Greater Boston

'I had nowhere to go': Labor traffickers are taking advantage of the Massachusetts housing crisis
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'I had nowhere to go': Labor traffickers are taking advantage of the Massachusetts housing crisis

For eight months, Julio worked as a landscaper in Western Massachusetts, hauling rocks, digging ditches and pulling weeds about 70 hours a week, earning less than two dollars an hour. At night, tired and hungry, the Guatemalan immigrant would be driven back to his employer’s suburban home, where he would head down to the basement…

For labor trafficked immigrants, T-visas are a life-saving but flawed relief – WGBH
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For labor trafficked immigrants, T-visas are a life-saving but flawed relief – WGBH

In 2018, the police came to a home in Saugus, Massachusetts, to rescue Anabelle Masalon, a Filipina housekeeper who had been essentially a prisoner of the family from the United Arab Emirates that employed her. She had been forced to work 21-hour days, earning no more than $400 a month, unable to leave the house…

Trafficking Inc.: Forced labor in Massachusetts – WGBH
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Trafficking Inc.: Forced labor in Massachusetts – WGBH

Melba regularly showed up at Boston Children’s Hospital in 2018 to accompany a child she cared for who was being treated there. But nobody noticed — or asked about — Melba’s own suffering. The petite Filipina was miserable, working more than 100 hours a week as a maid and nanny, earning between $400 and $550…