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Human Trafficking Not Uncommon on Long Island, New York

There are hundreds of homes on Long Island where immigrants, especially women, are held in conditions that approach slavery, Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota said Friday.

And many of those who end up working long hours for little or no pay, or who are forced into sex slavery, are lured to the United States by unscrupulous people who promise safe, well-paid jobs, Spota said.

But, he added, "We all know, of course, that there is no nanny position and there is no modeling" job for them once they arrive, he said. Spota spoke Friday morning at a conference on human trafficking held at Touro Law Center in Central Islip. Speakers at the conference defined human trafficking as the illegal control of a person through fraud, force and coercion.

Spota described how law enforcement officials found several Mexican women held against their will in a Plainfield, N.J., house, and said he is "convinced that there are hundreds of similar homes in our communities." On Long Island, most of the victims of human trafficking come from Mexico or Eastern Europe, Spota said. They come for a better life, but find slavery, he said.

The Touro conference was titled, "Modern-Day Slavery on Long Island: identifying victims of human trafficking." At the conference, several law enforcement and civic organizations said Friday that they plan to work together to crack down on human trafficking in the region, armed with recent state and federal laws that include tougher penalties.

Adapted from: Joseph Mallia and Laura Albanese, " Spota: Human trafficking not uncommon on LI."  Newsday.  30 November 2007.