By JODI SOKOLOWSKI
Buffalo Law Journal

Public awareness is a crucial element in combatting human trafficking. But that only goes so far if law enforcement and non-government organizations don't trust each other to work together.

That was just one point raised at a conference on human trafficking held at Niagara University Wednesday.

"We have to trust, if we bring a case to the attention of law enforcement, that they will treat victims as victims and not automatically deport them or threaten them with deportation," Amy Fleischauer, trafficking-victim services coordinator for the International Institute of Buffalo, who spoke at the conference, said Thursday.

That's a shift in the way law enforcement has traditionally worked, she said, because many victims of human trafficking are in the United States illegally.

"We have different outlooks but have the same goal of rescuing victims and prosecuting the criminal organizations that are profiting from the exploitation of victims," said Lev Kubiak. Acting special agent in charge at Buffalo's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office, he was also a conference panelist.

New ways of thinking include bringing agencies such as the International Institute into the fold to provide translators and immediately transport victims to a safe house when law enforcement plans a raid.

"If victims feel safe, they will be more likely to cooperate with law enforcement's investigation," Fleischauer said.

A victim may be reluctant to come forward because they're threatened by their captors, and perhaps also because they're not sure whom to contact or where to start, Kubiak said.

Often, when illegal aliens are smuggled in, they are basically indentured servants working for perhaps $5 a day to pay off a $60,000 smuggling fee. That not only is clearly a human-rights violation but limits jobs for U.S. citizens and hurts companies that are complying with U.S. laws, Kubiak explained.

Both public and private agencies are being trained to identify "red flags" by Fleischauer and Erie County Sheriff Deputy Elizabeth Fildes, whose positions are being funded by a three-year federal grant.

For example, instead of immediately sending an illegal alien working as a farm laborer to U.S. Border Patrol for deportation, a police officer can ask the right questions to determine whether that person is a human-trafficking victim, Fleischauer explained.

The ordinary citizen can also play a role by identifying potential human-trafficking situations - for example, people holding domestic workers hostage or sweatshops where laborers are kept locked in warehouses.

Kathleen Mehltretter, first assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York, recalled an incident where a citizen noticed that barbed wire at a Long Island manufacturing plant was facing in instead of out.

"If they have that feeling that it's just not right, then we can follow up," she said.

The public's perception that human trafficking primarily involves prostitution is skewed, Fleischauer said.

"Most people have that Lifetime (Television Networks) movie of a young Asian woman victim in their head, but it's just not the case," Fleischauer said, adding that the typical victim in the region might be male or female, and in his or her 30s.