Congress Has Only Now Banned Slave Labor in US Imports

According to Eric Gottwalt of the International Labor Rights Forum, another major hindrance to enforcement is the fact that ICE investigations would have to originate with a public complaint—many steps removed from the source:

ICE investigates only when a third party (civil society or, possibly, another part of the US government) makes an allegation that warrants investigation. If ICE’s investigation finds that there is a “reasonable suspicion” that a product was produced with forced labor…CBP [Customs and Border Patrol] then decides whether to issue a detention order to hold the goods at the port pending further investigation.… CBP rarely issues detention orders; the last one is from 2000.

Federal authorities could also issue a permanent exclusion order upon finding “probable cause” linking a certain product to forced labor. That provision has not applied in two decades, according to Gottwald.

Logistics aside, there’s a sad insularity to the idea of a ban, considering the socioeconomic context of the problem. The basic mechanism of enforcement ensures that intervention will only come at the end of the supply chain, after the labor has already been exploited. In supply chains that runs through dozens of factories or processors, slavery is the “accident” of malign neglect in a system rigged to obscure corporate liability and to distance consumers from labor.

A symbolic ban on “slave made” products does reflect a growing consciousness among the public and multinational corporations about human rights violations in their supply chains. Vivid media depictions of Bangladeshi children in sweatshops and migrant fishery workers trapped on the South China Sea has brought home the savage realities of globalization.

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