‘Bringing hope to hopeless situations’ theme of inaugural seminar

Human trafficking is modern day slavery and it exists in the Wiregrass.

That was the message that Adrian Carpenter brought to those attending the first-ever Renew Hope 231 seminar sponsored by the Mary Hill Family Service Center held Jan. 21 at the Ozark Civic Center.

Social workers, law officers and counselors from Dale, Coffee and Houston Counties attending the inaugural educational seminar Jan. 15 heard from Carpenter about the facts and myths surrounding the crime.

Carpenter is the Program Supervisor at the Circle of Care Center for Families in Chambers County. In that capacity, he supervises a variety of family support and youth programs and serves as coordinator of the Circle of Care’s Renew Hope Initiative.

The goal of Renew Hope seeks to bring awareness of human trafficking and provide training and resources to communities. Carpenter also participates on the Middle District of Alabama United States Attorney’s Office’s Human Trafficking Task Force, the Alabama Attorney General’s Anti-Human Trafficking Alliance and chairs the Alabama Governor’s Human Trafficking Task Force’s Education sub-committee.

January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, a month dedicated to heighten public awareness of the crime that includes between 20 and 40 million adults and children around the world as victims.

Human trafficking, also known as trafficking in persons or modern-day slavery, is a crime that involves compelling or coercing a person to provide labor or services or to engage in commercial sex acts, Carpenter told the group. “The coercion can be subtle or overt, physical or psychological,” he said, stressing that exploitation of a minor for commercial sex “is human trafficking, regardless of whether any form of force, fraud, or coercion was used.”

“At its most basic, human trafficking is compelling another person to perform work, provide services or to engage in commercial sex acts,” Carpenter said. “Human trafficking is modern-day slavery.”

Carpenter said there is no single profile of a trafficking victim. Victims can be anyone—regardless of race, color, national origin, disability, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, education level or citizenship status, he said.

Traffickers frequently prey on individuals who are poor, vulnerable, living in an unsafe or unstable situation, or are in search of a better life. Trafficking victims are deceived by false promises of love, a good job or a stable life.

“Human traffickers may not be psychologists but they definitely know how to manipulate their next victim,” Carpenter said, calling human trafficking a hidden crime. “Victims rarely come forward to seek help because of language barriers, fear of the traffickers and/or fear of law enforcement,” he said.

Forced labor is a type of human trafficking, Carpenter said. “Victims are found in legitimate and illegitimate labor industries, including sweatshops, massage parlors, agriculture, restaurants, hotels and domestic service.”

There are many misconceptions about human trafficking, Carpenter said. “Human trafficking and human smuggling are not the same thing. Smuggling involves an international border; human trafficking doesn’t have to be international.”

It is a myth that victims are always abducted, according to Carpenter “In most of these cases it’s recruitment either in person at a place where people gather or online through dating apps and messenger apps,” she said. “Traffickers convince the victim that they cannot trust anyone else.

“The interstate major roadways through our state really make us a hot spot, especially for transient traffickers who are making a circuit from Texas to Tennessee to Atlanta, Ga., and Florida.

“A lot of times we see debt bondage where someone has come into the United States and because they are dependent on their trafficker for basic needs, they incur further debt when the trafficker provides those needs,” Carpenter said. “They are never able to actually pay off that debt.”

Carpenter encouraged those with information about trafficking to call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7883. “Those tips go directly to the law enforcement in your area,” he said. “But call 911 at the same time.”

Carpenter said that some possible signs that human trafficking may exist include multiple people living in a cramped space with poor living conditions or with their employers. Their answers to questions appear to be scripted and rehearsed, he said. There may be signs of physical abuse and the person may appear overly submissive or fearful. “Does the person show signs of having been denied food, water, sleep or medical care?”

A myth is that traffickers always work in large criminal networks, Carpenter said. “We also see familial trafficking with actual family or street family members involved.

“The people involved in trafficking look just like everybody else,” Carpenter said. “They can be the next door neighbor.”

Carpenter said that one myth is that human trafficking happens only in larger cities. “If we don’t know that it’s happening here, then we don’t look for it,” he said. Sometimes we see something and we think it’s something else because that would make more sense. But when all of the dots connect and you know that that’s a possible reality, then all of a sudden we’re starting to look at it in a different light.

“The chains are invisible,” he added. “But they are actually stronger than actual chains.”