Human trafficking and T visa

A few days ago, I read a newspaper article about a wealthy Chinese woman in Woodbury,  Minnesota who was charged with several felony counts related to human labor trafficking. The accused was said to have hired a nanny from China and forced her to work for 18 hours a day caring for the family and cleaning the house. The nanny was also physically assaulted and threatened to be killed even after just some minor infractions. She was verbally and emotionally abused by taking her passport away from her to ensure that she was going nowhere. The extraordinarily malnourished nanny, who cannot even speak any word of English, was later found wandering in the streets of Woodbury trying to find an airport in an attempt to return back to China.

This story is not uncommon. It even happened to one of our own. I am reminded of a similar case involving a Filipino couple, both successful doctors in Milwaukee who were found guilty by a federal court of human trafficking charges. This case has become the first to be ever successfully prosecuted for forced labor conviction not involving the use of violence but rather through fraud and threats of deportation. This couple practically kept a modern-day slave for almost twenty years. The indentured servant testified that this couple recruited and brought her from the Philippines using a tourist visa.

During her time with them, she was hidden from their palatial home, forbidden from going outside the house and was always threatened with deportation if she were discovered to be an illegal alien. She was made to work almost 12 hours a day everyday, with her salary of $ 400 a month but was never actually given to her as it was supposedly sent by the couple to her family in the Philippines. She was always promised of a greencard which never came. Through machinations and schemes, her identity was always kept a secret.

Even the couples' children joined them in this fraud. This poor maid did not see her family in the Philippines, missed a lot of milestones - birthdays, anniversaries and funerals. She even wanted to have a family and children of her own but already surrendered the possibility that she may never be able to because of her plight. Her situation was only discovered when an ex-wife of the couple's son called the US immigration authorities and reported about this intrafamilial crime. What is disturbing in this whole episode is that even the Filipino community in Milwaukee was conflicted over this matter. Some defended the couple's actions as part of Filipino culture and tradition while others think that the servant was out to exploit the couple for money.

These two real life cases mentioned here are not the only instances of the egregious crime of human trafficking. This modern form of slavery goes vastly unreported and undetected because most, if not all victims are undocumented and illegal immigrants, women, children and stowaways, poor and uneducated and are largely the vulnerable and the weak groups of our society. Though there are a number of laws against human trafficking, yet it has not been wholly effective as we still see thousands of people being trafficked into the US every year.

One very notable law that serves to address the issue on human trafficking is the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 which imposes higher sentences for human smugglers and provides resources for protection and assistance of the victims. Under that law, a victim of human trafficking may be able to remain in the US and is eligible to apply for a T visa, including their spouses, children, parents and siblings. To qualify for a T visa, one must have been a victim of trafficking; be present in the US on account of the trafficking; assist in the investigation and prosecution of human trafficking and; must show that he would suffer extreme hardship if he were to be deported from the US. While initially, a T visa is a non-immigrant visa, the victim can apply for a permanent residence status after three years.

So you may ask, what happened to the Filipina maid and the couple? In a reversal of fortune akin to a teleserye ending, the couple lost their medical licenses, served six years in federal prison and has since been deported back to the Philippines. They were also ordered to pay the maid $ 900,000 in restitution and additional $ 1 million in punitive damages. The Filipina maid obtained US permanent residency through the T visa and remained in the US. But significantly, greater than the greencard and even more so, higher than any monetary award, she got her freedom back.

(Editor’s Note: This column is not a substitute for professional legal advice obtained from a US licensed immigration attorney. The information contained herein does not constitute a warranty or guarantee or legal advice regarding a reader's specific immigration case. No attorney-client relationship is and shall be established with any reader.

For any questions, comments and observations, please contact Atty. Marco Tomakin at [email protected])