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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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.