By Kirk Maltais
Capital News Service
RICHMOND – A man in Falls Church kept as many as 24 Indonesian women locked in his basement over the course of eight years, using them as slave labor to run a housekeeping business for affluent clients.
A Maryland man pleaded guilty to coercing two juveniles into prostitution, hauling them to Hampton and Arlington to perform sex acts advertised on the Internet.
Four men in Richmond were indicted for allegedly forcing illegal immigrants from Mexico to work for a janitorial company.
Human trafficking is not confined to remote, poverty-stricken corners of the world. It happens in Virginia.
The General Assembly acknowledged the problem during this year’s legislative session. Lawmakers unanimously passed a resolution by Sen. Stephen Newman, R-Amherst, to denounce human trafficking and call on local governments, law enforcement officials and citizens to “work cooperatively to eradicate human trafficking in Virginia.”
“Human trafficking is reportedly the largest and fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world today, and is the modern day practice of slavery,” the resolution says.
“An estimated 27 million human beings worldwide are in the bonds of modern-day slavery, which occurs today in myriad forms including prostitution, pornography, mail order brides and forced marriages, domestic service, sweatshops, child labor, the commercial sexual abuse of children, abduction of children and adults to fight in armies, trafficking for adoption purposes, and factory, farm, and migrant farm work. …
“Although human trafficking is pervasive, it is an underreported crime, and combating the problem requires global public awareness of the problem, coordination of anti-trafficking efforts both worldwide and domestically, the conscious and deliberate involvement of all citizens, and the unequivocal declaration that the despicable practice, wherever it may be found, will not be condoned or tolerated in the Commonwealth.”
The U.S. Justice Department defines human trafficking as the “recruitment, harboring, provision, or obtaining” of a person for labor, services or commercial sex acts, using force, fraud or coercion to keep the person in a state of slavery. If a minor is involved, no coercion is necessary for it to be classified as human trafficking.
In 2007, the Justice Department obtained 103 human-trafficking convictions nationwide. That’s a tiny fraction of the problem: Officials estimate that between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year.
Experts rank the United States as the No. 1 destination for humans being trafficked.
Thirty-five states have laws against forced labor and involuntary servitude. Virginia has no such laws and thus relies on the federal government to address the issue.
On the federal level, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 organizes government agencies to better effectively fight human trafficking, while affording protection and social services to victims.
In Virginia, federal agencies such as the FBI investigate and prosecute human trafficking violations.
In late February, Soripada Lubis of Falls Church pleaded guilty to harboring 11 undocumented Indonesian women in his basement, forcing them to earn money for him by cleaning the houses of rich clients in Potomac, Md.
According to the FBI, Lubis kept as many as 24 women in slavery since 2000 and faces up to 10 years in prison.
Pili Cinese Greenfield of Lanham, Md., plead guilty to sex trafficking of a minor in September after his prostitution business, which included two juvenile victims, was busted. Greenfield transported his prostitutes to Hampton and Arlington, setting up shop in hotel rooms to perform sex acts advertised on Craigslist. Greenfield faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
In October, four men in Richmond were indicted for harboring illegal immigrants and money laundering, transporting and using illegal Mexican laborers for a local janitorial company. The FBI learned of the activity from workers who had fled the company’s “restrictive” working conditions. If convicted, the defendants face 10 to 20 years in prison.
“Human trafficking is something that we actively work in the Richmond division,” said Special Agent M.A Myers, media coordinator for the FBI’s Richmond field office.
Myers said the Richmond area sees its share of human trafficking cases; however, he does not believe it is a big problem here.
Other experts say the problem is bigger than authorities realize. They voiced their concerns recently to the Virginia Commission on the Prevention of Human Trafficking, a legislative group developing a state plan to stop human trafficking.
Dr. Saltanat Liebert, an assistant professor of government and public affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University, told the panel that not only is human trafficking severely underreported but Virginia is particularly susceptible to exploitation of migrant workers in prime industries.
“Virginia is vulnerable to human trafficking in agriculture, tobacco and seafood processing because these industries employ significant numbers of foreign workers and there are no resources to monitor work-site conditions,” Liebert said. “As a result, unscrupulous employers can abuse their workers with impunity.”
Facts about Human Trafficking
Number of people trafficked worldwide: Estimates range from 600,000 to 2.5 million a year. More than half of the victims are believed to be women and children.
Number of people trafficked into the United States: Estimated at between 14,500 and 17,500.
Average length of enslavement: Two to five years. Some victims have been enslaved for more than 20 years.
Kinds of trafficking: Sexual exploitation makes up 43 percent; labor exploitation, 32 percent; and the rest involve a mix of both.
Countries of origin: The top three countries for human trafficking victims are Thailand, Mexico and Russia.
Tactics of traffickers: They keep people enslaved by using rape, kidnapping, isolation and confinement; by using physical and psychological abuse; by threatening to harm the victim and the victim’s family; and by withholding the victim’s legal documents.
Number of convictions: The U.S. government obtained 103 convictions for human traffickers in 2007.
Government help: The United States offers a limited number of T-Visas to victims of human trafficking. Such visas allow the victims to stay in the country for up to three years. They may be eligible for permanent residency.
Sources: International Labor Organization, U.S. Justice Department, safestate.org
Kirk Maltais is a journalism student at Virginia Commonwealth University.