Six people in Buffalo, New York were charged in June with trafficking 40 Mexican workers and using them as forced labour.

This is the first time charges of forced labour have been brought under the United States' Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act (2000). The act raises the penalty for using forced labour to a maximum of 20 years in prison. It also states that psychological coercion is an offence, which enables more trafficking cases to be prosecuted than under previous laws.

The six lured desperate Mexican migrants from Arizona with promises of well-paid farm work in New York State. Instead, they were transported in over-croweded vans without seats or working windows. When they arrived, they were told each owed at least US$1,000 for the cost of transportation, food, rent and electricity.

The contractors withheld pay and used guards to keep them from leaving, threatening them with violence if they tried to escape. One worker said he was told he would be locked in a small truck for a month without food if he did not work harder.

Despite the threats, 10 workers escaped and found help via the Farmworker Legal Services of New York, reports said.

The US Government estimates some 50,000 people are trafficked annually into the US from countries in Latin America, eastern Europe, South-East Asia and beyond.