ShareThisNEW YORK — On Tuesday, January 18, the two Filipinas — Leticia Moratal and Jacqueline Aguirre — who have finally found the courage to talk about their plight of getting trafficked into the United States and being subject to modern-day slavery for years, will be speaking in a press conference for the first time.
Moratal was a domestic worker who was withheld wages for nearly 10 years aside from being subject to cruel treatment and psychological abuse by her employers. Aguirre’s employers, on the other hand, misled her to believe that they had the financial capability to pay her the offered wage, all the while she was working as a virtual one-woman staff for their nursing agency office in Long Island. She is currently subject to removal proceedings by the US Department of Homeland Security for overstaying as a result of her employers’ fraudulent promise and representation.
Moratal and Aguirre are being represented in court by Atty. Felix Vinluan, the labor and immigration lawyer who was part of the equally-controversial campaign of the Sentosa 27++ Nurses, also victims of human trafficking.
They will be joined and supported by the Filipino community and member organizations of the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON) in New York as they speak more about how they were enslaved by their employers, how they were able to escape, what problems they are facing as of the moment and what will be their next steps.
The fight of Moratal and Aguirre against human trafficking will be part of the relaunch of the Stop Trafficking Our People (STOP) Campaign by NAFCON, originally launched by its member organization, Philippine Forum, in 2002 when another trafficked domestic worker, Elma Manliguez, was allowed to file a civil rights suit against slavery and was granted the first T visa (for victims of human trafficking) in New York — hers becoming a landmark case in the US courts.
As part of the STOP Campaign, a series of public awareness events and actions will be held to educate members of the community on the existing human trafficking cases and how they can be prevented and combated collectively. For more information, email at nafcon.ne@gmail.com or call (646)5787390.