Moving On: From Being A Victim of Labor Trafficking to Gaining Proper Immigration Papers in the USA

Labor trafficking is a very much a reality here in the USA, in case most of you readers haven't read much about it. Although not as heard much often about nor as intriguing as sex trafficking, labor trafficking is one of the ails that continue to grease the machinery of suppliers of much needed labor so businesspersons would continue to earn profit in capitalistic USA. It persists up to this day, an example of which I remember reading in the Bible when Joseph's brothers sold him to Egyptian traders who were then passing by in Canaan (I may be mistaken about this location). And I have a very good friend who recently got his proper papers to stay and work legally here in the USA. He'd tell me details of his experiences every chance we've got as I would cover for him whenever he takes his days off from his 7-day full time job as a caregiver in upstate New York; I could fill a book just by accounting for what I've heard from my friend "J".

What's laudable in "J's" case, as with some other people who have similar cases to him, is that he managed to overcome so many hurdles to finally be issued his papers by the authorities, mainly by focusing on acquiring the 'T-Visa,' one of those visas reserved mainly for those who have been abused and taken advantage by scrupulous, scheming, profit-motivated individuals using the loopholes found in what's current in the law. You have to be able to read, understand and make workable strategies on what you have learned about labor and immigration laws in the USA in order to overcome a whole wall of barriers inadvertently designed to take advantage of people busy with the other details of life; not everybody can do this as it's too time consuming and emotionally draining, especially if you're personally involved in it as an unwilling participant. You'll see some semblance of the scheme used in labor trafficking, too, in work set-ups found in many big organizations in the USA that would hire immigrants at much reduced amounts of pay and benefits---these hires would be willing to do the work in exchange for them to stay and work in the USA (rather than to go back to their Mother countries and continue be enslaved under some other conditions). Of course, this would create feelings of annoyances and grievances to those who were born and raised here in the USA---and this perpetuates the whole process. And it is a profitable way of doing business, hence, it persists up to now.

A draft of what I've been writing about "J's" experience is shared below so you'd get to know real persons who have been involved in this very lucrative business known as 'labor trafficking.' It has taken him at least 3 years to finally get his visa through the assistance of non-profit organizations based in New York City. He would undergo several interview sessions with specialists, lawyers, and social workers. He'd grow to be more politically aware, and has knowledge of at least 1,000 people who have remained captured in this business of labor trafficking. He would also have the opportunities to interact with other people who have been trafficked into the well-greased machinery involving labor and businesses here in the USA. They include those who were sex trafficked, i.e., mostly women who were pushed to extreme conditions that got them deciding to start and continue selling their bodies to paying customers who needed to meet their sexual needs. And in NYC, a lot of this kind of set-up happens everyday; you just have to check online postings and your imagination can run wild.

Note, however, that labor trafficking happens even with those seeking non-blue collar jobs: "J" was doing hotel-related work somewhere in the MidWest, where so many other individuals were sent by manpower agencies who would have agents in certain countries outside of the USA to recruit able, educated, well-experienced, English-speaking workers who would work and would hope to be issued proper immigration papers. But all along, the manpower agencies and the principals, i.e., clients who needed manpower, would unwittingly connive to dupe these individuals in turning them into modern-day slaves. They would keep their papers and would not complete the process of acquiring the proper legal papers, and thus would create fear among those recruited and hired (and in most cases, have paid huge amounts of fees to be hired) individuals, and indirectly harass them so they would have no option but to run away and become illegal immigrants. Some of them have successfully fought the insidious but very profitable labor trafficking business, and have thus gained their papers. But others have been remained scared, helpless, depressed, and become unwilling members of illegal immigrant sectors of the nationwide society of the USA.

My friend "J" (for now, his real name will be withheld throughout in this posting for privacy reasons) would call me every now and then to give me the opportunity to cover for him whenever he has to go off from his 7-day caregiving/housekeeping gig for a disabled man in his 80s and who used to be a known chiropractor up in the Bronx and Westchester areas in New York. This retired chiropractor's at least a foot higher than "J", and continues to progress in senility although the rate has been greatly reduced since "J" started working with him. "J" has been interviewed by the retired chiropractor's medical doctors, especially on the approaches he has been using so as to slow down the rate of signs of senility that his patient has been expected to experience in time. The client has been prescribe medicines that would help him manage with memory loss.
And whenever "J" and I would meet, we would chat and cover a wide ranging set of topics mostly involving our existence and our growing awareness of our condition, being expatriates in the East Coast. "J" hails from Davao City in the Philippines, and we were introduced through common friends who recommended me once to him when he was on the lookout for someone to cover for him whenever he decides to enjoy his off-days.
We soon realized that we have so much in common. He would openly describe his work as an employee of 'katavang, inc.', which fictitious company has the word used by those in the know for people engaged in the trade of housekeeping gigs. He actually is a home-health aide of this retired chiropractor, who has two sons with their own families and who has a long time girlfriend. "J" is his constant companion day in, day out. "J" will be taking his off-days whenever he has to go to his medical appointments, meet up other people in his personal network, or when his retired-chiropractor client would be picked up by his long time girlfriend in another part of upstate New York. The girlfriend, who's in her 70s, is still employed as a geriatric nurse, which is a fact that's typically surprising to myself as well as "J" because she's still working full time at her age.
"J" would tell me he's happier with his life here in New York, where he has been living and working for the past over 3 years of his over 6 years stay in the USA, whenever he has the opportunity to do so. His story of having been discriminated because of his sexual preference (or orientation) for a job promotion to function in a more senior and responsible capacity remains strongly inspirational for him to keep on moving from the vagaries of his former employment situation to a life that calls for him to do a household-keeping job and a home health aide job. And he would tell me, too, about the fact that nobody, practically, in the Philippines would be willing to pay him the equivalent value of the amount of money he's being paid in New York. Of course, we know his pay is not at par with those doing similar jobs - he's doing a 7-day full time job and he's expected to practically stay home (unless he has to do food and utility shopping for the household). He's even been inspired to extend similar benefits to the housekeeper of his aged parents in Davao City back in the Philippines, considering how aware he has grown to be about the social background of his parents who have not been used to having paid help at home practically during their younger years. From what he has seen and observed, he's grown aware that he has to extend support to his parents' housekeeper by providing for cash for her so she'll be inspired to improve her lot by working on her studies, too, while she works as a housekeeper in "J's" parents' household. (STOP)