La Strada Documentation Center

Hidden Victims: Evaluating Protections for Undocumentated Victims of Human Trafficking.

Document number
1345
Date
2005
Title
Hidden Victims: Evaluating Protections for Undocumentated Victims of Human Trafficking.
Author/publisher
Alexandra Webber & David Shirk
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
Immigration Policy in Focus (division of the American Immigration Law Foundation), Vol.4, Issue 8.
Summary
In the United States, human traffickers most frequently exploit the desperation of undocumented immigrants as a means of obtaining victims. But, until recently, undocumented trafficking victims were precluded by their lack of legal status from receiving government protections typically available to other crime victims and were unable to remain in the United States to assist in the prosecution of their abusers. To address this problem, Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA). Under this law, undocumented immigrants who are victims of “severe” forms of human trafficking may be eligible for temporary non-immigration status and a limited number of public benefits. Despite the legal innovations of the TVPA, the number of people who have actually received protection under the law is relatively low, especially when compared to estimates of how many trafficking victims are in the United States. However, ultimately, the main problem is that there is insufficient evidence regarding the actual number of qualifying cases of “severe” human trafficking in the United States.
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