When he lived in India, Sameer Jain admired America, and he still does now that he lives in Tallahassee. But his admiration for the country was one of the lures his former trafficker used to enslave him.
Now Jain serves on the National Human Trafficking Advisory Council and works with Tallahassee’s Survive and Thrive Advocacy Center, hoping to free others. To mark National Human Trafficking Awareness Month, Jain shared his story with WFSU.
“I was on the other side of the world like a normal human being who could not comprehend that I can be trafficked," he says. "I’m a white-collar guy. I can understand and speak English. I know the language. I am educated, I’m a graduate, so that kind of thing never strike me.”
But he WAS trafficked. Jain was a manager at an IT company with offices in India and the U.S. His employer offered to pay his way to the U.S and provide housing and health insurance, making that offer for several years until Jain accepted.
What Jain wants people to know is that trafficking is all about vulnerability. His vulnerability was his son, who had health issues that were aggravated by the pollution in New Delhi.
So, Jain came to Kansas. Once he arrived, everything changed. His employer put him on double duty, working on his laptop while overseeing a restaurant. He had no days off. He didn’t get paid for months. His employer, who had obtained his visa, threatened to have it revoked. Then his cousin came to visit and smelled a rat -- but Jain’s fear of losing his visa kept him silent.
“He said, ‘Who works these long hours? You’re not getting paid,’ and all that stuff." Jain says. "I would not disclose because of the fear.”
Then his trafficker upped the ante.
“At one point of time, my employer said, ‘Hey, I got you here and I spend tons of money on you. Now you need to pay me back.’ And I said, ‘I do not have money. I’m working and I do not get paid from you. How would I pay you?’ He said, ‘Doesn’t matter. I need money now.’”
Finally he told his cousin the truth.
“And then he laid out a plan. He came to Kansas and talked to my employer. ‘I’m going to get him a job in Tallahassee, and then he can pay you. How about that?’ And that guy was greedy," says Jain, "and he said, ‘Yes. Just pay me.’”
Jain thought he had no choice but to go back to India. His cousin urged him, since he’d be leaving the country anyway, to act to prevent others from winding up in the same situation.
“At least make sure that no other person get to suffer,” his cousin said.
So, Jain complained to the U.S. Department of Labor. They put him in touch with Florida State University’s Center for the Advancement of Human Rights, where Vania Aguilar put him in touch with the Survive and Thrive Advocacy Center. He cannot say enough about how much the organization has helped him and his family.
And now his son is finishing his bachelor’s degree at Florida State University.
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This week's events by the Survive and Thrive Advocacy Center:
IMAGINE FREEDOM 2025
https://surviveandthriveadvocacy.org/events/if2025/
A Fundraising Event: Planting Seeds and Deep Roots
Tuesday, January 28, 2025
TNL Performing Arts Center
1533 South Monroe St. Unit C. Tallahassee, Fl. 32301
5:30 – 7:00 p.m.
https://surviveandthriveadvocacy.org/events/human-trafficking-community-conversation-leon-county/
Join us on Thursday, January 30, for the Leon County “Human Trafficking Community Conversation” – a lively, informative, and interactive program about human trafficking in Leon County at the TNL Performing Arts Center
1533 S. Monroe St., Unit C, Tallahassee, Florida 32301
5:30 – 7:00 p.m.
