Free Republic

WASHINGTON – As you read this story, about 10,000 people in the United States are being forced to work against their will under threat of violence, according to a new report. "Hidden Slaves: Forced Labor in the United States," released yesterday by the Human Rights Center at University of California, Berkeley, and a Washington-based nonprofit group called Free the Slaves, was based on interviews with social service providers, government officials, and labor advocates, as well as newspaper stories published between 1998-2003 that described incidents of forced labor. One of eight cases explored in the report concerned Lakireddy Bali Reddy, the...

A British father who has sold his 15-year-old daughter for $38,000 to pay off his gambling debts is being investigated by police. The girl, who lives in Bradford, contacted West Yorkshire Police three weeks ago to tell them that she had been sold and was to be sent abroad to be married to her new "owner". Her husband-to-be, an older man who was a family friend, would then become eligible to apply to become a British citizen in 12 months' time. Police have declined to comment on the case, although it is understood that they have so far been unable...

"Most Americans today believe slavery was outlawed in the United States many years ago, and they are correct. But they falsely believe that slavery doesn't exist in the United States and on that, they are sadly mistaken," said Wade Horn, assistant secretary U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families. During a news conference in Newark announcing the program, U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said federal prosecutors are conducting several investigations into trafficking rings. Archbishop John Myers promised a new anti-trafficking clearinghouse in Newark. Victims are often smuggled into the U.S. from their home countries with the...

For the past four years, Victor Malarek has immersed himself in the world of pimps, traffickers, rapists and some of the most disenfranchised women and girls in the world. One of Canada's leading investigative journalists, he is the author of a new book about the global sex trade, The Natashas, a harsh introduction into a business that causes uncalculated misery to hundreds of thousands of young women. The title refers to the generic name given by customers to the women and girls trafficked across international borders every year; the US State Department currently puts this figure at around 900,000, most...

WASHINGTON - The trafficking of human beings constitutes a ''growth industry'' in the United States, with more than 15,000 people forced into bondage each year as sex slaves or captive laborers, according to testimony before a Senate panel on Wednesday. Although federal laws enacted over the past three years have enabled prosecutors to crack major trafficking rings, two U.S. attorneys and leaders of victim advocacy groups warned that ''modern-day slavery'' is spread across the nation and appears to be growing. ''It seems like we're just touching the tip of the iceberg,'' said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who presided at Wednesday's...