Report: 10,000 people in U.S. work in forced labor

SacBee ^ | September 25, 2004

[traumer]

SAN FRANCISCO - At any given time, some 10,000 people in the United States are forced to work against their will under threat of violence, a new report found. The report, "Hidden Slaves: Forced Labor in the United States," released Thursday by the Human Rights Center at University of California, Berkeley, and a Washington, DC-based nonprofit group called Free the Slaves, was based on interviews with social service providers, government officials, and labor advocates, as well as newspapers stories published between 1998-2003 that described incidents of forced labor.

One of eight cases explored in the report concerned Lakireddy Bali Reddy, the Berkeley landlord and restaurateur sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison in 2001 for smuggling teenage girls from India for sex and cheap labor.

[Boundless]

> ... some 10,000 people in the United States are
> forced to work against their will ...

And responding to the news, the Kerry-Edwards campaign,
which covertly supports Universal National Service, said:

"Well, that's a start."

[martin_fierro]

[Kokojmudd]

I wish I could find one of these slaves. I can't even get my kids to help out with yardwork.

[michaelbfree]

I do not believe anything that comes from Berkeley, land of the liberal looneys.

[vbmoneyspender]

I fall into this category whenever its time for the trash to be taken out.

[concerned about politics]

, "Hidden Slaves: Forced Labor in the United States,"

Taxpayers forced to support the demoncrat base?

[BerniesFriend]

Bush's fault

[oh8eleven]

...released Thursday by the Human Rights Center at University of California, Berkeley
Read no further.

[KStorm]

I thought AmeriCorps went out of business!

[Drango]

When Clinton was in office the 10,000 was closer to ZERO. See what happens when you elected Bush!

[concerned about politics]

When Clinton was in office the 10,000 was closer to ZERO. See what happens when you elected Bush!

And the homeless just sort of "vaporized" into thin air!!

[Arkinsaw]

Pure B.S. I saw an article the other day where one of the original leaders of the push to get abortion legalized admitted to using hyper-inflated numbers of deaths due to back-alley abortions. The number was actually very low but he promoted a ridiculously high annual number at the time which became accepted by public perception. He is pleased that he lied to the public at the time and considers it a big victory. He has no regrets and considers the big lie just part of a days work.

More of the same.

[Mark in the Old South]

Does this number include the *umm* how shall we say, ladies (as in white slavery) who work outside the office building of Gov. Bill Clintoon?

[Ostlandr]

This should be obvious to any conservative. Illegal aliens have to put up with whatever their employers tell them to do- otherwise they get turned in to the INS. It was quite a few years ago, but I remember the news of a fire in New York City's garment district. The fire victims were illegal aliens- unable to escape the flames because they were shackled to their sewing machines.
Meanwhile, despite JFKerry's claims of the "worst economy since the Great Depression" we have shortages in a lot of areas. Nurses, Auto Mechanics, Masons, Welders, etc.. This is why we nead more legal immigration, and NO illegal immigration. Fill these jobs that our kids don't want, and put more people on the tax rolls. Immigrants also tend to move into inner-city neighborhoods- better than where they came from- and bring the neighborhoods UP. Guyanese immigrants moved to NYC, started businesses, fixed up run-down properties, brought the neighborhood up (which made property values skyrocket) and are now leaving NYC for Schenectady, NY where they are doing the same thing all over again.
(FYI the local 'black community' hates the Guyanese worse than poison, as they make their community members look bad.)