Immigration & Labor

Throughout the 1900s, as social and political movements transformed U.S. culture and impacted

issues such as immigration and labor laws, many incidents of exploitative labor and poor working conditions became more apparent and frequent while paralleling strikes and protests related to racial equality, organizing unions in the workplace, gender equality, and child labor (7). A prime example of this was the immigration of Filipinos to the U.S. in the early 1920s and 1930s who would eventually meet the demand of agricultural work through exploitative labor practices, racial discrimination (turned to violence and physical harm), and low wages under the designated federal minimum wage. Throughout the influx of Filipino (the first being referred to as “Manong” or “older brother”) migrants to the U.S., it was prevalent that Filipino men made up the majority of Filipino farm and agricultural workers as “Filipino men in the U.S. outnumbered Filipina women 14 to one" (8). During the time of heightened social activism in the 1960s, the discrimination, low pay, prevention from starting families, and lack of health coverage led many Filipino workers to create the Filipino Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC). After the bold strike against the Delano grape growers in 1965, the AWOC eventually “partnered with Cesar Chavez and Mexican-American workers, (...) together they formed the United Farm Workers Movement that ultimately improved working conditions for all farm workers" (9). As growing concern over poor labor practices and worker’s rights grew, so would the U.S. nation’s attention toward instances of labor trafficking, even if those cases fell under a different name.

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The 'Bondage' Ring

In 1997, the case of the ‘Bondage’ Ring in New York caught the attention of the nation as both

federal and local authorities became involved in the case which began on “July 19 when two deaf and mute Mexican peddlers and two interpreters walked into a precinct house in the New York borough of Queens with a note" (10). The case involved the smuggling of all deaf and some mute Mexican immigrants into the U.S. to work as peddlers to sell trinkets and small items originally throughout New York city and in the subway stations. They were forced to use their disability to drive sales of trinkets in order to pay off looming debt set by their smugglers as repayment for bringing them into the U.S. However, the investigation led federal authorities to discover that “the operation, based in New York, expanded to Los Angeles, Chicago, Baltimore, Washington and North Carolina” where dozens of deaf Mexican victims were identified and given support" (11). Many newspapers covering the developing story noted that the smugglers and captors the victims lived had their passports and documentation withheld, were often crammed into tight living spaces “some crowded 10 to a room”, were not given any, if very little, pay for their daily sales profits, and were “physically and sexually abused" (12).

Although human trafficking was not a concept widely referenced in media and news outlets

to describe similar cases, mayor of New York at the time, Rudy Giuliani, was quoted as saying, “this is a situation that is totally mind-boggling, that people would be taken in bondage and virtual slavery, they were essentially being used as slaves" (13). Indicative of the lack of awareness of not only human trafficking but labor trafficking within the U.S. and abroad, this case was referenced to as an example of slavery, bondage, and exploitation when the case was much more complex involving notably sexual abuse and withheld personal documents.