A woman came to the United States from Thailand to work for a family as a housekeeper. She was required to work without pay for very long hours without breaks and was required to do work that was not specified in her contract. Her employers were demanding and verbally abusive. She was not allowed to contact her family, and she could only make phone calls when her employers were out of the house. The employer had arranged for her work visa and told the woman that she would be deported if she ended her employment with the family.  Because she did not feel that she could safely leave the house, which was in an isolated area, she contacted the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) hotline, which she found in a pamphlet provided to her when she received her work visa. Over the course of several phone calls, the NHTRC provided support over the phone and helped her with safety planning. With the caller’s permission, she was connected with a human trafficking task force and a law enforcement officer who helped her safely leave the house and go to a shelter. The shelter staff connected the woman with a lawyer who helped her pursue immigration assistance available to victims of human trafficking.

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