Speaker for the Living

Seth Daire
Speaker for the Living Podcast

Exploring the depths of human trafficking, forced labor, slavery and other forms of unfree labor. We look at how the related issues of prostitution, migration, borders, prisons, criminal networks, race, laws, and psychology intersect with human trafficking.

  1. 21/07/2019

    What is a T Visa and U Visa?

    Seth and JJ explain what a T Visa and U Visa are, and how they can help victims of human trafficking get temporary nonimmigrant status. They also explain how Trump administration policies have affected these visa, including how they are slowing down processing times. Nevertheless, applications numbers have risen, but so have denials since 2016 along with a growing backlog of pending applications. Sources: Information for Law Enforcement Agencies and Judges, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/victims-human-trafficking-other-crimes T Visa Applicants Must Have Been “Trafficked” Into the U.S., NOLO https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/differences-between-t-u-visas.html Victims of Human Trafficking: T Nonimmigrant Status, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/victims-human-trafficking-other-crimes/victims-human-trafficking-t-nonimmigrant-status Victims of Criminal Activity: U Nonimmigrant Status, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/victims-human-trafficking-other-crimes/victims-criminal-activity-u-nonimmigrant-status/victims-criminal-activity-u-nonimmigrant-status Human Trafficking Victims Blocked from Visas by Trump Wage Boss, Bloomberg https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/human-trafficking-victims-blocked-from-visas-by-trump-wage-boss * Trump Wage Chief Adds Visa Hurdles for Trafficking Victims (2), Bloomberg Law * How Trump Is ‘Destroying Protections’ for Victims of Human Trafficking, World Politics Review * It Is Now Even Harder for Trafficking Survivors to Get Visas, The Appeal * Trump immigration policies may interfere with human trafficking prosecution, The Colleges of Law Blog Fewer Undocumented Immigrant Crime Victims Are Stepping Forward, WNYC * Number of Form I-914, Application for T Nonimmigrant StatusBy Fiscal Year, Quarter, and Case StatusFiscal Years 2008-2019 (Fiscal Year 2019, Quarter 2), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services * Number of Form I-918, Petition for U Nonimmigrant Status By Fiscal Year, Quarter, and Case Status Fiscal Years 2009-2019 (Fiscal Year 2019, Quarter 2), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

    15 min
  2. 28/04/2019

    Updatepalooza! NXIVM, Epstein, Kraft, Kelly, Lohan, Ayling

    Seth and JJ gives updates on previous trafficking stories they've covered. NXIVM leaders Allison Mack pled guilty to racketeering conspiracy and racketeering charges. We find out who the primary victim was for Jeffrey Epstein's case. Law enforcement backtracks on their claims that sex trafficking occurred at the Orchard Spa where Robert Kraft was a client. Cases are costing R Kelly money and he claims victimhood. Lindsey Lohan admits she misread a situation she's now Instafamous for. And Chloe Ayling feels vindicated after her trafficker was convicted and sentenced. Sources: Here Are All the Major Players in the NXIVM Case, Where Women Were Allegedly Held as 'Sex Slaves', TIME She was the victim in Jeffrey Epstein’s secret plea deal. She didn’t even know it, Miami Herald New Jeffrey Epstein accuser goes public; defamation lawsuit targets Dershowitz, Miami Herald Prosecutors Say There’s No Evidence of Sex Trafficking In Robert Kraft Case, Rolling Stone R. Kelly breaks his silence on sexual abuse claims: "I have been assassinated", CBS R. Kelly reportedly has only $625 to his name after string of legal battles, AJC Lindsay Lohan Finally Addressed That Video of Her Being Punched in the Face, The Cut Lindsay Lohan Says She’s “Learned” from Her Instagram Mistakes, Vanity Fair Kidnapped model says she made abductor ‘fall in love’ to escape, NY Post Kidnapped model Chloe Ayling: ‘People didn't believe me because I wasn't in tears', The Guardian Photo: The Blue Diamond Gallery

    39 min
  3. 15/04/2019

    Nona: Movie Review

    Seth and JJ review the movie Nona, primarily analyzing how it portrays human trafficking. The movie has an intelligent script, strong characterization, and beautiful cinematography shot on location in multiple countries. It's depiction of trafficking is more nuanced than most films involving trafficking, with the focus more on dialogue and interactions within relationships. Sadly, the movie falls apart in the final scene. Spoilers ahead. This is the story of Nona (Sulem Calderon), who met a guy named Hecho (Jesy McKinney) in her hometown in Honduras. He offered to travel with her to the United States, where she hoped to reunite with her mother, but upon crossing the border, found herself trafficked. During the first two-thirds of the movie, she and Hecho traveled through Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. We are given glimpses of her life through the well-crafted dialogue between the characters. This part of her journey resembled a travelogue similar to movies like Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise. Once she arrived in the United States, a madame greeted her and sex trafficked her within a brothel. The story then focused on the relationships between the women there, telling their stories through conversations and showing them dancing, doing nails, and painting faces. The oppression and control were also conveyed, but the focus was on the agency of the women within that limited space, which is a refreshing and realistic portrayal of trafficking. When Nona was sent to the store by the madame, she was stopped by a police officer who was both racist and unsympathetic. At the police station, a detective (Kate Bosworth) talked at Nona, telling the victim what her experience was, in English, without knowing what Nona has been through or who she was. Aside from being unrealistic, it was controlling. Nona is an above-average movie about human trafficking, but the poorly written ending makes it hard to recommend, unless to show what happens when law enforcement has insufficient victim identification training and doesn't use a victim-centered approach. Sources: * Nona, Tricoast * Photo: Provided by Tricoast

    45 min
  4. 31/03/2019

    Throwing Stats Against the Wall: The Trump Administration and Trafficking

    The Trump Administration claims a humanitarian crisis at the "southern border as human traffickers victimize countless women and children." JJ examines what Trump has said about human trafficking and at looks Trump administration policies, including the wall, and how their claims compare to statistics. Sources: * Remarks: Donald Trump Discusses Human Trafficking and the Border - February 1, 2019, Factbase * Human Trafficking News, US Department of Justice * Thirty-Six Defendants Guilty For Their Roles In International Thai Sex Trafficking Organization, US State Attorney's Office District of Minnesota * Texas couple convicted of keeping African girl as slave for 16 years, Independent * Interview: Donald Trump Interviewed by Margaret Brennan on CBS's Face the Nation - February 3, 2019, Factbase * Tim Ballard: I've fought sex trafficking at the border. This is why we need a wall, Desert News * 2018 TIP Report, United States, US Department of State * Attorney General TIP Report FY2017, Scribd * Speech: Donald Trump Delivers the State of the Union - February 5, 2019, Factbase * The Human Trafficking Legal Center * US v. Mustafa Et Al Superseding Indictment, Scribd * Yes, There Was Duct Tape: The Harrowing Journeys of Migrants Across the Border, The New York Times * Leader of Virginia Sex Trafficking Ring Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison, NBC Washington * Federal Prosecution of Human Trafficking Cases, 2015, Bureau of Justice Statistics * Aaron Rupar, Twitter * What is Decrim? The many places of prostitution in law, The Naked Anthropologist * Donald Trump Paid $1.4 Million in a Dispute Over Undocumented Workers. Read the Newly Unsealed Legal Papers, Time * Trump’s golf course employed undocumented workers — and then fired them amid showdown over border wall, The Washington Post

    54 min

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Exploring the depths of human trafficking, forced labor, slavery and other forms of unfree labor. We look at how the related issues of prostitution, migration, borders, prisons, criminal networks, race, laws, and psychology intersect with human trafficking.

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