TALLAHASSEE — Prompted by sordid tales of intimidation and servitude, a legislative panel Wednesday voted to bolster penalties for those who profit from the illegal trafficking of humans.
South Florida in particular has become a focal point in a growing investigation into the long-silent world of modern-day slavery, whose victims toil in fields, kitchens and streets as farm laborers, domestic servants, prostitutes and sex slaves.
“We now have slavery in Florida,” state Sen. Glen Margolis, D-Bay Harbor Island, told members of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee shortly before the panel unanimously approved her bill.
The measure would increase penalties for human trafficking by adding racketeering to the list of offenses. The measure also sets up an education program for circuit and county judges who preside over such cases.
Under state racketeering laws, those convicted face a first-degree felony punishable by prison terms of up to 30 years, fines and forfeiture of property. An identical bill has been filed in the Florida House by Rep. Anne Gannon, D-Delray Beach.
State lawmakers last addressed the issue in 2004, making it a second-degree felony to force people into labor and a first-degree felony to force minors into sexual servitude.
The issue of human trafficking has special significance in Collier, where recent investigations netted convictions and spurred national attention. In response, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office has set up an anti-trafficking unit and local advocates have been working with local, state and federal officials to crack down on unscrupulous labor contractors. An anti-trafficking unit also was set up in Lee County.
“In as far as it could bolster the state law, that is a positive thing,” said Coalition of Immokalee Workers member Lucas Benitez, whose organization received the 2003 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for its work uncovering slavery in Florida. “But in practice, the impact of the law is only as strong as the aggressive enforcement that the state puts behind it.”
Benitez said the education provision is also important and should be expanded to include not only judges, but the law enforcement officials who are the first line of defense in the war against slave labor.
Numbers are elusive, but a U.S. Department of State report for 2005 estimates that 600,000 to 800,000 people, mostly women, are trafficked across borders worldwide. Nearly half are children and most are being used for sexual purposes, either as prostitutes or sex slaves. Of those, an estimated 50,000 are being held in the United States.
While many eventual victims are smuggled across the border with promises of work, others enter the country legally. They come on tourist visas or under the federal guest worker program, which restricts their ability to move from employer to employer.
Sometime during their journey, however, the “rules” change and they are coerced into servitude.
Some are told they need to pay off debts. Others are threatened with physical abuse or deportation. Denied access to social services, advocacy groups and legal counsel, many don’t know they are victims at all.
“These are children that they bring over and make into prostitutes,” said Sen. Fredricka Wilson, D-Miami. “It is almost unconscionable.”
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