There have been Wisconsin cases of foreign born slaves coming from places like Southeast Asia, most notably a 2005 suburban Milwaukee case in which an affluent Filipino couple kept a house slave from their native country for nearly 20 years.
However a human trafficking policy specialist says the most recent examples involve more cases of US born young girls being forced in prostitution. Marianna Smirnova of the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault (WCASA) says prosecutions from 2009 and 2010 reflect this trend.
Smirnova was among those who participated in a recent UW-Madison symposium on modern slavery. Among its goals was to raise awareness and get state funding to address crimes such as human trafficking.
Marianna Smirnova (:43)
Prevention may include youth education as well as increased collaboration with missing person networks and child protective services.