North Carolina is ranked number eight in the nation for human trafficking. “Rape in the Fields,” a documentary revealing the human trafficking of Latina migrant farm workers in the United States, was shown Tuesday, April 1 at Lumina Theater. Following the documentary, several expert panelists led a discussion on this topic. 

The documentary, which ran for an hour, featured female, undocumented migrant farm workers across the western United States, who had suffered frequent sexual abuse and exploitation at the hands of their supervisors—the overseers of the farms.

Right here in North Carolina, many female migrant farm workers suffer similar abuse, yet do not have much legal protection against their supervisors’ acts of violence.

Natalie Hyatt, one of the panelists following the showing of the documentary, serves as the outreach coordinator for Farmworker Health Program in the Pender County Health Department. She has been involved in outreach and camp visits to abused migrant farm workers across Pender County for a year.

“At peak season, we have about 1,800 farm workers, migrant and seasonal,” Hyatt said. .

Rachel Wright, another panelist, is the community education coordinator for Farmworker Legal Aid in North Carolina. She has worked for three years as a student advocate for farmworker children in Lenoir County. 

Wright revealed that North Carolina migrant workers do not have many protection laws against abuse suffered by their supervisor.

“There are a lot more laws on the west coast protecting farm workers than there are here,” Wright said. 

“In North Carolina, the injustices against farm workers are awful,” Wright said.

One of the duties Wright performs  for Farmworker Legal Aid includes obtaining U-Visas for abused farm workers. 

U-Visas are non-immigrant visas that allow victims of certain crimes temporary legal status and work eligibility in the United States for up to four years.  

Currently, the United States has reached the cap of U-Visa applicants for 2014. Victims of sexual abuse wishing to escape their supervisor—without facing deportation—must wait until 2015 to file their claim for a U-Visa. 

Gloria Hegarty, another panelist,  serves as a counselor and advocate at the Coastal Horizons Rape Crisis Center and is a coordinator of the Cape Fear Human Trafficking Rapid Response Team in North Carolina. She explained that H2A visas—a temporary U.S. agricultural program for non-immigrants—have attracted droves of migrant workers to coastal North Carolina. 

“We’ve got I-40, we’ve got 95, we’ve got the water, so those accesses are very available to bring these people in, and not only that, there’s an attraction from other countries in Central America I think, of coming to this area,” Hegarty said. 

North Carolina accounts for the most H2A visas distributed to non-immigrant farm workers in the United States.

Hegarty explained that because of the attraction of the southeastern U.S. coast, most of her clients assume that Wilmington is homier than their native countries, and are, therefore, unaware of the farm worker abuse that exists across the United States. 

“They have this mentality that [Southeastern coast] will be an easier place to live and work,” Hegarty said.

Sophomore Alex Baltzeegar, who has lived on the Southeastern coast all her life, was surprised at the prevalence of human trafficking in North Carolina. 

 “I was really shocked that [human trafficking] was a local issue,” Baltzeegar said. “I had no idea that North Carolina was even on the radar for human trafficking.” 

One of the most shocking parts in the documentary was when about 14 victims of sexual abuse from the same farm testified against their supervisor, only to lose the case and witness their supervisor walk out of court a free man. 

Corrin Diestel, a junior at UNCW and Hegarty’s intern, was dismayed at the outcome of the case.  

“Seeing 14 and 15 victims going to the stand and recounting their story and not being believed was horrifying, [because] the message that it sends says that if you speak up and confront all your fears and hesitations about coming forward…sanctions will be put against you,” Diestel said.

While the panelists have only witnessed one criminal conviction of a supervisor sentenced to prison for farm worker sexual abuse in North Carolina, Wright said that each of the organizations they are involved in is partnered with law enforcement agents to mitigate the human trafficking of migrant farm workers.

“We’re trying to educate law enforcement and get law enforcement involved around the state,” Wright said.

Following the panelist discussion, Hegarty was visibly upset about the numerous human trafficking victims around North Carolina. She expressed that the most important work of the panelists is to bring attention to this issue to North Carolina residents.

“One of the things that we are trying to accomplish is the awareness of what is happening among our community within our community,” Hegarty said.