Trafficked Children and Youth in the United States by Gozdziak Elzbieta M

Author:Gozdziak, Elzbieta M.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SOC047000 Social Science / Children's Studies
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Published: 2016-05-09T16:00:00+00:00

Identification Challenges

Analisa is an example of a minor who should have been identified as a victim of human trafficking much earlier in the course of her journey to and within the United States if the authorities she came into contact with were properly equipped to identify child victims. Unfortunately, the fact that Analisa traveled to the United States on fraudulent papers in the company of a young woman who was neither her mother nor her legal guardian did not arouse any suspicion on the part of immigration officials at the U.S.-Mexico border. While the fraudulent papers might have been difficult to spot, the border patrol should have asked questions about the relationship between Analisa and Carmen. Later on, representatives of local police also did not seem to be overly concerned that a twelve-year-old girl did not attend school, nor did they ask about her legal guardians. They simply ordered Carmen to enroll Analisa in school and thought the matter resolved. When she stopped attending school, responsible officials did not follow up. Still later, authorities at a checkpoint on the road leading from California to a neighboring state also failed to identify Analisa as a victim of trafficking. Again, a minor traveling alone without any documentation was thought of as a child violating immigration laws, not as a possible victim of trafficking. Additionally, she spent several months in the custody of state Child Protective Services without being identified as a victim and was released to a stranger connected to her trafficker.

Analisa could also have been identified as a victim of child trafficking during the eight months she spent in the detention facility. This length of time should have given the staff ample opportunity to identify her as a trafficked minor, not a mere violator of immigration law. As a child detainee, it is likely that social services personnel interviewed Analisa at least a couple of times and asked about her family and migration experiences. The staff seems to have been ill-equipped to ask appropriate questions that could have led to proper identification of her trafficking circumstances. The detention center’s personnel not only had more time but also more responsibility than the Border Patrol to assess her situation. It appears that they missed the problem entirely; perhaps because they were not well versed in the antitrafficking law and did not receive appropriate training in interviewing children and adolescents.

Experts suggest that first contact with unidentified child victims would most likely be made by one of the following groups: (1) immigration officials at or between ports of entry and at detention facilities, (2) local law enforcement, or (3) service providers such as educational, social service, and medical providers.22 Improvements at the border have the most potential for increasing the identification of child victims of trafficking. At the time when Analisa traveled to the United States, there were no bilateral protocols in place at U.S. borders to identify trafficking cases at initial apprehension. The “gentlemen’s agreement” between Mexico and the United States calls for returning all Mexican minors to Mexican authorities.

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