FBI: Human trafficking a reality in Prince William

Agents from the FBI wouldn’t go into specifics, but said that human trafficking occurs in all of Northern Virginia, including Prince William County.

FBI Agent Greg Bristol joined a panel discussion on human trafficking Wednesday at the ECPI College of Technology in Manassas.

Bristol’s supervisor, Pam Vanderburg, said the problem is more prevalent in more populated areas of Northern Virginia, but is not restricted to population centers.

“As a general rule we have had a range of trafficking cases in all of our five county responsive areas,” said Vanderburg, a special agent for the squad that handles civil rights and human trafficking in Loudoun, Fairfax, Arlington, Prince William and Fauquier counties.

“In the more populated areas we have more of a concentrated effort,” Vanderburg said.

“It’s happening in Northern Virginia. It’s happening in Maryland. It’s happening all up and down the east coast,” Bristol said.

Bristol was joined on the panel by Claudia Henriquez, a staff attorney at Legal Aid Justice Center, and Daria Fisher-Page of the Tihirhi Justice Center, as well as U.S. State Department representative Carla Bury.

The audience of mostly criminal justice and nursing students wanted to know, among other things, how they could recognize victims of human trafficking.

Bristol told them that the practice occurs in businesses that include domestic cleaning services, food processing facilities, adult entertainment, migrant farms, construction, landscaping and restaurants.

“In each of these industries your going to find human trafficking in our country,” Bristol said.

Bristol told the audience that they should look for the maid or housekeeper that doesn’t speak, or never crosses the property line.

Henriquez told the audience that their future jobs in law enforcement and nursing would probably bring them into contact with human trafficking victims.

She told the nurses to look for signs of fear and physical abuse when people come to the hospital for treatment of any kind.

Often, victims will be accompanied by someone who will try to keep them from talking to others and there will be signs of verbal abuse, Henriquez said.

Bristol said that human trafficking occurs in several ways and traffickers use force, fraud and coercion to keep control of their victims.

Traffickers often bring victims into the country and tell them they’re going to be doing one job, but take their passports when they arrive and put them to work in other jobs including forced prostitution.
“The next thing you know, they’re working 6 a.m. to midnight. They’re told not to leave the property. Their passports are taken away. Their visas are taken away. They’re told not to trust law enforcement,” Bristol said.

Sometime victims are smuggled in for a fee and the traffickers take their passports until the fees are paid, Bristol said.

The FBI is looking for the “bad guys” and will investigate all cases even if the victim is in the country illegally, Bristol said.

“We will investigate every human trafficking case no matter what the status is of the person,” Bristol said.

Keith Walker can be reached at 703-369-6751.