In 2013, more than 1,700 calls from Florida were made to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center. That’s the third highest number of calls nationwide. Some of these calls come from people facing forced labor.That number doesn’t surprise Laura Germino the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a worker’s rights group based in Florida that also aims to end human trafficking. Germino says that throughout her two decades in the field, she’s seen trafficking take many forms.
“We’ve seen forced labor and human trafficking in the hotel, restaurant, and construction industries, with domestic workers who come on guest worker visas to clean houses”, Germino said.
But Germino says, there is hope that through growing awareness of the problem, more people will notice potential human trafficking cases and seek help.