Then there are the strip clubs/brothels. Then we have the people cleaning up public places and the offices we work in. How many of our own people have been snatched up off the street and sent abroad, both boys and girls? There are so many methods these smugglers utilize to get these people into the country, and the Feds can't keep track of them. Some are brought over as stowaways in shipping containers, or they are transferred in truck trailers, windowless vans, or even other clever methods of getting them across the border and through customs. That is the smuggling side of it.

Then there is the persuasion side of it. In some of the poverty stricken areas of the planet: Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe and former Soviet Bloc countries, South East Asia, India, and China there will be smooth talking crooks with ties to organized crime whose sole purpose is to sell the American dream to some hapless soul down on their luck. They will tell the person they know people in the US, developed portions of the Middle East, Western Europe, and prosperous portions of Asia were opportunity awaits. The victim boards a passenger flight and gets to their destination to meet another thug who says their families are going to meet a violent fate if they talk or escape. The thug takes their passport, tell them they have work off some unfathomable sum, and with that, comes the modern-day chains.

The problem is people are apathetic to the whole thing and all they know is that a service is needed, or to save a buck they turn a blind eye to it all. Everyone knows this crap is going on around them, but it is allowed to go on. Just as long as their own family is not victim to it. Plus, it is another multi-billion dollar racket for organized crime, and during the economic uncertainty business is booming. This is only going to change when the people refuse to allow it. Slim chance of that happening, because it is out of sight and out of mind to many. It is one of the developed world's deep dark secrets. Still, a disturbing trend in our time.

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler

You almost have to wonder if this ring was busted because like the manager at the Indian Creek Country Club said, one time these workers didn't just show up at all. You have lost your slave franchise, we had to help our selves to the truffles from a buffet table! Oh the horrors of it all.

I believe you are correct in saying that this ring wouldn't have been busted if it hadn't been for the elites involved.

Imagine the ones who aren't so (sarcasm, irony, sarcasm, irony) "fortunate"...

I don't know the answer to the problem; if the workers were truly documented with the government. All I know is that the government is an epic bureaucratic fail when it comes to record-keeping, process implementation, and follow-up. I've witnessed it, as I'm sure so many others have.

The government cannot handle these simple processes, and other countries have implemented systems where the "employer" holds the (foreign) "employees'" passports (perhaps cutting down on paperwork that the government cannot handle). Certainly, abuse could be prevalent, but there should perhaps be hotlines for both parties in which the government handles only emergency cases?

I'm trying to brainstorm ways to evade the problem; any other suggestions?

This story just points to more corruption, deception, and manipulation ----> what more is forthcoming?

This is nothing new.. been a long term problem and exposed every few yrs.. nothing much happens. The last big "bust" was with the so-called russian mob bringing women to work in the sex trade and with restaurants in the early 80's I believe. Until there is no demand for it, we will always have it.. and it will be largely denied or overlooked.

You want to be horrified.. check out the child slaves in the sex trade... theyre bid on, sold and used like cattle here in the US and abroad.

Slavery in any form is abhorrent to me. I can not myself conceive of forcing another person to do something against their will out of force or exploiting their own desperation/ignorance. This is not what humans are all about IMO. I would love to abolish it all but unfortunately there is a large demand for it. In the end it all comes down to money.. it even trumps the sexual side of the trade.

The other poster is correct.. dont dare whisper how the illegal immigrant issue fits in with all of this and how its sanctioned by our government...

The people that do these things and keep this type of thing running need to be put in prison for the rest of their lives. This makes me sick.

Originally posted by gnosticquasar
The people that do these things and keep this type of thing running need to be put in prison for the rest of their lives. This makes me sick.

Take away the demand and the people running it dry up. The demand for it is the problem.. the greedy and perverse consumers drive the supply/people running it.

Not something new, the sportswear and clothing industry has done it for years. I own a pair of nikes, they where probably made by some chinese child for pittance an hour and cost less than a few dollars to make. Does this make them cheap for me, no, i paid £80 for them. Agree slavery still exists.