Human Trafficking and the T Visa Process

Human mobility, in its different manifestations — international and domestic migration; refugees, asylum seekers, and displaced populations; and human trafficking — is at the center of many political and public debates. In two research presentations by UNO faculty, the demographics of highly mobile populations will be explored as well as the impacts of mobility on communities in Nebraska

From “Whores” to “Victims”: The Rise and Status of Sex Trafficking Courts

Views of people involved in the commercial sex trade have shifted. Once seen as prostitutes or “whores,” they are increasingly perceived as exploited “victims.” The behavior associated with commercial sex has been redefined from voluntary and disreputable to coerced and deserving of rescue. This new framework is part of a broader anti-trafficking movement in society to recognize and save vulnerable individuals who are exploited for sex. In this context, the model of problem-solving or specialty courts has been extended to sex trafficking cases. The goal first is to identify trafficking victims–also known as “victim-defendants”–and then to address their risk factors with services. The current review examines the prevalence and the effectiveness of sex trafficking courts. Although some promising evaluations have been conducted, it remains unclear whether such courts are addressing the unique needs of victim-defendants. Investigating this question is essential, given that trafficking courts are likely to grow in popularity and in number

The Role of Specialty Courts in Addressing Human Trafficking Cases: A Policy Evaluation

CPACS Inquiry Awards Part of the mission of the College of Public Affairs and Community Service (CPACS) is to conduct research, especially as it relates to concerns of our local and statewide constituencies. The CPACS Inquiry Awards, is one catalyst of the College to assure this mission is fulfilled. CPACS Inquiry Awards are intended to support research of any methodology that explores the nature, scope, concerns and/or solutions to issues of public interest with a focus on examining or demonstrating how such inquiry can positively impact the public(s) researched. For this award the public(s) researched must be relevant to Nebraska and/or our neighbor states

Human Trafficking and the T Visa Process: Insights from Legal Representatives Working with Victims from Latin Ameria

Human trafficking occurs when traffickers use force, fraud, or coercion to compel individuals to provide labor or services—broadly known as labor or sex trafficking. Traffickers often take advantage of individuals who are perceived as vulnerable, including those lacking immigration status. In response, the United States Congress created a T nonimmigrant status (also referred to as a T visa) in October 2000 to protect immigrant victims and to strengthen law enforcement’s ability to investigate these crimes. The current study sought to examine the trafficking experiences of foreign national victims from Latin America specifically by interviewing legal representatives who assist these individuals in Nebraska. These representatives were selected due to their intimate knowledge of the T visa process and their unique position to identify human trafficking victims during legal consultations. Interviews were conducted via Zoom with six individuals who provided rich insights into 22 cases involving victims of human trafficking from Latin America. The findings include an overview of the legal representatives who encountered these cases, describes the trafficking experience of victims from Latin America, explores the challenges of filing for a T visa, examines the role of service providers in addressing clients’ needs, and reviews the legal representatives’ perceptions of barriers to trafficking cases. The report concludes with policy implications that are useful to individuals or institutions (e.g., agencies, legal representatives, law enforcement) in anti-trafficking initiatives

Understanding and Application of Culturally Diverse Issues Within University Settings

This qualitative study focused on exploring the knowledge and beliefs of university faculty, staff and students regarding: the effects of multi-culturalism and immigration on their professional lives; the influence of cultural issues within the university setting; and, finally, the teaching and learning needs of culturally diverse students. The major findings include the limited knowledge base held by all groups in the sample about multi- culturalism and immigration with subsequent little effect on their professionall lives. However, of the three groups, the student group more readily recognized that they have little preparation for the multicultural interactions that will occur in their future professional practices. Although some faculty members included other teaching experiences and strategies to expose students to diversity, they also admitted to a lack of expertise in this area.Cette étude qualitative explore les connaissances et les convictions des professeurs, du personnel universitaire et des étudiants en ce qui a trait aux effets de l'immigration et de la diversité culturelle sur leur vie professionnelle, à l'influence de la question culturelle dans l'environnement universitaire, ainsi qu'aux besoins liés à l'apprentissage et la formation des étudiants de cultures diverses. Les résultats essentiels indiquent la piètre connaissance qu'ont ces différents milieux des questions touchant la diversité culturelle, ce qui a pour corrélat une absence apparente d'influence de cette diversité sur leur vie professionnelle. Toutefois, sur l'ensemble des trois groupes consultés, les étudiants semblent plus prompts à reconnaître leur absence de formation en la matière: ils se sentent peu préparés aux interactions pluriculturelles inhérentes à leur vie professionnelle à venir. Bien que quelques professeurs intègrent à leur enseignement des stratégies et des expériences variées afin d'exposer les étudiants à la diversité culturelle, ils reconnaissent également un manque de compétence spécialisée dans ce domaine

Physiologically-relevant levels of sphingomyelin, but not GM1, induces a beta-sheet-rich structure in the amyloid-beta(1-42) monomer

To resolve the contribution of ceramide-containing lipids to the aggregation of the amyloid-β protein into β-sheet rich toxic oligomers, we employed molecular dynamics simulations to study the effect of cholesterol-containing bilayers comprised of POPC (70% POPC, and 30% cholesterol) and physiologically relevant concentrations of sphingomyelin (SM) (30% SM, 40% POPC, and 30% cholesterol), and the GM1 ganglioside (5% GM1, 70% POPC, and 25% cholesterol). The increased bilayer rigidity provided by SM (and to a lesser degree, GM1) reduced the interactions between the SM-enriched bilayer and the N-terminus of Aβ42 (and also residues Ser26, Asn27, and Lys28), which facilitated the formation of a β-sheet in the normally disordered N-terminal region. Aβ42 remained anchored to the SM-enriched bilayer through hydrogen bonds with the side chain of Arg5. With β-sheets in the at the N and C termini, the structure of Aβ42 in the sphingomyelin-enriched bilayer most resembles β-sheet-rich structures found in higher-ordered Aβ fibrils. Conversely, when bound to a bilayer comprised of 5% GM1, the conformation remained similar to that observed in the absence of GM1, with Aβ42 only making contact with one or two GM1 molecules. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Protein Aggregation and Misfolding at the Cell Membrane Interface edited by Ayyalusamy Ramamoorthy.Peer reviewe

Health care for the Mexican Mennonites in Canada

© Canadian Nurses Association. Reproduced with permission. Further reproduction is prohibited.The basic story of Canadian Mennonites is well known: During the centuries since the founding of the Mennonite church in Holland in the 1500s, religious persecution has led to group migration throughout Europe and to North America. Mennonites who came to Canada settled mainly in southern Ontario and the western provinces, where they maintained their religious practices, language, education and agrarian lifestyle. Less well known is that, in the 1920s, when the Canadian government mandated that all schools must use the provincial school curricula, some conservative Mennonites chose to leave Canada for Mexico, where they had been promised religious and educational freedom.Ye

COMMUNITY AND NETWORK RESPONSES FOR ASSISTING MOBILE VULNERABLE POPULATIONS

The COVID-19 crisis highlighted the increasing vulnerability of individuals, households, and communities. It has almost certainly been even more devastating for those who rely on community networks and organizations for aid but are less able to access aid networks in conditions of reduced mobility. This is the case for “mobile vulnerable populations,” among which include persons experiencing homelessness, victims of human trafficking,immigrants, refugees, and Latinos/as. This report summarizes our research with local Omaha service providers about what they need to serve mobile vulnerable populations in the community, how the pandemic has affected their ability to do so, and whether there have been any substantial and/or institutionalized partnerships between UNO/UNMC and these community organizations. In our research, we used a multi-method approach consisting of a survey of community organization leaders and interviews with organization workers engaged into day-to-day service provision to meet the needs of their clients. Our findingscan be summarized in four main themes: (a) organizations were already under-resourced prior to the pandemic; (b) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on organizations was substantial; (c) organizations described similar strengths and innovative responses to the pandemic; and (d) there is a lack of institutionalized collaboration with UNO/UNMC. We argue that building connections between UNO/UNMC and community organizations, as well as assisting in the development of networks among various organizations, is central to the mission of the University of Nebraska system and could benefitthe community more broadly. Concluding, we present four main recommendations: (1) more connections are needed between UNO/UNMC and agencies in the Omaha area; (2) it is likely that there are existing relationships between agency partners and UNO/UNMC faculty, staff and students that could be leveraged; (3) there is an opportunity to prepare students and emphasize workforce growth among providers; and (4) the important work of serving mobile vulnerable populations can be rewarding but also challenging for Omaha providers