| | |  Editorials | Issues | December 2009 
Modern-Day Slavery in Mexico and the United States - 2
 Megan McAdams - Council on Hemispheric Affairs
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December 22, 2009
 |  | The State Department classifies Mexico as a source, transit, and a destination nation for human trafficking. |  | | |
The Trafficking Process
At a macro-level, individuals are “pushed” from countries that have few economic or educational opportunities available and “pulled” towards wealthier countries that have a demand for sex and labor. These countries are typically impoverished and suffering from conflicts or natural disasters. Victims in developing countries are especially susceptible to traffickers’ offers of economic prosperity in a developed country, like the U.S. As social turmoil typically weakens the law enforcement system, traffickers can operate without fear of being prosecuted and brought to justice. Victims of trafficking do not necessarily arrive to their destination countries immediately, but are instead passed through what is known as a transit country. The final point in a victim’s journey is entering the destination country where he or she is subsequently exploited for labor or sex. Throughout the process, traffickers employ a combination of deception and force to capture and terrorize their victims.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, individuals who are trafficked fall victim to acts of force, fraud, and coercion. The vast majority of human trafficking victims are raped, physically abused, and confined by their captors. According to the United Nation’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 95 percent of trafficking victims experience physical or sexual violence. This violence frequently occurs during the first stage of victimization, termed the “seasoning process,” where captors abuse victims in order to break their resistance and make them easier to control. Trafficked individuals also fall prey to false promises such as offers for employment in other countries. Women and children typically reply to advertisements for positions as waitresses, maids, or dancers and are subsequently trafficked into brothels and other forced labor situations.
Finally, coercion in trafficking cases often involves the captors threatening the victim or the victim’s family with physical harm if the trafficked individual fails to cooperate. Traffickers often steal important government issued documents, like passports or identity cards, from the individual in an attempt to impede his or her escape. Additionally, individuals are often caught in endless cycles of debt bondage. The trafficker typically argues that the individual must work to pay off the cost of the trans-border passage, while also paying for living expenses in the host country. According to the U.S. Health and Human Services, “fines for not meeting daily quotas of service or ‘bad’ behavior are also used by some trafficking operations to increase debt” of their victims. Individuals are thus caught in a cycle of debt and, due to language, social, and physical barriers they are reluctant to seek assistance from local authorities or family members back home. Each year, according to the U.S. State Department, between 14,500 and 17,500 individuals are trafficked into the United States with a large percentage of these victims originating from or traveling through Mexico.
Mexican Drug and Human Trafficking
The U.S.-Mexico border is an especially conflicted area where transnational crime is rampant. Mexican President Felipe Calderon explained the relationship between criminal activity in Mexico and the U.S. saying, “the more secure Mexico is, the more secure the United States will be.” As Mexico and the U.S. are connected physically and through criminal links, issues the Mexican government deals with will subsequently impact the U.S. Many of the Mexican criminal networks notable for narcotrafficking are also involved in human trafficking. According to the Inter Press Service, “at least 20 networks are involved in the trafficking of persons, with links to organised crime rings involved in other activities like drug smuggling.” Rampant corruption plagues the U.S.-Mexico border, where high-ranking Mexican officials have been accused of taking bribes from drug rings. According to Gary Hale, DEA intelligence chief for Houston, the U.S. effort to end the drug war has forced these criminal networks to seek “other crime activities to generate their income.” Hale reports that, due to the U.S. government’s crackdown on drug trafficking, crime rings income has decreased significantly. As a result, many of the criminal networks have searched for other activities, like human trafficking, to supplement their income.
Ambassador C. de Baca believes that focusing on eradicating human trafficking could improve U.S.-Mexican efforts to combat other forms of transnational crime. According to C. de Baca, human trafficking “appears to be an area where the [Mexican government] is prepared to cooperate with [the U.S.].” C. de Baca and others are hopeful that the exchange of information on human trafficking cases will build relationships between Mexican and U.S. officials that might help further combat the drug war.
Trafficking in Mexico
The State Department classifies Mexico as a source, transit, and a destination nation for human trafficking. The State Department also has labeled Mexico a “Tier 2” country, meaning that it has yet to fully implement effective anti-trafficking measures. While many Mexican states have adopted measures to criminalize human trafficking, the report found that “no convictions or stringent punishments against trafficking offenders were reported last year.” The government’s failure to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice further enables this damaging industry to effectively function. The trafficking industry is also contingent on corruption at the local level and, as many officials routinely receive generous bribes from traffickers, few regional trafficking measures are strictly enforced.
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