Made in America, by Force
How local industries rely on coerced labor
Human trafficking is a major industry in the U.S., but one of the problems in identifying what it is is because it looks like many things to many people. In the Midwest, trafficking is dominant because of the intersection of federal interstates that easily transport victims through a circuit that can span all the major cities in just a week, spurred by online advertising that authorities say is difficult to stop. This new series will look at the sex trafficking of minors, labor trafficking found on major farm operations. A third story will look at how trafficking has hit Cook County, Illinois, the heart of Chicago, and how a local sheriff there has made stopping it one of his highest priorities.
There’s a good chance that the last egg you ate was produced by trafficked human labor, possibly involving workers who are underage.
Take Trillium Farms in Marion County, Ohio, which describes itself on its website as “one of the nation’s leading egg producers,” with a flock that produces “millions of safe, wholesome eggs each day.”
