Ingrid Cruz dreamed of being a teacher. A graduate of a prestigious university in the Philippines, she believed Lourdes Navarro wanted to help her get a job in the United States. In fact, Navarro was working with school administrators in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, to secure visas for Cruz and many other teachers, but Navarro charged them each approximately $16,000 for the service. Once in America, Navarro forced the teachers to sign over 10 percent of their salaries.

“We were thinking we had no choice,” Cruz told the Boston Globe. The teachers lived together in an apartment complex and paid Navarro rents well over market value. They aren’t alone. According to the Globe, documented cases of teacher trafficking have occurred in Baltimore and El Paso, Texas, as well.

The stories of trafficking are so compelling often because they are so shocking, grim reminders of the horrors lurking behind the American dream. Indeed, although the United States proudly calls itself the home of the free, the Polaris Project estimates that at least 100,000 children are engaged in the sex trade here each year. That number doesn’t include adults, and it doesn’t include anyone, like Cruz, trapped in a forced or exploitative labor situation.

Cruz and her fellow teachers, with the help of the Southern Poverty Law Center and the American Federation of Teachers, sued Navarro and won a $4.5 million verdict on their claims of exploitative business practices. The trafficking claims against Navarro, however, were dismissed.

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