By Khalida Sarwari
Every human trafficking advocate has a story about what compelled them to join the fight against the silent but pervasive human rights crisis, and on April 11 Judith Hamilton shared hers with a small audience at the Saratoga Library.
Hamilton is a Sunnyvale resident and volunteer with the Bay Area Anti-Trafficking Coalition, a group that helps people and civic and nonprofit groups fight human trafficking regionally and beyond, as well as for Freedom House, a nonprofit organization that provides shelter to victims of human trafficking.
According to Free the Slaves, a group that fights modern-day slavery, there are currently 27 million victims of human trafficking, an epidemic defined as the recruitment and transportation of people by force, fraud, deception or coercion for the purpose of exploiting them economically. The Department of Justice estimates that anywhere between 800,000 to 900,000 people are trafficked into the U.S. yearly, with the victims lured by promises of marriage, education or employment.
Sex trafficking makes up 72 percent of the $150 billion a year industry while labor trafficking is 28 percent. Sex trafficking cases take place in the realm of prostitution, brothels, massage parlors, strip clubs, escort services, the Internet, pornography, mail-order brides and casinos. Labor trafficking can be found in restaurants, hotels, domestic servitude, agricultural labor, fishing, mining and quarrying, manufacturing, the military, street peddling, door-to-door sales and rebel armies.
According to Hamilton, California is among the top five states that struggle with human trafficking, with three of the 10 worst child sex trafficking areas being San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. The worst part is that under California law, human trafficking carries a lighter penalty than rape or kidnapping, according to Hamilton.
While sharing examples of trafficking cases throughout the Bay Area, Hamilton highlighted companies such as Bloom Energy in Sunnyvale, which she claimed brought over a team of men from Mexico and paid them a wage of $3.45 an hour.
There’s also the tragic story of Minh Dang, a former San Jose resident and UC-Berkeley graduate who spoke up a few years ago about the abuse she endured at the hands of her own parents, claiming that they teamed up to sell her for sex starting at age 10.
And Saratoga is no stranger to the epidemic of human trafficking. Last November, three San Jose residents were arrested for bringing over Spainish nationals and forcing them to work at TapaOle on Cox Avenue and Utopik Salon on Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road.
There was another incident, said Hamilton, involving a man who operated brothels in San Francisco but brought customers over to his house in the hills in Saratoga.
One reason that human trafficking is a persistent problem here in the Bay Area, Hamilton said, is that it is home to three airports, and perpetrators will often use them as “launching pads” to lure men.
“We have a lot of men in this area who are single and very affluent,” she said.
Hamilton encouraged her audience to cultivate a keener eye for potential victims of exploitation at coffee shops, nail salons, massage parlors and hotels and restaurants, and to report those instances by calling the National Human Trafficking Resource Center’s national hotline at 888.373.7888.
“Never approach someone and ask if they’re being trafficked,” said Hamilton. “It’s dangerous for them and dangerous for you. You need to be very very cautious about it. Call the police. Don’t risk their safety or yours.”
Here are some signs to look out for: people who don’t have identity papers or documentation, don’t know their home or work address, are withdrawn or don’t make eye contact and are not free to come and go as they wish. Victims will often show signs of verbal or psychological abuse and indicate that someone else controls their money.
Among the reasons why victims don’t self-identify, according to Hamilton, is that they fear their captors, are isolated by their traffickers, are coached to give a cover story, fear retaliation, have Stockholm Syndrome or severe trauma and are not aware of legal benefits.
Places where human trafficking is taking place will have such telltale signs as video cameras and gates, barbed wires on the outside of windows, different men entering and exiting and no women exiting.
Finally, Hamilton extolled the value of organizations such as the the Monarch and Freedom House, both of which house survivors, along with homeless shelters, battered women’s’ shelters and foster homes. Sometimes victims will turn to family and sadly, other times they’ll return to their trafficking environment, said Hamilton.
The Freedom House is hosting its seventh annual gala and charity auction at the Crowne Plaza in Foster City on April 30 at 6 p.m. Tickets are $100 per person, with proceeds to benefit survivors of human trafficking. The keynote will be given by former San Francisco Giants pitcher Jeremy Affeldt, who will speak about his commitment to eradicate modern-day slavery.
