{"id":5937,"date":"2018-06-08T19:10:25","date_gmt":"2018-06-08T19:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/?p=5937"},"modified":"2025-06-10T14:42:54","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T18:42:54","slug":"separating-immigrant-families-increases-human-trafficking-vulnerabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/statements-and-press-releases\/separating-immigrant-families-increases-human-trafficking-vulnerabilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Separating Immigrant Families Increases Vulnerabilities to Human Trafficking"},"content":{"rendered":"

June 8, 2018<\/em><\/p>\n

Safe Horizon established our Anti-Trafficking Program (ATP) in 2001 to provide coordinated case management and legal services for survivors of human trafficking in New York City. Today, ATP is the largest provider of anti-trafficking services on the East Coast, and one of the largest in the U.S. We work directly with clients, and we increase public awareness through advocacy, trainings, and technical assistance. As a thought leader in the victims services field, we have developed and currently provide trainings on recognizing and combating the effects of human trafficking, a service which we deliver locally, state-wide, and nationally, including to policymakers, as a member of the Alliance To End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST).<\/p>\n

Below is a statement from ATEST, which Safe Horizon is a member of. They explain how separating immigrant families increases vulnerabilities to human trafficking:<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has signaled a\u00a0potential plan<\/a>\u00a0to use military bases for holding immigrant children who cross the southern border. These children would include both unaccompanied minors and children separated from their families by the U.S. government. The Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST) issued the following statement in opposition.<\/p>\n

The administration\u2019s proposed plan to use military bases for detaining unaccompanied minors and children forcibly separated from their families after crossing the southern border into the United States is deeply troubling and will have significant adverse consequences. This policy would disrupt and harm families that are separated during detention. It is also in stark contrast to existing Office of Refugee Resettlement policy of placing an unaccompanied child in the least restrictive setting that is in the best interests of the child.<\/p>\n

Foreign national minors crossing into the United States, whether unaccompanied or subsequently separated from their families, are already uniquely vulnerable to human trafficking. Many risk factors that contribute to the human trafficking of foreign-national youth \u2013 including language barriers, lack of a support system, economic vulnerability and a history of prior abuse, among others \u2013 already exist for many minors crossing into the United States. These factors would be exacerbated by this potential detention policy. Deliberate isolation of immigrant youth directly eliminates any safety net they may have had in the U.S., and renders them completely reliant on potential traffickers. Furthermore, this policy may encourage families to separate even before coming into contact with law enforcement, and to avoid such contact, which renders each individual more vulnerable to trafficking and less likely to access assistance if they are victims of trafficking.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act (TVPA)<\/a>\u00a0defines human trafficking as a modern form of slavery and includes both sex and labor trafficking. Immigrant youth who meet the federal definition of trafficking encompass all genders and demographics and are at risk of forced labor, sexual exploitation or survival sex. They may not know their rights or understand that they are being exploited, and further restricting their movement by detention increases their vulnerability to traffickers seeking to exploit their lack of opportunities for legitimate work and fear of deportation. In many cases, individuals entering the U.S., including children, are fleeing human trafficking in their country of origin.<\/p>\n

It is critical that the administration ensure that all families crossing the southern border are not separated, but are instead kept together to strengthen their social safety networks and that unaccompanied minors are given immediate access to interpreters, culturally competent services, legal and immigration assistance, housing and medical care, and assistance with family reunification.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration has signaled a potential plan to use military bases to hold immigrant children who cross the southern border. Read how this plan could make these children and families more vulnerable to human trafficking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":{"id":4678,"alt_text":"Safe Horizon: Empowering victims and survivors to find safety, support, connection, and hope","caption":"","description":"","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":1599,"height":549,"file":"2016\/04\/silhouette_hero_image.png","sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"silhouette_hero_image-150x150.png","width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/silhouette_hero_image-150x150.png"},"medium":{"file":"silhouette_hero_image-300x103.png","width":300,"height":103,"mime-type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/silhouette_hero_image-300x103.png"},"medium_large":{"file":"silhouette_hero_image-768x264.png","width":768,"height":264,"mime-type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/silhouette_hero_image-768x264.png"},"large":{"file":"silhouette_hero_image-1024x352.png","width":1024,"height":352,"mime-type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/silhouette_hero_image-1024x352.png"},"1536x1536":{"file":"silhouette_hero_image-1536x527.png","width":1536,"height":527,"mime-type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/silhouette_hero_image-1536x527.png"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"post":2,"source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/silhouette_hero_image.png"},"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2013],"tags":[935,336,933,133,937,527],"class_list":["post-5937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-statements-and-press-releases","tag-alliance-to-end-slavery-and-trafficking","tag-anti-trafficking-program","tag-atest","tag-human-trafficking","tag-the-alliance-to-end-slavery-and-trafficking","tag-tvpa","issue-human-trafficking"],"acf":{"page_header_title":"","page_header_excerpt":"","page_header_image":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/silhouette_hero_image.png","original_url":"","related_initiative_title":"How do we help survivors of human trafficking?","related_initiative_link":"\/get-help\/human-trafficking\/","related_initiative_link_text":"Learn about our services","featured_posts":[{"ID":4377,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2017-04-25 20:01:39","post_date_gmt":"2017-04-25 20:01:39","post_content":"\"Olivia\r\n\r\nApril 25, 2017<\/em>\r\nBy Olivia Wilson<\/em>\r\n\r\nHuman trafficking is one of the world's fastest growing criminal enterprises. The Safe Horizon Anti-Trafficking Program (ATP) assists victims of this crime including men and women, adults and children, foreign nationals and U.S. citizens in cases of both labor trafficking and sex trafficking. While some victims of trafficking are hidden behind locked doors in private homes or brothels, others are in plain sight in restaurants, hotels or retail stores. Traffickers use a variety of tactics to control their victims including physical restraint and psychological coercion.\r\n\r\nSince 2000, the U.S. has taken a global, holistic approach to combating human trafficking by enacting and reauthorizing the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), the first comprehensive federal law to address human trafficking. After its initial passing, every several years the law has to be reauthorized, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), to maintain core measures and increase protections to ensure we continue the fight against an evolving crime. In this post, I will explain the important components of this law and how it enables our ATP to help human trafficking victims.\r\n

Explanation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act<\/h1>\r\nThe three arms of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act are prevention, protection and prosecution.\r\n