Slavery on the Rise Across the U.S.

s the U.S. imports Third World populations through mass immigration, slavery inside the country is increasing, according to testimony before a Senate committee last month.

Leaders of victim advocacy groups and two U.S. attorneys who have prosecuted human smugglers told a Senate Judiciary subcommittee on human rights that "modern day slavery" is alive and well in the U.S. and spreading across the country.

Because of lax immigration policies and poor border security, the people responsible for the crime, corruption, and slavery that plague so many Third World countries are able to bring their practices and habits into the U.S.

Witnesses said that as many as 17,000 immigrants are brought into the U.S. each year to be used as slaves, and some believe the number could be as high as 50,000. Many of the victims are children forced by smugglers into pornography and prostitution. Each year only a fraction of those forced into slavery are found and freed, said witnesses.

"It seems like we're just touching the tip of the iceberg," said Rep. John Cornyn, R-TX. "Clearly we need to be doing more than we're doing now."

Federal law enforcement task forces designed to investigate human trafficking are already operating in immigrant-heavy smuggling centers in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Phoenix, and Tampa, but slavery is so rampant that Cornyn is pressing to create another federal task force in Texas because of its border with Mexico.

In one recent high-profile smuggling case in Texas, a gang of Latin aliens known as the "Molina organization" lured scores of young women from Honduras to the Forth Worth area. Authorities said the women were transported along dangerous smuggling routes across Mexico and the U.S. border for fees up to $10,000 each. After they arrived, they were forced into prostitution to pay off their smuggling fees.

In April 1999, seven foreigners were sentenced to jail for enslaving dozens of Mexican women and girls, some as young as 14, in brothels in Florida and the Carolinas. In 2000, a Nigerian couple was convicted of slavery and other offenses for holding a young immigrant girl against her will as a domestic servant in their home in New York City. In 2002, CBS News reported that three Mexican-born citrus contractors in Florida were sentenced to prison for enslaving as many as 700 illegal aliens at different times as farm laborers.

U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton of San Antonio testified that slavery is such an "abhorrent offense" that it constitutes a top priority for the Justice Department.

Since 2001, federal prosecutors have charged 110 people with trafficking offenses. Seventy seven of them have been convicted.

U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby said investigations are difficult.

"The real difficulty is identifying the victims. They often don't speak the language, and they are far from home," he said.