On the surface this impresses me that, if you strip away the labels, such as “human trafficking” and “slavery”, what do you really have in this case?
“The victims told jurors that they were forced to vacuum, iron, cook, clean and shine shoes...” In what context?
If he was having them doing these things for other people, it would be the improper use of child labor. But if it was just in the home they shared, couldn’t these be called “chores”? That is, keeping house in exchange for room and board.
Likewise with the physical abuse:
“The victims said Toviave beat them with toilet plungers, broomsticks and electrical cords and deprived them of food and sleep if they didn’t follow orders.”
Again, this is all contextual. In most of the world, if children do not obey, they get some form of corporal punishment, such as a spanking. But even in the US, parents have long used electrical cords, “switches”, and spankings, for just this reason. Of course it is still controversial, and is popularly discouraged, but it is not entirely rare. Especially among recent immigrants.
Other than that, he did smuggle them into the country illegally, and is not related to them. But what does this mean?
Togo is a tiny, poor, West African nation, with the average salary about $1000/yr. Mostly agricultural and hard labor for small wages.
Parents there would likely jump at a chance for their children to be smuggled into the US, to have the opportunity for prosperity some day. They probably begged this guy to take their kids for this reason.
So is this guy really a monster who deserves 11 years in prison?
Yes,
And we American citizens should stand for crap like that because...(?)
Yes, and more. He brought these kids into this country illegaly and posed them as his kids, and used them as "slaves".
What would you think would be appropriate for this scum?
FMCDH(BITS)
You’re missing the “deprived of food and sleep”. There is never any context where this is acceptable with children.
Yes.
At a minimum, he deserves it for smuggling in illegal aliens.