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Documented on the original SlaveryMap (2008–2016). We don’t have a verifiable source on file yet. Know one?
What happened
The victim was able to convince her employer/captor to allow her to go to church. On her way she asked the man walking next to her to use his phone and called the police. The FBI was already investigating the shop and were able to convince the victim to cooperate with them in prosecuting the trafficker. With her testimony and evidence of involuntary labor witnessed around the shop, such as small storage room the victim and her co-worker were forced to sleep in, the trafficker received six months of house arrest.
Response and intervention
After contacting the police, the FBI, who had been previously investigating the dressmaking shop, was able to raid the factory and close it down with the victim's assistance and testimony. Both the victim and her co-worker were freed and the shop closed. The victim was granted a T-Visa in exchange for her cooperation with the investigation. CAST has assisted her in learning English and helping her work toward her GED. CAST also assisted her in gaining legal U.S. status soon after and offered her a job where she works, in addition to her job as a security guard, as a victim's advocate for the organization. Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST) came to her aid. 40 days after being trafficked in to the U.S., the victim was able to convince her employer/captor to let her go to church. On her way to mass, she asked the man walking next to her to help her make a phone call to the police, to whom she explained her situation.