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Monday, March 1, 2004
In the shadows:
Leaders must confront modern slavery
NEWS-JOURNAL EDITORIAL
The well-dressed woman had an air of success. She talked about jobs in restaurants, jobs taking care of children. About being treated as members of a family. About a beautiful new life and a bright new future. To the teenagers desperate to escape the grinding poverty of their tiny Mexican town, the promises must have been impressive enough for the girls to agree to be smuggled across the border. But the story of these girls — detailed in court records and in a stunning new report — shows that they were headed for a far different life: First plunged into a nightmare of serial rapes and beatings, then bundled like human cargo to a brothel where they would be forced to service men for 12 hours every day. Every few weeks, they would be moved to another location — a trick that kept them disoriented and deprived them of contact with anyone who might help them escape. This sounds like something that might have happened in Russia, Saudi Arabia or the Balkans. But the reality hits closer to home. The brutalized young women — described in a just-released report from the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights at Florida State University — were in Orlando, West Palm Beach, Tampa, Okeechobee and other cities. The brothels, operated by the Cadena family, were always near migrant-labor camps. The girls, constantly terrorized by guards and threatened with imprisonment if their illegal status was ever discovered, were told they were paying off the $2,000-$3,000 “fee” for smuggling them into the United States. But they never won their freedom. The Cadena ring has been broken up, and most of the family members are still in prison. But Florida law-enforcement officials told the center that other women — some from Mexico, some from Eastern European or Asian countries — have likely taken their place by now. These girls and women can be helped. Both state and federal officials have a moral imperative to see to it that they are. The story of the Cadena ring and other human trafficking cases reveals steps that might help. The first priority is outreach. In compiling the report, FSU researchers interviewed many of the women victimized by the Cadenas and discovered that many of them had access — however fleeting — to the outside world. They were taken to stores where they shopped under the watchful eyes of their captors. They had limited contact with medical personnel. Sometimes they were allowed to use restrooms unsupervised. A few tentatively reached out for help, but could not overcome language barriers or were rebuffed. What held them in captivity? Fear and ignorance. They didn’t know where to call or what would happen to them if they tried. Something as simple as a poster in a bathroom might be enough to give a woman a way out, the FSU report suggests. Beyond that, there must be training — for law enforcement, health-care workers, even store clerks — in areas where officials suspect human trafficking is taking place. The first break in the Cadena case came when two young women escaped from a Fort Lauderdale brothel and went to the Mexican consulate. South Florida officials didn’t know how to see what was happening right under their noses. Finally, there must be a guarantee of fair and compassionate treatment for the victims of trafficking. Many of the women abused by the Cadenas were then held in South Florida jails for months as material witnesses, an unnecessary trauma on top of an unbelievable ordeal. State and federal officials must work together to create shelters where victims of human slavery can take refuge. Before this, U.S. officials, Florida agencies and local law enforcement could plead ignorance. That excuse no longer exists. Once seen, these women — these slaves in the shadows of a free society — cannot be ignored.
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