 This is Steak Tech, Hawaii. Community matters here. Good afternoon, and welcome to Asia Review. I'm your host, Lily Hong. Secondly to drug trafficking, human trafficking is the most profitable transnational crime. Out of the 21 million that are trafficked globally, 26 percent of those are children. We have with us today in the studio Mr. Valger Soledra, a human trafficking survivor to share his story with us. Welcome to the show, Mr. Valger. Would you like me to call you Mr. Valger, Mr. Soledra? Yeah, it's Valger. Okay, Valger. All right. Welcome to the show, Valger. Thank you, Lily. All right. Now, when did you first arrive in the United States? In 2013. In August 2013. Okay. And you are a national of Brazil. Yeah. I'm from Brazil. I'm from Brazil in Sao Paulo. Okay. And what made you come to Hawaii? Well, I'm a biologist. I studied agriculture biology, and in Brazil we have taught if here in the United States is everything first word. So it's very good for us to come here and study and see how the technology and things work here, even in the farm. So an opportunity came about for you to come to the United States? Yeah. My internship for I was working, I was thinking I would come to work in an organic farm because that's my field work. So yeah, I came in 2013 for working a farm. For my biology degree will be my internship for my finished my degree. Okay. And is this internship organized by your university or was it an outside contractor? It was outside contractor, but they was very involved. They was very, actually my university recommended me to go with this program, with this company. Okay. And from the time that you signed up to the time you actually got on a plane, how long was the process? It was months of process. I was feeling confident because my university helped me with all this organization for I come. And I was excited to come. It was my first time in the United States and it was like I would say four or five months. Yeah. Preparation. What were the things that you had to do to qualify? Were there any qualifications or prerequisites? Yeah, I needed to do an interview by Skype and in this interview they asked me a lot about my background. Who is interviewing you? The company who brought me to here. They're based in the United States. Yeah, they're based here. So it's not the actual employer that you were going to? No, the guy is Brazilian, but he works here. He works for this company and he's vice president of this company. And I need to be approved for him, from him, to be able to come here. So yeah, it was an interview for around 30 minutes interview and they asked me a lot about my background and my family and my financial situation. And yeah, I got approved after this interview. So it sounded very legitimate? No, it wasn't. Now I know, but before I didn't know. So back then it sounded legitimate to you back then? Yeah, it was legitimate. Were there anything you have to do? Did you have to pay your fees? I have to pay a lot fees. My money is different than here. Dollars are very expensive in my country and I need to pay some fees in dollar. And my dad helped me to pay that. And I need somebody to guarantee I would pay when I come here. How much did you have to pay? Around $10,000. U.S. dollars? Yeah, U.S. dollars. And that money is to them, do you get it back? Or is it a deposit? No, it wasn't a deposit. I paid them. It was weird because I paid many fees, I didn't pay altogether. So that's part of the, now I know it's part of the crime, but I paid like 500 dollars and 500 more dollars and for this person, for the other person. So yeah, it wasn't just for one situation, I paid like in parts. So there were a series of payments that you have to make, but you felt pretty assured because your university helped to all of this. Yeah, I was feeling confident because my university was recommending and my teachers liked the program and I was feeling confident. And they have sent students prior to you? Yeah, other students come with me from the same university. And you mentioned your dad helped you to pay the fees. So I imagine your family, they were very excited to in your family. And the frustrations part of the thing, if it was just the money, the money in some point you can pay, but the frustration is I think it's bigger than the money. So okay, so you got on a plane, you arrived in the United States. Was Honolulu your first stop? Where did you? No, I went to Maui in Haiku. I was working on tomato farms in Haiku. Me and other three Asians, workers. Where were they from? From Cambodia, Vietnam, and China. Okay, yeah. And so you arrived and tell us how was your first day on the farm like? Well, I was with jet lag. So I was very sleepy. I was very tired from the flight. Did it give you a couple of days to rest up or you had to go all the way? I went straight to the work. How did the farm look to you when you first arrived? Was there anything peculiar about it besides the three other interns? What other people were there? Actually it was just the owner of the farm and the other interns. That was this guy, the owner of this farm. He used this program with the labor job in his farm. So it was an internship at all. It was just a labor job and I didn't come for work here. I came for internship and it wasn't nothing didactic and it wasn't an internship at all. So you were supposed to come here to learn how you ended up doing hard labor on the day? How many hours did you work a day on the farm? Actually I was 24 hours employed because everything he needs, he knocked on my door and asked me to do it. So I was supposed to start work 7 and finish 6, but I worked nights. If he buys something new for the farm, he needs somebody to take it from the truck. It was me. If he needs to do something for the dogs, it was me. If he needs to do fancy, well, I do everything, construction, the job on the farm. Everything was the interns. So you run the errands, you're a personal assistant, you do construction, you do the labor on the farm. All right, were you guys getting paid on the farm? Yeah, we got paid $1.20 per hour. What's the amount that was promised you before you came? No, it wasn't the amount. We couldn't understand because I'm supposed to receive $400 per month. And for me, in Brazil, $400 is a lot. But here in Hawaii, it's not enough to pay our food. Your supplies and your transportation, well, wasn't enough at all. And what kind of conditions did you work under? I mean, since you were farming, did you have to use any pesticides? So what kind of protection gear did they provide? Any protection gear, we need to spray pesticides. And hormones was inside, was a greenhouse. So we need to spray everything inside. With protection, or no protection? Any protection, no protection. I ask you, I'm allergic to some things. And plus, the things we spray doesn't have a label because it takes off the label. Oh, so you don't even know what it's supposed to. I don't know if it's corrosive. I don't know if I'm allergic to it. It was very bad. And one plus in this whole situation was the character of the farmer. He was very, he wasn't never polite. He was very aggressive always. So we were always afraid to ask something because we were always afraid to tell some issues. So he had zero communication. So that was the part. So what did he do when you guys tried to break up an issue to him? What was, did he just not respond or what? Yeah, he just ignored it or he just started to say, ah, you're here for work and don't come with stupid questions. He was very aggressive, very not polite person. Okay, was he the only person there? Yeah, it was the only communication. We're not supposed to go to the farm. Why did you guys sleep on the farm? We have a house separate, um, was one with very small rooms and, uh, all the interns stay in this house. And what did he feed you guys with? I'm, I'm, I was responsible for my food. So I need to buy and cook my own food. But he did provide a kitchen facility. Now in the event that, um, you know, one of you guys falls like, does he provide a doctor medications? Uh, happens, uh, I have, uh, uh, when I was on the farm, I have a tooth pamp. I was with my wisdom tooth and he, I asked to him to take, I, I supposed to have insurance, uh, health insurance before I come here, but I never use and I know we didn't have it all. So, uh, I asked him to take me to the dentist because I was with painful because my wisdom tooth and he, he said, just take something for the pain and go back to work. He imposed any restrictions on use of the bathroom or when you could go to sleep? Um, did he allow you guys to leave the property? No, he was not supposed to go out anytime just Sundays, uh, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. But the farm, I don't know if you know Maui, the farm, it's, it's far away from the city. So we don't have a car, we don't have transportation. So it's really nowhere to go to. Yeah, nowhere to go to. And he decided this time we should go to the grocery store to buy food. So we don't, we don't have any time for ourselves and, uh, yeah, we cannot go. He was counting the minutes for go to the bathroom and he was counting the minutes. Yeah. He was using a bathroom. Yeah. And I'm not, I'm not supposed to eat. I just have a lunch time, 30 minutes and that's it. So he took you guys to the grocery store to get your food. Is that right? Yes. And he go together with us and he stay all the time with us. Yeah. Now that sounds like a horrible, you know, living condition. Have you contemplated escaping, you know, when you're at a grocery store, have you contemplated going to an outside source or pick up your phone and call somebody? Did you tell your family? Did you call to school? Actually, I have, uh, I have, uh, access to cell phone and computer, um, but I, I, this case of human trafficking, they use a lot of coercion. So I wasn't able to tell everybody how in 2013, and you, you was a victim of this. And, uh, well, uh, we, you don't, we don't feel comfortable to tell about the situation. So you didn't tell your family at all? Uh, I did after, uh, actually I, when you asked me if I was thinking to about to leave the farm or I did actually, yeah, I did after four months in this situation, I, uh, I just take my, I, he was very upset one day and he kicked us out the farm and I, I don't think twice and I just left. And prior to departure, did you inform your family or any authorities? Yes, I did. I called the cops one day, they went to the farm and they say we, we cannot do nothing. Just go back to your country, but I don't have my tickets to go back to my country. The company hold my tickets and I actually lost that ticket. What about your passport? Did they take your passport too? No, they didn't, they didn't take my passport. I, I keep my, all my ideas, but, uh, without ticket, without knowing the language, without knowing, I didn't have any friends. I didn't have opportunity to make friends. I didn't have, uh, well, I don't, I didn't speak in English at all that time. I see. So I wasn't able to, to, to ask for help. Well, thank you so much for your, we're going to take a little break here. And then when we come back, we're going to talk about how you transition from a human trafficking victim into a refugee. All right. This is Think Tech Hawaii, raising public awareness. I'm a firefighter. A teacher. I'm a farmer. I'm a barber. A waitress. A mom. We're all part of your community. Every day we move in and out of each other's busy lives. It's easy to take for granted all the little moments that make up our every day. Some are good, others not so much, but that's life. It's when you experience a moment of uncertainty, something or someone's behavior that doesn't seem quite right. These are the moments to take a pause. Because if something doesn't feel right, it's probably not. It's not about paranoia or being afraid. It's about standing up and protecting our communities. One detail at a time. Because a lot of little details can become a pattern. We. We. We. We trust our instincts. Just like you should. Because only you know what's not supposed to be in your every day. So protect your every day. If you see something suspicious, say something to local authorities. Welcome back to Asian Review. I'm your host, Lily Long. We have with us today Mr. Valjo Solera to share with us a story on his struggles as a human trafficking victim, and then his journey as a human trafficking survivor. So to continue our story Valjo, so you were kicked out of the farm. What happened next? Yeah, next I try looking for help. And I, I called many lawyers and well, I didn't actually, I asked for, I just met one friend, one Brazilian person, I didn't, wasn't my friend was just somebody I just have met. And I asked if they can translate my translate my with the cops or help me at some point. And finally I got to one association, one local association. And they, they helped me, they helped me a lot. And I was able to get a lawyer. And the Homeland Security decided my, my case was a human trafficking. So, and after that they give me a TV is a, and I'm still under the TV is a. And then you will reclassify as a refugee after. Yes, yes. In fact, in 2015 and 2016, as you had told me earlier, you were the Hawaii representative to the refugee Congress. When was the first Congress in 2015, no, 2016. Yes. Where did that take place? I was in Washington DC. We was able to, to go to the Congress and talk with our representatives was a very wonderful experience. And who were present besides yourself? Who else were there? Are the refugees? Yeah. The, these organizations choice one refugee in each state, each one of the 50 states has one representative. So they're 50 representatives. Yeah. We're 50 from the 50 states. So, I was representing Hawaii in 2016 and they chose me again for this year in 2017. And what did you guys do when you, when you got there? What did you do? We advocated for refugees rights and for immigrant rights. So was a wonderful experience because I was able to tell my history and with my history help other people in the same situation. So everybody was sharing stories. Yes. We have a lot of histories there. Did you hear similar stories or were they very unique in their own different ways? Yeah. We have people there from, from, yeah, from Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, some parts of Africa. We have from Asia, from the countries Cambodia, China, we have many people from, many refugees from this country. Would you mind sharing one or two stories? I just wanted to hear perhaps another. Yeah. I, I met people from different, plenty different countries and was this guy from Afghanistan. He was the guy from the translator for the military and he get the Taliban was retaliation him. They try to kill him and his family. So the military guy, guys take him to the base and send him straight to him and his family straight to the United States to ask for asylum because if they stay there they will get murdered for sure. So now they are here for like a refugees have some people who live years and years in refugee camps like in Cambodia and they come here they are, it's, he's the delegate from North Carolina now and many his strong histories, many stronger histories. So refugee is typically defined somebody that has to flee the country due to war, poverty, persecution based on race, religion and so on and so forth. How did you as a human trafficking victim become classified as a refugee? Was it because you couldn't go back to your country? What would happen if you had gone back to your country? Well, when we talk about refugees, we talk about people who ask asylum, people who cannot go back to the country anymore for some reason war or political issues. So yeah, we was, if I go back to my country, I have my career damage because this situation. My academic life and my professional life, it's totally destroyed because what happened and this organization, they have a lot of power in Brazil because unfortunately in Brazil, it's the justice is very slow. So we're not just talking about one university that's the culprit. We're talking about a whole network of organization working in collusion. Yeah, they was working together. It's a lot of money involved if they sent you can imagine they send a lot of people to here every year. So and they probably don't want to loss this opportunity to make money. So it's many people involved in partly my university still is involved with this. And I can have serious retaliations if I go back to my country. So if you had gone back, you would not be able to resume your studies. You probably couldn't find a world because they are connected and there's a chance that they might be harmed. Did you receive any threats at all? Yeah, my family in Brazil now, when I just report, they received some guys from this company went to my parents' house and they was telling bad things about me and say everything what happens here was my fault was because I'm a bad guy. That's why I report. So the point of finger baggage. Yes. Yes. And that wasn't true, but now if I go back to Brazil, I'm sure I will have a lot hard time there. Now, when we think of refugee, we really think about people that are fleeing war, poverty or harsh political climate. So your story is very unique. And I think it helps us to get over the misconception that there's only one category of refugee because refugees can cut across nations, races, gender, age and even culture. Right? Now, currently in America, there is a pretty strong anti-immigration movement going on due to the new administration. What do you feel about that? Well, it's a lot of feelings actually. I can't resume this and say we are hoping for the best and prepared for the worst. Yeah. A lot is going on, we actually don't know yet what we are facing. So yeah, we are ready for a fight for our rights and talk about what we really are. And the United States is one country building with immigrants. So that's it and we need to fight for this right. You get a little dissolution afterwards because it is the world leader in a geopolitical state. So if the world leader is having its refugees by half from 110,000 to 45,000 and cutting the budgets and all these refugees, they are overburdening countries like Bangladesh and Turkey. What kind of message are we as the world leaders sending to other countries when we're doing that? Yeah, especially in families who already have members here and they separate the families because the other members of the families cannot come here tonight in the state if they need this new and all the bands and the, well, it will be a mess because some people wait for years and years in a refugee camp and it's already very hard and now it will be way worse because they make a lot more difficult to get here. You need to prove many other things and well, I hope we have some mercy in this next year. Well, I want to share a high profile case that took place in Hawaii a couple of years ago. There was a farm right here in Kaplai in Honolulu and they had brought in 44 Thai workers and the Thai workers were accusing the owners of underpaying them, allowing them to live in substandard housing and threatening to take away their work visa if they don't comply whatever they wanted and the case went on for two years. The lead prosecutor was removed halfway through the case. Initially, the defendants played guilty and then they took back their plea. In the end, the case was dismissed in the absence of the jury and was dismissed with prejudice, meaning that the government can no longer refile the case. So as a human trafficking victim, when you hear about cases like this, how does that make you feel? How do you think it will make those that are still struggling to get out? Would they be more hesitant about coming forward? Well, when you talk about human trafficking, it is very hard to prove because it's everything covered. It's a system. It's a crime. So it doesn't have proofs available. So I feel very sad about this situation, about this case in particular, because I feel the same. In my country, I still cannot prove I was beaten off this. So and we hope in this country, the United States, where we have more justice, we hope it's different. And I hope, I really hope in this case, on the final day, because in my eyes, in my view, it's a case of human trafficking for sure. So the burden of proof is very heavy. Now, I'm sure you had to overcome some struggles to come out. I'm sure there's some stigma attached for you to have to come out to speak up. How did you overcome those struggles to come forward and share your story? Yeah, it's very hard. We're dealing with a lot of frustration because I was expecting to come back to my country and do what I come to do here. I come to learn something, to take to my country and this new technology. And well, I was feeling very disappointed with this whole situation. And we find energy and this frustration, we find energy to fight about it. I don't have nothing to do because if I can go back on the time, I will show it's never come to the United States and never pass for everything I pass. But I cannot do this. So I will, I show it's fight for the rights. Well, thank you so much, Balger. We're coming to the end of the show. I just want to quickly, very quickly share with the audience a hotline for human trafficking. So if you were to suspect any human trafficking activities, please call this number. Thank you so much, Lily. Yeah. Oh, there it is. Okay. All right. And Balger, if you could say one sentence to the refugee or human trafficking out there, what would be the one message you want to pass over to them? Those who have not come forward, what would be that one message to say to them? Well, be strong, be together and be hopeful for the next years. We're still fighting in nobody's alone in this fight. Okay. Thank you so much, Balger. And I just want to let you know that those dreams that you hope you came with initially, they're still alive. You can still go for them. And it's really people like you who come forward to share your story, to testify as witnesses that will bring about successful human trafficking prosecutions. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. And thanks for watching.