NEW ORLEANS -- Local law enforcement officials believe it's happening in the metro area: human trafficking, where, typically, illegal immigrants are promised opportunities, then taken advantage of.
"Logic tells us, especially post-Katrina, big port city, sitting aside the I-10 pipeline, rebuilding, big immigrant population -- that, in all likelihood, there is human trafficking going on in the city," said U.S. Attorney Jim Letten.
Letten and Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Evans say the Louisiana Human Trafficking Task Force, made up of around 20 different agencies, is on the hunt for those who exploit others.
Human trafficking, they say, takes various forms – situations like forced prostitution or labor.
"That's a real form of slavery, and individuals who do that are unscrupulous, they're dangerous," Letten said, referring to those who carry out the crimes.
Dale Standifer, executive director at the Metropolitan Center for Women and Children, said she's encountered plenty of victims in the New Orleans area. Standifer said while many people probably associate human trafficking with females and prostitution, she’s worked with a number of men who were victims of labor trafficking.
"People are actually tricked into coming to the United States to work, and promised wonderful jobs and great benefits and then they don't get them, and then their papers are taken away and they're not able to return home," she said. "They're either too afraid to leave, they've been threatened, their papers are taken away, or they're too ashamed to return to their families."
"They have been threatened that either, they will be hurt, or their families back where they came from."
In December, authorities booked a woman in Kenner on human trafficking charges, accusing her of forcing women to have sex with men against their will for money.
However, while law enforcement officials are confident there are more cases in the area, they say tracking down the crimes is difficult because victims either worry about the safety of their loved ones or they fear they'll be deported once they come forward.
Still, authorities vow to ramp up efforts to attack the crimes.
At a news conference last week that focused on an alleged prostitution ring at two Airline Highway motels, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand talked about the local fight against human trafficking.
"We've already announced several cases that we've made,” Normand said. “The task force is alive and well and working a number of investigations at the present time, throughout the metropolitan area, and we will continue to do so."
Letten reinforced that pledge.
"It's a very, very critical problem. It's becoming more critical throughout the world, and we have to aggressively enforce it and look for it," he said.
To report a human trafficking case, call U.S.Immigration and Customs Enforcement at (866) 347-2423.
