Human Trafficking Workshop

Held by Integration Services, Pasco

Speakers include Local Investigator, U.S. Immigration Agent

6 April 2009 - TLW

A workshop on Human Trafficking was held in Dade City on March 18 by Lutheran Services Florida's Integration Assistance Services in Pasco County.  The "brown bag" event was held at the Norma Learning Center of Farmworkers Self Help and was designed to assist health and human service care providers to identify and report suspected cases of human trafficking in the county.

Speakers at the event included Detective James McBride of the Clearwater Police Department, who has served as the lead investigator on the Clearwater Area Human Trafficking Task Force since August 2006, with responsibilities for building relationships with all ethnic communities and non-governmental agencies within Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties, investigation of human trafficking, sex trafficking, domestic sex trafficking, labor trafficking, and domestic servitude, and assisting the Florida Department of Law Enforcement with the molding of the curriculum for the Advanced Human Trafficking Course currently taught to investigators in the state of Florida.

Also speaking was U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Special Agent James “Andy” Stone, who is assigned to the Public Safety Group at ICE in Tampa, which is responsible for human smuggling and human trafficking investigations.  Agent Stone serves as ICE’s liaison to the Clearwater Area Human Trafficking Task Force and also coordinates all immigration benefits granted because of human trafficking investigations in the Tampa Bay area.

Other featured guests included Ida Lopez, Lead Case Manager for World Relief, Aniefiok “Will” Bassey, LSF's Director of Employability Status Assistance at IAS-Pasco, and Marisol Morales-Arellano, Teen Dream Team Coordinator at Farmworker’s Self Help.

"This was a very successful workshop," said Sharon Barron, LSF's Outreach Coordinator at IAS-Pasco.  "The subject matter was appropriate to the area served and our attendees, most of whom are in the health and human services field and are most likely to be come into contact with a potential human trafficking victim."

About 25 people attended the workshop, including staff from the Farmworker’s Self Help, Pasco County Health Department clinical and social service staff, Pasco County School District Social Workers and Guidance Counselors, area clergy, other area healthcare providers and volunteers from as far away as The Villages, and two members from Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Pictures by LSF's Javier Torres.

 L  U  T  H  E  R  A  N         S  E  R  V  I  C  E  S          F  L  O  R  I  D  A