Kilili recounts past human trafficking cases in NMI

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP) told the U.S. House of Representatives during a session last Monday that the horrible crime of human trafficking occurs in every part of the country, including in the CNMI.

In the past, Sablan said, several construction companies have lured non-U.S. workers to the CNMI with false promises and misrepresentations about pay and conditions.

“They didn’t come to the southern border, I will assure you that. They came by airplane,” he said.

The delegate made his remarks in support of H.R. 443, or the Enhancing Detection of Human Trafficking Act, which he has been working on for many years with Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Michigan).

The House voted unanimously to pass H.R. 443, which directs the U.S. Department of Labor to train staff on how to detect human trafficking and provide them with the necessary screening tools. The bill is now before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, for consideration.

H.R. 443 directs Labor to determine which employees should receive the training and education based on their official duties.

Sablan recounted that, in the past, some construction companies in the CNMI would lure foreign workers to the CNMI, then withhold the employees’ wages and seize their passports. He said the workers were subjected to inhumane working conditions and made to live in crowded and unsanitary barracks with barely enough food and water.

“They were forced to work in unsafe conditions, forced to look out to the community for food and food assistance, [with] some suffering serious injuries without access to adequate medical care,” the delegate said.

Sablan also mentioned that there was even one workplace fatality. He did not elaborate.

To their credit, he said, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Wage and Hour Division have worked to address these crimes by issuing fines and citations and recovering wages.

Sablan said Congress can and must do more to hold human traffickers accountable. He said H.R. 443 is an important step toward ensuring that the Department of Labor has the tools and resources it needs to combat human trafficking.

Sablan thanked Walberg for his leadership and partnership on this issue for introducing this legislation, of which he (Sablan) is an original co-sponsor.

He said human trafficking is a scourge that preys on the most vulnerable, subjecting more than 27 million people around the world, and thousands here in the United States, to a poor and working and living conditions.

Sablan said eradicating all cases of human trafficking first requires an awareness of where it exists, and as the federal agency that oversees labor laws, the Department of Labor is uniquely positioned to identify patterns of labor exploitation.

That is why he and Walberg re-introduced H.R. 443, he said.

Sablan said this bipartisan no-cost legislation requires the U.S. Department of Labor to report back to Congress within a year on the progress being made by such efforts.

Sablan thanked the House leadership, especially committee chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-North Carolina) and ranking member Bobby Scott (D-Virginia) on the Education and Workforce Committee for moving this bill to the floor.

“And again, I thank my friend, Rep. Walberg, for his leadership in combating human trafficking,” Sablan said.

In this screen grab from a YouTube video, Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP) delivers his remarks in support of a bill, H.R. 443, or the Enhancing Detection of Human Trafficking Act, which he has been working on for many years with Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Michigan). The House voted unanimously to pass the bill.