Labor trafficking

It’s the recruitment, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining of a person for labor or services through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery. 

Anyone may experience labor trafficking. It exists in every labor industry.

Some people may experience trafficking in subtle ways. Others experience it more severely.

Labor trafficking may look very different depending on the time, place, and industry.

People experiencing labor trafficking often:

• Work in unsafe working conditions
• Work for little or no pay

Labor traffickers may:

• Force you to work for long hours
• Restrict where you can go and where you can live
• Restrict your social interactions
• Threaten you or your family with physical harm
• Threaten you with deportation or arrest
• Threaten you with retaliation
• Keep your identification documents
• Make you work off debt that keeps growing

No one should be required to work against their will because of threats, force, or coercion from their employer. 

If you or someone you know is experiencing possible trafficking in the workplace, contact ALAS (Asistencia Legal y Ayuda Social) by calling or texting 509-406-6395. Your call or text is completely confidential. 

ALAS is a 3-year contract funded by Washington’s  Department of Commerce Office of Crime Victims Advocacy to the Northwest Justice Project to provide legal assistance and support services to victims and survivors of labor trafficking. ALAS allows us to spread awareness on labor trafficking through direct outreach and community education. We also collaborate with service providers in the community.

A T visa is a special nonimmigrant visa that lets a victim of human trafficking (forced labor and/or sexual trafficking) remain in the United States temporarily, providing protection and the opportunity to help authorities with the prosecution of the trafficker. 

A T visa offers a pathway to legal permanent status and support services for the victim and their family. 

If you already have a T visa, you must file for Adjustment of Status as soon as you’re able. This might be 3 years after you get your visa, or it might be when law enforcement’s investigation ends. Talk to an experienced immigration attorney to learn more. 

You may be eligible for a T visa if you: 

• Have been recruited, harbored, transported or obtained to provide a service or labor through force, fraud, or coercion, with the intent of being subjected to involuntary servitude, debt bondage, peonage, or slavery. 
• Remain in the United States for the duration of the process.
• Report the labor trafficking incident to a law enforcement agency. Talk to an experienced immigration lawyer about which law enforcement agency, and what your report should say. 
• Comply with any reasonable request from a law enforcement agency to assist in the investigation and prosecution against the trafficker or traffickers.
• Show that you would suffer extreme hardship involving severe and unusual harm if removed from the United States. 
• Are admissible to the United States. 

• Legal status in the United States for the survivor with a work permit good for 4 years.
• Legal status for your spouse and/or unmarried children under the age of 21 good for a period of 4 years.
• Work permit for your spouse and/or unmarried children under the age of 21 of the survivor valid for a period of 4 years. 
• Pathway to a green card (permanent residency).
• Pathway to U.S. citizenship.
• Eventual access to public benefits with green card and U.S. citizenship.

Before applying for a T visa, get advice from an experienced immigration law attorney. 

Contact ALAS (Assistencia Legal y Ayuda Social) by calling or texting 509-406-6395.

Contact the Northwest Justice Project Farm Worker Unit:

• Yakima Office: 311 N. 4th St., Suite 201 Yakima, WA 98901. Call 509-225-0026
• Wenatchee Office: 300 Okanogan Ave. Suite 3A Wenatchee, WA 98801. Call 509-404-9241

You can also contact the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project: 

• Granger office: 121 Sunnyside Avenue, Granger WA  98932. Call 509-854-2100
• Wenatchee office: 620 N. Emerson Avenue, Suite 201, Wenatchee WA 98801. 509-570-0054