21st Century Slavery: Illegal Immigrants Held Captive
LONG: Slavery in 21st century America? Perhaps hard to believe, but in Florida, investigators and activists have turned up case after case of illegal immigrants held captive, forced to work in the fields. We get this story from CNN special investigations unit and correspondent, Abbie Boudreau.</s>ABBIE BOUDREAU, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT: It all begins as a way for migrants to have a better life. But it could very well turn into this -- modern day slavery.</s>LT. RENE GONZALES, COLLIER CO., FLA. SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Who would have thought we'd be having slavery, 2008? You know, that this would be taking place?</s>BOUDREAU (on-camera): Authorities say these migrant workers are often smuggled into the United States. They think they're going to be making a decent amount of money that they can then send back to their families. But when they get here, this is what they're faced with. Living in labor camps just like this one. (voice-over): In some cases, migrants, held against their will, pushed, kicked and cut if they didn't work. Investigators say one man's hands chained behind his back so he couldn't leave. (on-camera): Do you think by calling them slaves, is that too strong of a term?</s>GONZALES: No.</s>BOUDREAU: No?</s>GONZALES: No, not at all. Like I said, these people can't leave. They're escorted here, they're escorted to do their shopping, they catch a bus right where they work, the bus takes them to the fields, the bus brings them back, and once they're there, you can't leave there.</s>BOUDREAU (voice-over): Hidden in plain sight just across the street from a busy casino, laborers escorted to this phone booth, allowed to call home but not allowed to say they're being held captive. Lieutenant Rene Gonzales says he sees it firsthand. In December, Gonzales' team helped break a family-run slavery ring. The Navarrete family and an associate is accused of offering work to a dozen illegal immigrants, then holding them captive, forcing them to work. (on-camera): This house looks like any other suburban house, but it's not. Authorities say this is where slaves were kept. And if they tried to leave, they were beaten.</s>GONZALES: They were housed here in the vans. There was also a makeshift wooden -- three pieces of plywood shaped like a little box, and two or three of the people were living in there , as well.</s>BOUDREAU: Living in a box?</s>GONZALES: Yes.</s>BOUDREAU (voice-over): This federal indictment details involuntary servitude, how the Navarretes allegedly locked migrants in a van like this, forcing them to work. They even had to pay $5 to shower, using a hose and a bucket outside. Those accused claim they did nothing wrong, saying if it weren't for them, the illegal immigrants would be living on the street without jobs.</s>GONZALES: When we do talk to them, they go, I'm in your country illegally. How can I -- how can I complain about how I'm being treated?</s>BOUDREAU: Lucas Benitez co-founded the Immokalee Workers Coalition in the early '90s and says his group has rescued more than 1,000 workers from slavery in the last decade.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Armed guards are watching them 24 hours a day in isolated labor camps.</s>BOUDREAU: In southwest Florida alone, nine human trafficking cases were prosecuted in the last nine years. Seven active investigations are underway. And prosecutors say countless cases go unreported.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): So it is a lucrative business to have people in slavery, because you don't have to pay them, you have them under your control, and you make profits from their labor.</s>BOUDREAU: Abbie Boudreau, CNN, Immokalee, Florida.</s>LONG: Now prosecutors say the Navarrete case is one of the worst slavery cases in the history of Florida. The defendants face up to 20 years in prison. Our special investigations unit talked to the Navarrete's attorneys and they say the government has no credible evidence to support the charges against them.</s>LEMON: Sad story there. And sad one here. Remember this from over the weekend? The no- swimming signs, well, they're coming down. Seventeen miles of southern California beaches are reopening today, but beach-goers might think twice about jumping back into the water with a killer shark out there. Sixty-six-year-old triathlete, David Martin, bled to death Friday after a shark bit both his legs. Experts think it was a great white. Air and ground patrols are on the lookout for any signs of trouble there. Crews are back in the air over Daytona Beach, Florida, searching for the body of a teenager who apparently drowned in a rip current. It happened on Saturday. Authorities say the water was so choppy yesterday, visibility from the air was next to zero. Lifeguards managed to rescue more than 100 other people who also got into trouble in the rough seas.</s>LONG: Coming up, behind the fence at Camp Bucca. The U.S. military pulls aside the vail on its biggest prison camp in Iraq. And only CNN will take you there.