Introduction

In Part 1 of this three-part series, sex trafficking was identified as one of the most persistent public safety threats facing Georgia. In Part 2 of the series, we expand our knowledge by focusing on labor trafficking.

As discussed in Part I, the most critical role in the fight against modern-day slavery is carried out by frontline law enforcement and public safety personnel who operate within their communities and are uniquely positioned to identify victims who are often hidden in plain sight. Chiefs of police and agency leaders are in a pivotal position to ensure that officers are equipped with both the awareness and resources needed to respond effectively at the local level. This responsibility is especially significant given the covert and complex nature of labor trafficking offenses.

The Scope of Labor Trafficking in Georgia

Labor trafficking is defined as the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery. The Official Code of Georgia provides further clarification, defining “labor servitude” as work or service of economic or financial value which is performed or provided by another individual and is induced or obtained by coercion or deception (O.C.G.A. 16-5-46(a)(5)). A person commits the offense of trafficking of a person for labor servitude when that person knowingly subjects another person to or maintains another person in labor servitude or knowingly recruits, entices, harbors, transports, provides, or obtains by any means another person for the purpose of labor servitude (O.C.G.A 16-5-46(b)).

Georgia’s diverse and expansive economic landscape ranks it as the ninth-largest economy in the nation, creating conditions that may be exploited for criminal labor trafficking activities. The agricultural sector alone contributes approximately $73.3 billion to the state’s economy, with one in seven Georgia residents employed in agriculture and more than 42,000 farms operating statewide. The size, labor-intensive nature, and geographic dispersion of this industry present significant challenges for detection and enforcement of labor trafficking laws.

The widespread use of the H-2A temporary agricultural worker visa program further compounds these vulnerabilities. While the program is intended to address legitimate labor shortages, its complexity and reliance on third-party recruiters can make it susceptible to abuse by those recruiters. Workers recruited through the H-2A process may face language barriers, debt incurred through recruitment fees, restricted mobility, and fear of retaliation or deportation, all of which can be exploited by traffickers and unscrupulous employers.

But labor trafficking is not exclusive to Georgia’s robust agricultural industry. Labor trafficking occurs within other industries, such as:

• Construction (residential and commercial)
• Services Industry (hotels, food service, nail salons, massage business)
• Manufacturing (auto, electronics, industrial)
• Entertainment (sports teams, adult entertainment clubs, escort services)

Interestingly, our laws and penalties in Georgia are not as strict for labor trafficking as they are for sex trafficking, and it may be harder to prove. For example, a prosecutor does not need to show force, fraud, or coercion in a sex trafficking case involving a minor. Yet, force, fraud, or coercion must always be proven in a labor trafficking case, whether of an adult or a minor. A sex trafficker can be sentenced to life in prison, while a labor trafficker will receive a maximum 20-year sentence.

And, labor trafficking is considered “underground” because it is an illegal activity that depends on secrecy, deception, and the isolation and control of victims who are too afraid or unable to seek help. Often, those victims are foreign nationals who are vulnerable to exploitation due to isolation, language barriers, unfamiliarity with US laws, and fear of arrest or deportation. Maja Hasic, Human Trafficking Program Director for Tapestri, a social services agency working with labor trafficking survivors, confirms there are many barriers to labor trafficking investigations. “Labor trafficking cases are very challenging because they are often misidentified as wage and hour violations. The cases are complex and require collaboration with labor trafficking experts to take a deeper look at the force, fraud, or coercion by traffickers that render victims unable to leave their situations,” she says.

These challenges also make it difficult to measure the prevalence of labor trafficking, as seen in the data below.