Practice Tips and Legal Remedies for Serving Foreign National Survivors of Human Trafficking
Rebecca Bundy, JD, BSW & Rachel Gorman | September 19 | 9:45-10:45 am
Topic: Legal, Direct Service | Knowledge Level: Intermediate
Foreign national survivors of human trafficking experience a variety of barriers and needs related to their foreign national status. Serving this population often demands comprehensive responses that attend to immigration status, culture, language, nationality, and more. Added barriers arise surrounding awareness of labor trafficking, as it is widely lesser-known and more difficult to identify but makes up over 70% of trafficking cases among foreign nationals, according to current data. Particularly for undocumented individuals, meaning those without legal immigration status (i.e., a visa), steep barriers to stability and recovery arise from inability to obtain immigration relief, lawful employment, public benefits, and state identification. These barriers exacerbate vulnerabilities that put them at risk of trafficking. Certain immigration remedies are available to this group, including specialized pathways to status. However, immigration applications can take years for approval, meanwhile leaving these barriers to stability and recovery in place. Consequently, supporting foreign national survivors of human trafficking, especially those of whom are undocumented, requires a long-term, comprehensive, and community-based approach. This presentation will discuss these barriers, examine labor trafficking for this population, and showcase several available remedies, including pathways to immigration status. This session will also examine ways we make certain populations more vulnerable to human trafficking and practices for removing barriers to relief.
Presentation Objectives:
• Describe barriers to services facing foreign national survivors of human trafficking and provide them attendees with guidance on how to reduce them
• Improve attendees’ ability to understand and identify labor trafficking, particularly as it may present in the cases involving foreign national survivors
• Discuss key remedies available to foreign national survivors of trafficking, best practices, and innovative approaches