WARNING SIGNS One reason human trafficking can go undetected is because victims often don’t speak English. Polaris Project lists other common “red flags” that raise suspicion: > Is not free to leave or come and go as he/she wishes > Is unpaid, paid very little, or paid only through tips > Works excessively long and/or unusual hours > Is not allowed breaks or suffers under unusual restrictions at work > High security measures exist in the work and/or living locations (e.g. opaque windows, boarded up windows, bars on windows, barbed wire, security cameras, etc.) > Is fearful, anxious, depressed, submissive, tense, or nervous/ paranoid > Exhibits unusually fearful or anxious behavior after bringing up law enforcement > Avoids eye contact If you suspect a person is a victim of human trafficking, call the Polaris Project Hotline at (888) 373-7888.
fearful, crushed spirit. While all three trafficking networks use Internet sites such as Craigslist and Backpage to sell victims, there does seem to be distinction as to where they operate in the real world. Domestic trafficking appears at places such as truck stops, street corners, brothels, and strip clubs. The Department of Justice estimates the average age for a girl to be trafficked into the commercial sex industry here in the U.S. is just 12 to 14 years old. A common scenario is for an older man to pose as a boyfriend, win her trust, and then become her pimp. Often the girl still views the man as her boyfriend. The Latino networks commonly use residential brothels, “delivery” services, and “cantinas” as legal cover for illegal activity. Asian networks hide behind escort services, karaoke bars, and Asian massage parlors (AMPs), according to Polaris Project.
CONNECTING THE DOTS Something perked Rando’s interest. Human trafficking hides behind AMPs? It’s so prevalent in the beauty industry it warrants an acronym? Hmm. She went to the computer and Googled “human trafficking nail salons.” With that search, Rando learned the nail industry is being used not as a way to empower women, but as a way to exploit them. She read through some stories: Amanda Kloer, editor at change.org, reports on women who were lured to America with promises of a job in a Long Island nail salon. The “nail salon” turned out to be a massage parlor where women were forced into prostitution. The salon owner, who was charged with human trafficking, used Craigslist to advertise services. Kloer references a similar story, also out of New York, where owners of Babi Nail
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Salon were accused of withholding pay and physically abusing workers. Phillip Martin, senior investigative reporter for NPR in Boston (WGBH), reports of human trafficking in Massachusetts. In Springfield, police raided a nail salon suspected to be a front for prostitution. In Boston, police investigated another salon, also for suspicions of human trafficking. Martin quotes Norma Ramos, executive director of the New York-based Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, “With nail salons ... you can have those women being labor trafficked to work in those salons during the day, and then pulled into sex trafficking at night.” In York, Pa., Jim McClure of York Blog reports on three people charged with conspiracy to commit forced labor trafficking by forcing two women to work in an area nail salon under the threat of being turned over to immigration. All three pleaded guilty and have been sentenced with fines, probation, or jail time. Alan Johnson, of the Columbus Dispatch, reports, “a multi-million dollar human trafficking scheme was operating out of nail salons in Ohio.” His report explained that 16 licensees lived at the same address in one case. Workers there were little more than “indentured servants.” There were more reports from New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio ... Rando had seen enough.
AN ACTIVIST IS BORN “I’m furious that this is happening in the nail industry,” says Rando. “It makes me so mad to think women are lied to, deceived, brought into the country, and then enslaved. Can you imagine what the woman is thinking? Does she wonder if the clients know, if this is just the way things are in America?” Along with her frustration over the nail industry being exploited, Rando’s concern is for the trapped individual. “I believe God cares for each of the individuals who are being abused,” she says. “It’s important to me that they not only get their life back, but that they know
GET INVOLVED To join Tomilynn Rando as a nail tech abolitionist, go to www.freemynailtech.com or e-mail her at freemynailtech@gmail.com.
JULY 2011
5/24/11 12:23:21 PM