"Trafficked in America" Premieres Tonight
For six years, FRONTLINE and the Investigative Reporting Program at U.C. Berkeley have been reporting on the exploitation and sexual abuse of immigrant workers in America — from female farmworkers, to night shift janitors.
Now, the producers behind the award-winning Rape in the Fields and Rape on the Night Shift turn their attention to another hidden story: labor trafficking.
Trafficked in America, premiering tonight, investigates how teenagers from Central America were smuggled into the U.S. by traffickers who promised them jobs and a better life — only to force them into virtual slavery on farms in America's heartland.
It’s a crime that hides in plain sight, according to experts interviewed by FRONTLINE: “In our own country, we have, today, a lot of victims of human trafficking that are invisible to our own eyes,” says immigration lawyer Sonia Parras. “And let’s not forget that some of them are kids … they’re vulnerable and easy to victimize, and they’re alone.”
Produced by Daffodil Altan and Andrés Cediel, with Altan as correspondent, the documentary uncovers a criminal network that stretches from Central America to an egg farm in Ohio -- and explores how U.S. government policies and practices helped to deliver some of the teens directly to their traffickers.
Trafficked in America premieres tonight at 10 p.m. EST/9 p.m. CST on PBS stations (check local listings) and online.
Don't miss this rare and eye-opening look at the secret reality of labor trafficking in the United States.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/
