well today. gunmen from an armed group linked to i still have opened fire on unarmed iraqi civilians in tom here north of baghdad at least five people have been killed and nine others injured in the assault the iraqi military says security forces have regained control of the area and defeated the attackers twenty seven worshippers of being killed in an attack on a mosque in northeastern nigeria place in movie in adam our state says there was an explosion jaring afternoon prayers and many died as they were caught by a second blast while fleeing no group has claimed responsibility but many are blaming the armed groups walk around for. at least fifteen people have died in an attack in the capital of central african republic gunmen opened fire and threw grenades at worshipers in a church in bangor hundreds of people had gathered for mass when the attacked place . at least fourteen asylum seekers from the so-called migrant caravan are being

allowed to cross over from mexico into u.s. territory scores of other latin american migrants have been celebrating the news as they wait their turn to enter the u.s. it took them a month to travel from honduras el salvador and guatemala coming up bulges or investigates the largest of the case of human trafficking from thailand to the u.s. slavery a twenty first century evil is next. al jazeera is a very important source of information for many people around the world when all the cameras are gone i'm still here go into areas that nobody else is going talk to people that nobody else is talking to and bringing that story to the forefront.

the three hundred years the most powerful nations on earth group richer and strong go on the profits of the slave trade over twelve million men women and children will also be transported from africa on slave ships like this to the colonies and plantations in north and south america today slavery is illegal in every country on the planet but the truth is slavery did not die in the nineteenth century it is alive it is thriving and it is bigger than ever. this series investigates the very most evil of the twenty first century slavery.

from the smallest villages in asia to some of the most economically vibrant cities in the west. but it begins in the last place you'd expect to find slaves. a country which only a few generations ago tore itself a pause out will slavery a country still rocked by collective guilt over its role in the times of planting trade. the united states probably has between forty and fifty thousand as well. conservatively but i think also to be fair the united states is one of the governments that has been. asked about the extent the amount and precise crime of enslavement within the united states. one hundred fifty years ago if you walked around the heart of the u.s. capitol you could have a slave of a street corner and this country how to go through

a painful civil war in order to bring slavery and i'm in the twenty first century there's no doubt that the united states is leading the way in the fight against modern slavery and this testament to that this country is planning to prosecute the largest ever case against modern slavery. but behind the. rest of the world. there is possibility that the very. the very end that you could have been brought to your table.

in the land of the free. do you see. how. someone has. some high power. in the remote's northern provinces of thailand life has continued unchanged for centuries. close knit families eke out a subsistence living by working on sister lands and rights fees.

and it was here in two thousand and three the agents for an american farm worker recruitment company came calling. us up on. the need of us all year and the nightmare may be back. oh a. young american woman going to go back where they manufacture. getting that kind of kenyan. families in lump on an less than one thousand dollars a year. the recruiters told them that in america they would fifty thousand dollars in. there was just one. they had to pay illegally high registration fees to the recruiters up front and then. recruitment place were high they were generally between five hundred and seven

hundred fifty thousand or between fifteen and twenty thousand u.s. dollars. for three years of. they believed in the contracted. employment at a rate of eight or nine dollars an hour so when the guys did the math they figured that they could pay off their debt in the first year and then the second and third years would basically profit for their family. if the. decision would be made by one thousand men like. in this impoverished corner of thailand was the start of a journey that began with a dream of a future. in slavery. only

in the. this is where those men were sent. the key supply routes and vegetables to major will brands. but very quickly lose new recruits from the dream they had been sold turned into a nightmare. the problems really started early on for the guys their passports were taken shortly upon arrival they did not have enough food many times they were

given bread if anything at all and coffee and oftentimes they didn't have probably most mornings they didn't have enough to eat before going out and starting their toiling in the in the very hot sun on the plains which is where a loon farms is located. a cow. just ease off in the fall but. i don't. think there. will. be. living long enough and want to add before. and then the promised pay still to draw on. they were given the amount of work but the amount of hours

per week that was promised and they very quickly started to see again calculating the math in their heads that they weren't going to be able to pay the interest on the debt much less to start paying down the debt. without money and. time with this found themselves trapped. there's even if. you say. that but. the one. thing. that happened. in december two thousand and nine the owners of a loon farms brothers mike and alex pled guilty to charges of conspiring to hold

the time and conditions of. the sues admitted knowing about the illegal recruitment fees confiscating the workers' passports and threatening them with financial ruin if they try to escape. what makes this case one of more than slavery forced labor they were constantly being told that if they if they complained. if they didn't work extra hard they were going to be sent home and it was it was the fear of being sent home and the fear of of of losing everything for their family they kept them in that condition and i think you know there are different ways of chaining and imprisoning someone all time slavery was i think much more fear of physical. abuse and harm and even death here the threat wasn't so much physical the threat the fear for the victims was

complete destitution and loss for their family and they would lose everything and that kept that kept them in that. is also agreed to pay each of the victims eight thousand dollars compensation enough to enable them to go home to thailand. but what happened next would dash even that dream. on honolulu many of those victims had waited years to see the case come to me. but this summer and despite the sea brothers previous guilty pleas elude prosecution was dismissed on a legal technicality. it left the thai workers without their promised money and

completely devastate. someone. like. how. i met your. poet. and i. don't. know why you come up with the name. but when i. went to pick up on. a loon song this wasn't the only business impeaching him hope bridge time man but the same time global horizons incorporated a multi-million dollar recruitment agency in los angeles was operating an identical

scheme but on a much larger scale. global rise and essentially applied for at least for over a thousand workers to be brought into this country and they were placed on farms to . the united states on the mainland and off the mainland and they were growing and harvesting all kinds of produce they were on pig farms there on a farm there on chicken farms you name it. global targets at the same impoverished villages in thailand as a loon farm. and it's really just the same illegally high registration. there is a set cap of how much you're supposed to pay for work abroad so in this case

for farm work in the u.s. the worker should not be paying more than sixty thousand baht that is entirely in thai currency. but in fact what has ended up happening the workers who are tote that they had to pay nine hundred thousand baht. they ended up having to mortgage their lands and their homes. and had to. take money from loan sharks borrow money to massive exorbitant debt and and pay high interest on it signed up with global horizons in two thousand and four. and i quote. that i can be american. you're not buying and selling diplomat. i'm right i'm not in the right. month.

but i'm really. sonnets mortgaged his home his fields and his father's land to pay the recruiter's fees but the american dream turned sour very quickly in my last night down how much time go by all i have from i don't see how i got an iraq. and i'm going to say it god that i'm running. shall bring home again my name and i got it i'm like ok i want. my new condo my mic on his i don't accept it dog tag line and i can give you one you will need you're going to learn what use of songs in the meaning wrong i'm moving on i'm a whole lot a lot of been talent. now many of those i wish i. could have. gone

behind and go about. this is the man who owned and operated global horizons incorporated an israeli businessman called mordecai. mr laurean is extensive business dealings in the united states brought him wealth and to whom in the hills above my son james. but both mr oriel i'm global have a long and checkered history. there are many actions filed against mr ryan now the u.s. federal department labor charges against him. for back wages and penalties and then there are liens on his properties by the i.r.s.

the internal revenue service of the federal government because of pay taxes there's also immigration violations. in two thousand and seven individual time workers began arriving at the time and community development center in los angeles. each told a story of having to escape from what they called slavery. they came as far up north as pacific northwest state of washington oregon and then. those are states you to arizona new mexico and going south texas louisiana florida these are the states where they skate traveled all the farms they were on south carolina. all the way up to east coast and then of course the hawaii the different islands of hawaii but it covers the entire country where the farms where the

former slaves were able to sort of run away that's right. sonnets was one of those who escaped. and one day. i might do you think a night down hail but i'm not a. hole now why not now. why do you get. what i want and how and when i can wow what. i'm going to. get in. but escaping from slavery has not made him free. there landing on. so many new salary me on it i did all my. take up to. go out and buy up to man.

i. oh man today you. don't die nice in your problem. and what. might die handlers have done any. more. in september two thousand and ten the f.b.i. and justice department charged mordechai orian and his key lifton incident global horizons with multiple counts of human trafficking the indictment alleges that global horizons knew about the illegal recruitment fees and took a cut of them held hundreds of time workers as forced labor on farms across the united states confiscated their passports and deployed armed guards to prevent them from leaving. this is by far the most significant case in u.s.

history of human trafficking and modern day slavery because it will now become go like this case of human trafficking in u.s. history because of the sheer number of victims involved. trial is not due to start until february two thousand and twelve but after months of negotiation he agreed to meet us in a california hotel room. he now claims he is the victim of a plot by the justice department to cover up flaws in the regulations covering migrant workers coming to america so now there is a problem is that this guy this little jew israeli whatever he come from it's blaming him for everything that we hate and make you think he's human trafficking americanus but you can so you much argue about anything in fact if you if that's the philosophy of human trafficking so everything is you're much african going airplane from hawaii to l.a. human trafficking so all their lives and human trafficking business because we

traffic my walkers from island to island hawaiian airlines with regard to the registration fees the government alleges that some of these words high as twenty one thousand u.s. dollars i think it's a totally wrong what you say because i don't believe that they paid this kind of out of money i think it's fiction if i'm retired just let's go reverse now and somebody told me i'm going to have a job in another country and by the way this is up and for every country around award and i would really eager to go there ok i'll do anything i can to make it happen and i'll go to extreme because i'm jewish the people in the holocaust done anything they can to serve their life you know how many american people to they would be happy to get ten dollars an hour net in their pocket and have somebody pay for them housing transportation take them to walk every day or i'll take my grandmother shopping once a week that's what you call human trafficking. in february of two thousand and

eleven one of more high aryans most senior left tenants decided to enter into a plea bargain with the u.s. justice department and agreed to turn evidence against his former ally mr bruce schwartz said that he knowingly conspired to in slave time workers with the full knowledge of mr laurean and other members of global horizons that together they purposely withheld the passports of the thai workers thus making it impossible for them to escape and they also knowingly used the huge amount of debts that the thai workers had entered into as a way of enforcing the thai workers to remain in global horizons employment after everything that you have had to face in your code if you personally do you have any regrets i believe if i was myself i would not regret and i think i'll fight it to so now because i think what i've done was a great thing i changed people's life i think the pain of what my family went through and my kids it was a little if i can call it

a little holocaust for my family in that if nothing else mr and his alleged victims have something in common. what. about what. about what did. you have to do. parallel. to get. to where we are. subclinical me. what do you call me but i don't really well. young annoy or what i do you know. one of the. couple got

across the united states many of the victims of global horizons a pinning their hopes on the trial of. but the collapse of the prosecution has dented their faith in the us legal system does the american government do enough to end slavery within its borders absolutely not it needs to spend a billion a year perhaps to really wipe it out it spends maybe one hundred two hundred fifty million and it barely scratches the surface and the thing that's heartbreaking about that fact is that the united states could be a slave free country. today hundreds of the thai slaves who were victims of a new farms and global horizons remain trapped in the united states. unable to

return home because of their debts and separates it from the families when they could try to see. that. yeah. maybe on al-jazeera. marking world press freedom day al jazeera shines

a light on this important issue and examines the state of freedom of the price around the world people in power the top u.s. general in afghanistan about his plans for defeating by the taliban and an isis insurgency. struggling with security issues and economic uncertainty iraq is finally set to hold elections as an unseen global battle rages for resources beneath our oceans we all skip the seabed is a territory still to be claimed commemorating seventy years from now but al-jazeera examines what has changed in the past seven decades on both sides of this conflict made on al-jazeera citizens unable to vote on represented in washington or members of congress do nothing about the cause like part of the constituency in their responsibility and that is what's underneath this crisis phone lines visit to the island devastated by hurricane maria and demanding the support of the u.s. government certainly can't tell you what it is and then this girl mentality

responsibility and you know not let them forget the. shelter after the storm on al-jazeera. i remember the first time i walked into the newsroom and it felt like being in the general assembly of the united nations because it was so many nationalities. and just different places but it's one that gives us that gives us the ability to identify the people who live the other side of the world but we can understand what it's like to have a different perspective and i think that is a strength for al-jazeera. al jazeera. every.