The things that we don't always think about...

In light of immigration laws...
(from the 'end human trafficking website')

Many human trafficking victims are undocumented immigrants. Some enter the U.S. legally and willingly, but their immigration status expires after they are enslaved. Others enter illegally and unwillingly, smuggled in by traffickers. Some victims are forced to travel to the U.S. through legal means (like fake marriages) and others are voluntarily smuggled, only to find themselves in slavery after they arrive. But the new requirements of the Arizona law won't help identify human human trafficking victims and get them to safety. They'll actually hurt that effort.

Human trafficking victims are victims of a crime, regardless of their immigration status, and many of them have suffered severe physical and emotional trauma during the course of their captivity. When victims come into contact with law enforcement, it is critically important that they are treated as victims as opposed to criminals.

Traffickers will often convince victims that police officers will arrest them if they are in the country illegally, and not believe their stories of force or coercion. This law promises to make the traffickers' threats true. It promises to train all law enforcement people to look at potential undocumented immigrants as criminals and people doing something "illegal" first, and not as victims. The fact is that this law is going to up the chances that undocumented trafficking victims end up detained or deported and documented traffickers walk free.

And it's not just trafficking victims who will be affected. Undocumented immigrant victims of domestic violence or child abuse may be less likely to come forward and seek help under the new Arizona law. Currently, there are specific immigration remedies available to immigrant victims of abuse, including providing them with legal immigration status, which the law doesn't change. But the law does change the level of fear of law enforcement and the legal system immigrants may feel, and possibly be one more barrier for victims of human trafficking and abuse from coming forward.