Given the limited opportunities to leave their trafficking situations, victims had to conceive a plan to escape. Some victims tried more than once before successfully escaping. Our case records data indicate that 11 percent of victims had made previous efforts to seek help and escape. As described in chapter 6, some victims had contact with bystanders and had attempted to inform them of their situation in order to get help. After running away, this survivor tried to flag down cars for help:
Yeah, run away and I didn’t run away, [I] mean she slapped me, right, she put me and she putting me outside and she say, “Hey, get out from my house, get out from my house!” I say, “I will get out, send me my country, I don’t want to stay,” and she said, “No, you get out from here, I don’t want to send to you, get out,” and she locked the door. She put me outside and she locked the door, and I said, “Okay, I will go,” and what I did, I ran away. Run, I running, I get out from their house. I start walking and so nobody helping me, I call like two or three cars, I tried to stop and I tried to help them. But nobody stopped. (site 2, survivor 3, female, domestic servitude)
The level of planning involved in each of the escapes varied. Some victims escaped with the help of their social network and worked strategically to leave their situation, and others jumped on
opportunities of narrowed surveillance or the support of strangers to escape. Our review of labor trafficking victim case file data42 revealed that 59 percent of the victims escaped by running away. The support of community members, service providers, and friends was also instrumental in helping victims leave their trafficker. Seeking help from community members accounted for 38 percent of escapes, 21 percent of escapes were credited to service providers, and help from a friend accounted for 20 percent. Law enforcement was also involved in helping victims escape, although their contact with victims greatly varied. In 19 percent of cases, victims were identified by authorities and removed from their trafficking situation. In 7 percent of cases police responded to a victim’s direct outreach for help. However, not all contact with authorities was positive. In 14 percent of cases victims were arrested by authorities (most commonly for being unauthorized immigrants).
Victims’ methods of exit from labor trafficking varied greatly. In many cases, their escape was not the result of one sole action or individual but a combined effort among multiple actors. This
collaboration among actors and blurred distinction among the different escape methods are clearly exemplified in the stories of victims who escaped by running away, the most common method of leaving. For victims who did not have a social network in the United States and whose isolated work environment prevented them from developing social ties, such as victims confined to the domestic sphere or agriculture, leaving their trafficker by running away was one of the only ways out. By relying on opportunities of narrowed surveillance and the good intentions of strangers, many victims were able to leave their trafficking situation. Unexpected events such as a door being left open, trafficker’s being on vacation, or obtaining the passcode to the garage door were fundamental to victims’ ability to escape. Such events allowed for reduced vigilance and gave victims the opportunity to leave, as the quotations below demonstrate.
At night it was snowing and I looked at the door and the alarm wasn’t set yet. It was still green. I thought to myself that I couldn’t communicate with people so I took with me some chili, chili pepper. And I was already given my passport back one week before. And I could show people my Indonesian passport. And there was some Indonesian money. And when I did the Mr.’s laundry I had found $5. I took it from the shirt pocket. I left and I didn’t know where to go. At that time it was snowing, so everything was covered in snow. It was past 11 p.m. . . . I had on sleeping clothes, like a nightgown. (site 1b, survivor 4, female, domestic servitude)
And I asked the driver, “Please, please can you give the pass . . . the key number for the door because I’m going to leave the house.” Because the driver knows everything. And he told me, “Don’t tell them that I give you the number.” The driver felt sorry for me because he knows how they treat me. He want to help me too because . . . when I asked, [he said,] “Okay I’m going to give you, but be careful, be careful. Don’t tell them that I give you.” (site 1, survivor 5, female, domestic servitude)
One day he hide it and I find it and when I get the passport, I just get out again. I left with no shoes. I downstairs doors were always locked. The children were always there watching me so I could not leave downstairs. Upstairs the door was unlocked and there is stairs. I went out door and downstairs and left. I didn’t go straight, I had to turn in and out so they would not see me [gestures with arm]. I find some people that are walking. I asked them to call the police, they said they would not. I showed them my passport and my bare feet and they gave me some shoes. I went so far again. I found one person. I showed him my passport and I asked him to call the police. He told me to get in the car and told the driver to take me to the police station. I told the police and they took me to the shelter and that is how I got to [service provider]. (site 2, survivor 1, female, domestic servitude)
Because when I say to them about my passport and jewelry and their response was that they would kill me and bury me in the backyard. After late afternoon I found the door open. I would put the baby inside [suspect 1: husband] room. I have to survive without carrying anything at all if I want to survive and live. After I got out from the opening of the door in the late afternoon. So I put the baby in [suspect 1: husband] room and I got out and I walk and walk and walk and walk and I came to [street name] Boulevard in [area site 1 city]. I got inside a shop and I ask a fellow brother to please call me a taxi. There is a woman named [bystander 2] and I went to [bystander 2’s] house. (site 1, survivor 3, female, domestic servitude)
Our exit, like I said we went to a gas station. And from the gas station, we got another, how do you say it, another truck, and during that time, we stopped at another gas station. And it was the following day because the friend took us to a home. He told us, “Well, you are just roaming, let me take you to a house.” And because we didn’t know, we got to a house and settled there that night. And the next day, to our surprise, there was a nun who would come with bread and clothes to that place and there were lots of other workers, too. (site 3, survivors 8 and 9, male, agriculture)
Victims’ initiative played a key role in ensuring a successful escape, as did the support of
community members. These combined forces allowed victims to escape and to access the services they needed. In several cases, once fleeing from the trafficker’s proximity, victims fortuitously met a person who spoke their native language or knew to take them to social service providers or authorities. Many times this community member was a taxi driver, a faith leader, or a perceptive stranger who sensed that something was wrong and took the time to speak to the victim. These strangers were able to appropriately direct victims to places in their community where they could connect with members of their ethnic community or service providers who could offer them more support. An accidental encounter with a stranger was key to this victim’s successfully receiving support:
And I . . . the only night that I got out, managed to get out, was a night in which they all somehow slept. All of them were sleeping. So that’s how I managed to escape away. When I left the door, I came down . . . down and then there was a cafeteria down. And somehow I encountered with a Somali person and I told him about my situation and he then facilitated and connected me to other female Somalis. (site 3, survivor 6, female, domestic servitude)
Some victims met helpful strangers during the their victimization. These community members, including neighborhood residents, were aware of some form of victimization, either through
conversations with victims, events they had witnessed or overheard, and sometimes simply from their own intuition. These individuals played a big role in extending support to victims and were responsible for 38 percent of victims’ escapes. The persistent inquiries of community members such as neighbors and sometimes even a labor trafficking survivor allowed victims to disclose the status of their working environment and escape their traffickers.
Yes, because that way she know I could not stay in the garage, right? So I that day the
maintenance come and he said, “Oh, you need to get out, we need to [fix door of] garage,” okay, and I said, “Okay,” and I get out from garage and I don’t know I crying so much I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to go back to them [traffickers] and that time Ms. [neighbor's name] she came near to me and she said . . . their garage also nearby there, so she said, “What’s going on?” And I said, “This is, this reason, they hit me and all the time I staying with them two years, and I don’t have my paperwork, and they never bring me my visas,” and I start crying even I cannot talk. And after that she say, “Don’t worry, honey, I will take care of you and come to my house, I will give you something to eat.” And she say, “Take shower,” and everything and she gave me sandwich and after that she brought me to [site 2 service provider]. (site 2, survivor 3, female, domestic servitude)
So she talked to her, gave her information and asked questions. And the woman said that the job was really difficult. She still doesn’t look at it as trafficking because she thinks trafficking is sex trafficking, but it was one of the most brutal cases we had. It was clearly trafficking. She started to give her information, she gave her my number. The client called me from a pay phone. She ran away first. She ran away after she brought the kids home. I think it took a couple times talking to the woman before she left. And then she called, we made a plan for how she can get into our office. She came in and we gave her a bunch of clothes. The first client who found her in the park let her stay with her, actually, so we didn’t have to help her with shelter. The women let her stay there. And she also gave her a loan of quite a bit money to get her life started and find a new job. This is probably the 10th client she did this for. (site 1a, outside social worker 1)
After connecting with victims, some community members brought in law enforcement to help with the situation. For community members who suspected that something was happening but were too afraid to personally approach the trafficker, contacting law enforcement was the most common way to respond. As our case records indicate, 19 percent of victims were identified by authorities. The role of law enforcement in victim rescues varied; contact was sometimes initiated by a service provider, another victim who escaped, or a report made by an anonymous stranger. However, when police did respond in these cases, victims were able to leave and receive appropriate services. Victims were immensely grateful for law enforcement’s ability to appropriately intervene and remove them from the situation:
And that was Sunday and on Tuesday, on Tuesday, the woman [trafficker] put me to clean the rug, the carpet, by hand. And that’s how I was, bent down and cleaning by hand, and well, this was part of everything the woman had me do—when the police knocked. I didn’t answer but rather notified the man and the woman [traffickers]. I didn’t know they were going to come. I didn’t think they were coming for me. When they told me, they opened the door and I was—the ICE agents with a police officer that came and they took me. And then they asked me where I slept and they took pictures. They even, they also—a lump had appeared on my forehead and it was growing and growing and the man and the woman [traffickers] also didn’t want to take me to the doctor and I still had that lump and the ICE agents took pictures of me and the laundry room where I lived—where I slept, they took pictures and that is how it happened. (site 2, survivor 6, female, domestic servitude)
And hold door bleeding hand this [victim’s] hand this bleeding okay take out door police. . . . Yeah and go to office, I see [trafficker 2], I’m scared. “No, no scared,” they tell, “It’s okay, you no scared.” And . . . . [victim 2] oh where’s [victim 2]?” Oh [trafficker 1] tell me throw it, I take out from garbage this knife, this knife from drawer and last week [trafficker 1] bite [victim 2]. An umbrella, longer umbrella, and long yeah [abuse of victim 2 with umbrella]. I tell police all, I tell police. Yeah. I think not nice things sometimes it’s police understand. Yeah, I tell police all.43 (site 1b, survivor 2, female, domestic servitude)
In many cases, the responsibility of contacting authorities fell to the victim. There was no community member who could advise law enforcement about the illegal activity occurring and no active investigation on law enforcement’s part to try to uncover labor trafficking situations. However, as our case files document, only in 7 percent of cases did victims report to the police. Some victims had
to make a proactive effort to receive support. In the following case, for example, after learning from coworkers that their contractors had been taken in for committing a crime, victims approached their human resource department,44 who contacted law enforcement.
And that’s when they . . . that was the time that they told us that we are not being persecuted or something . . . or we are not in trouble. That they are rescuing us from our traffickers, and then they explained to us that our traffickers are . . . most of them were in jail and some of them are at large, so they just wanted to keep us safe in [city of suspect's trial]. (site 3, survivor 1, male, hospitality)
Other situations in which law enforcement penetrated labor trafficking cases were less positive. In 14 percent (n = 14) of cases in our data, victims were arrested by authorities and only later identified as labor trafficking victims. The frustration and disillusionment victims had with the justice system after this experience was severe. Victims were confused and upset for being labeled as criminals:
I not only had trauma about what had happened to me in that place, but also because I never in my life had been in jail. I didn’t know. . . . It is a jail where there is psychological harm and everything and one feel really bad. And also discrimination because one does not understand the language, there are a lot of people who scold you in jail, the guards, the police and everything because one does not understand the language, and I think they are spaces to correct people but I think that not having a paper should not be a crime that would make someone go to jail because I cried many nights inside those four walls, without knowing what to do. I would say “God, why?!” I have always been a person that has respected the laws and I’ve never had even a single fight. . . . And it is really difficult to come to a different country and to be put in jail for not having a document of identification and all of that, truthfully, was really difficult for me. My first time in a jail. (site 4a, survivor 2, male, agriculture)
And [site 2 staff] come to me. And [site 2 staff] sat with me in the jail and she told me that she wasn’t a lawyer but was the people who try to help people like me. She said my lawyer already told her what happened and we think you have a case to hear. I said okay and I gave her my story. And she told me, “Okay, we will try to help you.” But this was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. And Wednesday, in the night, these people started to work my case. On Wednesday night, the people in [city near site 2] decided to drop my case. Why? I don’t know for real. (site 3, survivor 5, male, other)
Service providers also played a role in helping victims escape from their labor trafficking experience. In 21 percent of cases, victims were able to leave as a result of support from service providers. The quotation below describes how, by relying on clues from labor trafficking survivors or witnesses, service providers were able to adeptly coordinate a visit to the trafficking venue to meet with victims. Service agencies’ ability to provide multiple services allowed them to access trafficking venues and mask their intentions to help victims escape. Outreach efforts and pamphlet distribution, either through service providers or through friends, were critical in helping victims escape.45
That’s one way I will find the worker is through the knowledge that the other worker had of them. . . . I am going to send a couple of our outreach workers to the [area] to just basically do blind outreach. Blind meaning unannounced and without any agenda, without bringing any
questions upfront that are, you know, finding the housing for the vegetable farms, housing for the workers, which is something we do anyway, doing health and safety training, and then keeping an eye out for this person who we have their full name. (site 4b, victim service providers 2 and 4)
Victims whose labor trafficking venue allowed them to connect with others were able to use the support of their social network to plan their escape. This was the case for 20 percent of the victims in our case data. Although the majority of trafficking victims had not previously been to the United States, some had relatives living in different parts of the country, and others developed a social network once they arrived, expanding on that of their colleagues. Less commonly, family members helped victims escape. Using the support of family members and friends was most apparent for victims who had been labor trafficked in occupations in public spaces such as hotels, restaurants, and in some cases, agriculture. The public space enabled victims to develop the social ties needed to escape their trafficking situation. For example, victims employed in the hospitality industry were able to form social ties with coworkers who were not victims of trafficking and form the social connections they needed to carve out a plan to leave. Friends, family, and colleagues not only provided victims with emotional support but the monetary means to escape; many helped pay for transportation costs or provided transportation themselves.
I started speaking to family members in the US and I told them about my problem, I told them what was happening. And so during that time when I was working in [state], an aunt of mine called me and she told me to come to (site 1), that she would receive me here in (site 1). (site 1, survivor 4, male, factory)