“Today” and MSNBC to feature law professor

Author: Melanie McDonald

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Bridgette Carr, associate clinical professor of law at the University of Notre Dame Law School, and one of her clients will be featured in reports on human trafficking Monday (Dec. 3) on theTodayshow on NBC and on an MSNBC special report,Sex Slaves in America.

Todayairs locally from 7 to 9 a.m. and 10 to 11 a.m. on WNDU-TV and the MSNBC report is scheduled for broadcast at 11 p.m. (locally on Comcast cable Channel 58).

Each year, nearly 1 million human beings are bought, sold or forced across the world’s borders. Carr seeks justice for those victims of forced migration and human trafficking. One of those victims,Katya,was lured to the United States from the Ukraine with the promise of employment and study abroad, but instead was forced to work as an exotic dancer, six days a week, 12 hours a day.

Many people are aware of the issues surrounding economic immigrationthis is what our border debate is about right now, where people are crossing into the U.S. by choice to find work and earn a better living for their families,Carr says.

But what most people dont think about, she says, is forced migration, which involves people who are fleeing persecution or who are in the United States as a result of force, fraud or coercion.

Carrs scholarly and practical work in the area of human trafficking and forced migration began while she was a law student at the University of Michigan. There, Carr immersed herself in advocacy for the poor and began to focus on assisting refugees, further honing her skills through an internship at Amnesty Internationals London office and then at Detroits Freedom House, which represents homeless or indigent refugees seeking asylum in the United States or Canada.

Carr says that women and children are often treated brutally in America and are victims of human trafficking.

Societys most vulnerable are frequently forced into slavery in neighborhoods throughout the United States,she said.This human trafficking can take the form of either forced labor or sexual slavery.

_ Contact: Bridgette Carr at 575-631-7637 or_ " Carr.55@nd.edu ":mailto:Carr.55@nd.edu

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