Take Action: Urge Congress to Pass the Visa Transparency Anti-Trafficking Act of 2018
Each year, hundreds of thousands of guest workers from around the world will enter the U.S. on a myriad of temporary work visas. Many of these guest workers are at the mercy of a single employer for both their job and their legal status in the U.S., making them especially vulnerable to human trafficking. Our latest report "Human Trafficking on Temporary Work Visas" spotlights how human traffickers are weaponizing structural flaws within the temporary work visa system.
What we Learned:
- Polaris identified 797 victims of labor trafficking through reported cases to the National Human Trafficking Hotline from January 2015 to December 2017 who held temporary work visas at the time of their abuse
- Victims of labor trafficking on temporary work visas were found across numerous industries including agriculture, domestic work, landscaping, hospitality, restaurants, and construction
- Economic abuse and threats were the most common forms of control, with the potential for reporting a worker’s immigration status being by far the most pervasive and effective threat against guest workers.
Earlier this year, a bipartisan group of congressional leaders introduced the Visa Transparency Anti-Trafficking Act, a bill that will help to shed light on the nation’s guest worker programs. The legislation would require that basic information about guest worker programs, including the employer, occupation, and wage rate of every guest worker in the nation, be collected by the various agencies involved in regulating these programs, and would make that data available to the public through a central database.
We need your help to call on both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to each pass a bill that ensures greater transparency in temporary visa programs. Don't wait - use to the form to send a letter directly to your member of Congress urging them to act.
