Charities battles human trafficking

"Human trafficking" is far from the first issue that springs to mind as contributing to poverty in the Albany Diocese.

But it is mentioned in a document on poverty recently released by diocesan Catholic Charities. According to executive director Sister Maureen Joyce, RSM, there are more people living in slavery in this area than we realize.

"It's not as unusual as you think: There are people living here under the radar," Sister Maureen told The Evangelist. "They have no identification; they have been brought in" by criminals whose currency is human beings.

Rescue work

Catholic Charities is already helping one such victim. It contracts with the New York State Bureau of Refugees and Immigration Affairs to provide for the human service needs of immigrants: housing, health care, clothing, food and legal aid.

Victims of human trafficking fall under that umbrella -- including Janine (not her real name), who was brought to the area from an African country to serve as a maid and housekeeper. When her situation was uncovered and she was rescued from her captors, Catholic Charities stepped in.

"The most important thing we're doing for her right now is getting her health care -- and some warm clothes," Sister Maureen noted.

Fear and worry

However, Janine is terrified, even of those who are trying to help her. Sister Maureen explained that traffickers take victims' passports and other identification, and tell them not to trust anyone, claiming that anyone who offers help is probably planning to deport them.

As a result, when social workers from Catholic Charities ask Janine to see a doctor, she responds with fear and suspicion.

Traffickers, said Sister Maureen, tell people like Janine, "They'll tell you they're taking you to a doctor and then use you for experimentation."

Modern slavery

Sister Maureen believes that the problem of human trafficking in the 14 counties of the Diocese is extensive and cites the five local people who were charged last November with using illegal immigrants from China and Mexico to work in a chain of Chinese restaurants in upstate New York.

During a raid, about 80 immigrants were taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and Catholic Charities officials were initially asked to provide human services help for them. Charities offered translators and asked to visit the victims, but their offer was curtailed.

According to Sister Maureen, the U.S. Justice Department draws a line between trafficking and smuggling human beings -- smuggled persons are those brought here willingly, though illegally -- and thus determined that the group of 80 were not victims of trafficking.

Federal agents usually offer trafficking victims a deal: Testify against the traffickers or be deported. Apparently, all of the 80 immigrants Catholic Charities expected to serve chose the latter.

Ready to assist

Since Catholic Charities agencies now know that human trafficking occurs within the Diocese, they're gearing up to help future victims.

"The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has made human trafficking a major issue. They have a department addressing it," Sister Maureen reported.

When USCCB officials heard about the raid in Albany, she said, "they immediately called me and stood ready to work with me" by offering funds to supplement what Catholic Charities would receive from the state to help the victims.

Downstate example

Sister Maureen also spoke with her counterpart in the Rockville Centre (Long Island) Diocese, where 59 Peruvian men and women were found to be living in slavery last year, working at two or three jobs and turning their earnings over to their captors.

Catholic Charities of Rockville Centre helped those victims by housing them in a former seminary, and providing food and clothing. Within eight months, all had been helped to find gainful employment.

"We're anxious to provide that service," Sister Maureen stated, adding that, if asked to help, "I believe parishes would respond with open arms."

Statistics

In "Rebuilding the Covenant" (a supplement to a new pastoral letter on poverty by the bishops of New York State titled, "Restoring the Covenant"), Catholic Charities officials cite statistics on human trafficking:

* Up to 800,000 people were trafficked across transnational borders in the past year;

* 80 percent were female;

* up to 17,500 people per year are trafficked in the U.S.

"All the services of the Church stand ready to answer the call when victims are identified and the Department of Justice needs our help," the document states. "As a society at large, we must all become engaged in this emerging issue that affects the most vulnerable among us."

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, trafficking of humans is tied with arms dealing as the second-largest criminal industry in the world -- as well as the fastest-growing.

(Read a previous article about "Rebuilding the Covenant" by searching for it at www.evangelist.org.)

(3/17/05)