Human Rights/Human trafficking
Human trafficking involves individuals of all ages, who may be subject to sexual or labor exploitation as a result of being tricked, lured, coerced, or forced into a vulnerable situation by traffickers. Federal law, through the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, defines trafficking as:
1. “Sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age;” or
2. “[T]he recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.”
Human trafficking comes in a variety of forms and may be difficult to distinguish. It may include individuals involved in prostitution, exotic dancing, domestic servitude, sweatshops, begging and/or agricultural work. In 2000, Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act providing protection to immigrant victims of trafficking. This law provides survivors a means to qualify for a T visa to remain in the United States and to have a path to legal residency.
Our firm can provide effective help with legal issues related to human trafficking, and seeking remedies that is allowable under Illinois law for survivors of human trafficking.
