Trafficked Exotic Dancers Coerced into Leaving U.S. Before Trial

by Amanda Kloer · 2009-01-22 14:27:00 UTC
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Why don't trafficking victims leave their traffickers, if they aren't locked up?  This is a common question many people have when they learn about modern-day slavery and human trafficking.  There are a number of invisible chains which keep victims in slavery, one of which is that many victims have relied on their trafficker as their only source of information for so long, they begin to trust the trafficker.

Take this case as an example.  About a week ago, police discovered a group of Indian women they believed to be human trafficking victims in Lilburn, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta.  The women were being kept in a house by three men and

"...were held against their will and they were not allowed to go outside unless they were accompanied by one of the men."

Then yesterday, this related story reported that four of the six women had left the U.S.in a limousine in the middle of the night, the evening before the defendents' probable cause hearing.  Apparently, the defendant's lawyer orchestrated the removal of the victims.

"Lead detective Matt Lake of the Lilburn Police Department said an agent from the club came to the victims’ house on Saturday. Lake said the performers told him they were offered $850 and a plane ticket home if they agreed to go immediately to the airport in a provided limousine. If not, the man told them they would get nothing, Lake said."

For a woman who has been forced to work as an exotic dancer against her will for months, been denied her wages, and been only allowed to leave her house under escort, $850 and a plane ticket home sounds amazing.  Especially consider that the traffickers have probably been brainwashing the women with tales of how abusive, corrupt or uncaring the American police and legal system is.  Couple that with the likelihood that the traffickers and other women may be the only people these victims know in the country, would you stay and take your chances?

This is what we mean when we say "invisible chains."

Amanda Kloer is a Change.org Editor and has been a full-time abolitionist in several capacities for seven years. Follow her on Twitter @endhumantraffic
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