美国国家公共电台 NPR--Advocates say the number of labor trafficking victims is vastly undercounted

Advocates say the number of labor¹ trafficking victims is vastly undercounted

Transcript²

A woman from the Philippines says she came to Boston to make money for her family back home but was treated like a slave. Experts say this kind of labor trafficking is rampant³ and rarely reported.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Greselda De Leon says she came to Boston to make money for her family in the Philippines but was treated like a slave. Jenifer McKim from our partner station GBH News reports De Leon's story is more common in the United States than most people understand.

JENIFER MCKIM, BYLINE⁴: De Leon worked as a nanny and a housecleaner a decade ago for a family from the United Arab Emirates. But they didn't pay her for months. She worked almost all the time, unable to go out alone, sleeping on a thin mattress⁵ on the floor of the family's apartment.

GRESELDA DE LEON: You have to clean their house, wash their dishes, cook their food, wash their clothes. You do everything, as in everything.

MCKIM: Her boss has said they'd pay her later, and she says she didn't know her legal rights. She'd also heard stories of too many other Filipina domestic workers like her treated even worse in other countries.

DE LEON: I'm just so lucky that I don't get abused. I mean, abused like, don't beat, don't rape⁶, don't assault us because it's happening.

MCKIM: De Leon eventually escaped, sneaking⁷ down the back stairs while taking out a bag of diapers. But her story is not unique. More than 23,000 people across the country have reached out to the National Human Trafficking Hotline since 2016 to report allegations of forced labor. And advocates and government officials say those numbers are likely a vast undercount. They say labor trafficking victims like De Leon are all around us, hidden in plain sight, working in construction, hotels, restaurants and as cleaners in private homes and offices.

CADDIE NATH-FOLSOM: I think that most people have interacted with someone who is being trafficked and don't realize it because I think it's much more common than people realize.

MCKIM: That's Caddie Nath-Folsom, a legal aid attorney who works with immigrants in Massachusetts. She says many people don't see labor trafficking because they're expecting a Hollywood-type character, someone chained to a radiator⁸ or locked in a shed, forced to work without pay. Instead, she says, many, like De Leon, are imprisoned⁹ by psychological constraints¹⁰, forced to work because of fear of arrest, deportation¹¹, homelessness or other threats while their traffickers profit from their misery¹².

NATH-FOLSOM: Instead, think of it more as being someone is being forced to work in terrible conditions, usually dangerous conditions, for unfair or no pay. And they can't leave. They can't quit is the key.

MCKIM: And abusers are rarely held accountable. Last fiscal¹³ year, the Department of Justice secured just 13 convictions primarily linked to forced labor across the country, compared to nearly 200 sex trafficking convictions. The disparity frustrates¹⁴ Martina Vandenberg, president of the Human Trafficking Legal Center in Washington, D.C. So 10 years ago, she started training attorneys on how to help survivors¹⁵ file their own lawsuits¹⁶ for restitution¹⁷.

MARTINA VANDENBERG: I had one agent tell me that he had dubbed¹⁸ the U.S. Attorney's office in that jurisdiction¹⁹ the House of No because whenever he brought a forced labor case, the answer was no.

MCKIM: GBH News spoke²⁰ with nearly a dozen survivors of trafficking, some who describe calling 911 or running out the back stairs to freedom. Some say they were never given the option to testify in a criminal proceeding²¹, their abuse considered a simple wage dispute rather than trafficking. Others say they declined to seek charges because of fear of their traffickers or, like Greselda De Leon, because they cared for the children under their watch.

DE LEON: Those three triplets - I love them so much, and I treat them like my kids because since they were born, I'm the one to take care of them.

MCKIM: After her escape, De Leon obtained a visa meant for people who can prove to the federal government that they were a victim of a severe form of trafficking. She says she wants people to understand that there are many more labor trafficking victims like her out there, unable to ask for help.

For NPR News, I'm Jenifer McKim in Boston.

(SOUNDBITE OF AUKAI'S "TURNING DAYS")

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 rampant   

adj.(植物)蔓生的；狂暴的，无约束的

参考例句：

• Sickness was rampant in the area.该地区疾病蔓延。
• You cannot allow children to rampant through the museum.你不能任由小孩子在博物馆里乱跑。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 mattress   

n.床垫，床褥

参考例句：

• The straw mattress needs to be aired.草垫子该晾一晾了。
• The new mattress I bought sags in the middle.我买的新床垫中间陷了下去。

6 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

7 sneaking   

a.秘密的，不公开的

参考例句：

• She had always had a sneaking affection for him. 以前她一直暗暗倾心于他。
• She ducked the interviewers by sneaking out the back door. 她从后门偷偷溜走，躲开采访者。

8 radiator   

n.暖气片，散热器

参考例句：

• The two ends of the pipeline are connected with the radiator.管道的两端与暖气片相连接。
• Top up the radiator before making a long journey.在长途旅行前加满散热器。

9 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

10 constraints   

强制( constraint的名词复数 )； 限制； 约束

参考例句：

• Data and constraints can easily be changed to test theories. 信息库中的数据和限制条件可以轻易地改变以检验假设。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• What are the constraints that each of these imply for any design? 这每种产品的要求和约束对于设计意味着什么？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

11 deportation   

n.驱逐，放逐

参考例句：

• The government issued a deportation order against the four men.政府发出了对那4名男子的驱逐令。
• Years ago convicted criminals in England could face deportation to Australia.很多年以前，英国已定罪的犯人可能被驱逐到澳大利亚。

12 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

13 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

14 frustrates   

v.使不成功( frustrate的第三人称单数 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• What frustrates him is that there's too little money to spend on the project. 使他懊恼的是，可用于这个项目的资金太少。
• His trouble is that he frustrates much easily. 他的毛病是很容易泄气。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

15 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

16 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

17 restitution   

n.赔偿；恢复原状

参考例句：

• It's only fair that those who do the damage should make restitution.损坏东西的人应负责赔偿，这是再公平不过的了。
• The victims are demanding full restitution.受害人要求全额赔偿。

18 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 jurisdiction   

n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权

参考例句：

• It doesn't lie within my jurisdiction to set you free.我无权将你释放。
• Changzhou is under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu Province.常州隶属江苏省。

20 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

21 proceeding   

n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报

参考例句：

• This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
• The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。