So the Trump administration is levying tariffs against nations that don't do enough to stop forced labour. Does that mean Canada shouldn't buy anything from the USA? After all, slavery is still part of the US economy--.
this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2026
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Only that "slavery" is generally understood to mean "forced servitude" so they should have taken the trouble to use prisoners whose labor is being exploited by the prison owners and/or the state.
To be extra clear, I'm not saying that the US would come out any better in such a comparison. I assume most other countries have similar laws, and I wouldn't be surprised if some have much better laws regarding the work performed by prisoners.
I just prefer accuracy.
I would also appreciate being corrected by anyone who knows the law regarding whether captured undocumented immigrants can be forced to work while awaiting deportation. I fear they probably can, judging by the eagerness of for-profit prisons and their ICE henchmen to scoop up the strong and skilled guys outside Home Depots.
While undocumented migrants cannot be forced into labor under the 13th amendment, it is a bit of a grey area.
Many immigration detention centers (often run by private, for-profit prison companies) operate "Voluntary Work Programs" where detainees perform facility labor (cooking, cleaning, laundry) for as little as $1 a day.
Numerous class-action lawsuits against private prison companies (such as GEO Group and CoreCivic) have alleged that the word "voluntary" is used loosely. Detainees have testified that if they refused to work, guards threatened them with solitary confinement, transfer to worse facilities, or the withholding of basic necessities like clean blankets or edible food.