Case To Be Heard Under Human Trafficking Law

The Southern Poverty Law Center and a large firm, Covington & Burling, are representing survivors. Great example of private attorneys stepping up and of how educated, English speakers are also vulnerable:

A Los Angeles federal judge has ruled that the conditions that Filipino teachers were subjected to when brought to Louisiana qualifies their case to be heard under the federal human trafficking law. … An official in the EBRSB superintendent's office facilitated the importation of teachers and conducted interviews in Manila. … Starting in 2007, more than 350 Filipino teachers were brought to Louisiana to fill vacancies in several school districts across the state. Filipino teachers also were brought into the U.S for positions in other states but only the Louisiana teachers filed suit over their treatment. They had to pay exorbitant fees, by Filipino standards, to get here and were required to relinquish a portion of their salaries to companies that recruited them and arranged transportation and work visas. They paid high interest rates to the lender the company required them to use. … They also could not leave the U.S. because the companies confiscated their passports until they paid the assessments.