On Thursday, January 28, 2016, the Detroit Office for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) held a Human Trafficking Awareness Seminar at the USCIS Detroit district office. The American Human Rights Council (AHRC-USA) board member Mr. Bandar Bawazir and Mr. Imad Hamad, AHRC Executive Director, attended this one- day seminar along with various stakeholders from grassroots community based organizations, advocacy groups, law enforcement agencies (local, county, state and federal), and lawyers.
The valuable program included sessions such as Introduction to Human Trafficking Investigations, The Intelligence Border, A different Approach to human Smuggling/trafficking, Human Trafficking cases for prosecution, Operational Planning & Joint Investigation in Human trafficking investigations, Victims issues, service-oriented experiential learning and legal framework for victims of human trafficking.
Speakers and presenters were from several agencies including ICE-Investigations- HIS-Detroit, Congresswoman B. Lawrence Office, Institute for Border logistics and Security (Windsor, Ontario- Canada), US Attorney office- Eastern district -Criminal unit, Immigration law Clinic-U of D Mercy and Clinical Professor of U of M School of Law. The seminar was concluded with an open discussion on human trafficking as a growing challenge facing America and the world. All speakers stressed on the importance of the joint and collaborative efforts as well as a partnership approach to address and combat this global challenge.
The American Human Rights Council (AHRC-USA) commends the HIS District office in Detroit and the USCIS for organizing this important and informative training seminar. AHRC commends all the law enforcement agencies who are working tirelessly to put an end to human trafficking. The nation’s law enforcement work around the clock to save innocent victims and bring the traffickers to justice to hold them accountable for their crimes. The challenge is a major one since the human trafficking criminal enterprise generates over 32 billion US dollars annually and is second only to the illegal drug industry.
“We salute law enforcement on their tireless round- the -clock efforts to make sure that all the residents and the visitors of the US are safe and enjoying their human rights,” said Imad Hamad, AHRC Executive Director. “Human trafficking is not only a law enforcement issue, it is an issue for all humanity and for all those who care about human rights,” added Hamad. “The seminar we attended was a great educational and enlightening tool. Law enforcement outreach and community- law enforcement partnership go a long way in helping us reach our goal of a world where every human being is valued and everyone’s human rights are protected,” concluded Hamad.
AHRC cannot emphasize enough the seriousness of the challenge of human trafficking to humanity and to the human rights of the victims. AHRC urges the general public to learn more about human trafficking by visiting the Blue Campaign website at: www.dhs,gov/Bluecampaign