Ever wondered about the intricate workings of Homeland Security Investigations? Get ready to be enlightened by our insightful conversation with Kelly Baird, a Supervisory Special Agent at HSI since 2006. Kelly walks us through the significant role HSI plays within the Department of Homeland Security and their dedicated commitment to victim-focused approaches in trafficking investigations. From the tip line to partnerships with law enforcement and nonprofits, discover the multifaceted methods HSI employs to pursue leads on trafficking cases. Kelly also unravels the collaborative investigative process, an integral combination of an investigator and a victim assistance specialist.
The conversation deepens as we address the challenges faced during sex trafficking investigations. Kelly bravely shares her experiences and draws attention to the prevalent issues of sex trafficking and labor trafficking. The struggles in identifying these appalling crimes are real, and Kelly discloses the tactical strategies used to generate leads. Learn about the critical part the Victim Assistance Specialist (VAS) plays in the wake of these heinous crimes and the long-term relationships HSI nurtures with survivors. Get a rare perspective on how HSI differentiates itself from the FBI, the Border Patrol, and other DHS components. Prepare to be moved by the stark realities, challenges, and rewards of working in this pivotal field.
Ever wondered about the intricate workings of Homeland Security Investigations? Get ready to be enlightened by our insightful conversation with Kelly Baird, a Supervisory Special Agent at HSI since 2006. Kelly walks us through the significant role HSI plays within the Department of Homeland Security and their dedicated commitment to victim-focused approaches in trafficking investigations. From the tip line to partnerships with law enforcement and nonprofits, discover the multifaceted methods HSI employs to pursue leads on trafficking cases. Kelly also unravels the collaborative investigative process, an integral combination of an investigator and a victim assistance specialist.
The conversation deepens as we address the challenges faced during sex trafficking investigations. Kelly bravely shares her experiences and draws attention to the prevalent issues of sex trafficking and labor trafficking. The struggles in identifying these appalling crimes are real, and Kelly discloses the tactical strategies used to generate leads. Learn about the critical part the Victim Assistance Specialist (VAS) plays in the wake of these heinous crimes and the long-term relationships HSI nurtures with survivors. Get a rare perspective on how HSI differentiates itself from the FBI, the Border Patrol, and other DHS components. Prepare to be moved by the stark realities, challenges, and rewards of working in this pivotal field.
You know the why human trafficking work is needed To fight for the freedom of modern day slaves. But love, passion, commitment isn't all you need to be an effective and successful anti-trafficking advocate. Learn the how. I'm Dr Celia Williamson, director of the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute at the University of Toledo. Welcome to the Emancipation Nation podcast, where I'll provide you with the latest and best methods, policy and practice discussed by experienced experts in the field, so that you can cut through the noise, save time and be about the work of saving lives. Welcome to the Emancipation Nation episode 181.
Speaker 1:Today I have Kelly Baird and she is check this out Supervisory Special Agent Homeland Security Investigations. So that is a big title and it's a big organization. And you know we anti-trafficking advocates, we hear a lot about Homeland Security Investigations, we do HSI. We hear it in passing, but do we really have we ever really stopped to know what they do and how they do it and how we can support and partner with them to move along and down the same path? Because you know, i have some questions as well. I don't know exactly everything about Homeland Security Investigations. So we're going to talk to Kelly and she's a seasoned vet. She's been on the job since 2006. So welcome Kelly. Thank you, it's a pleasure to be here. Yeah, it's an honor to meet with you. I mean, this is a big title. You look like such a wonderful sweet person, so you know, let's get into it. So tell me, what is Homeland Security Investigations? What does that even mean?
Speaker 2:So Homeland Security Investigations, also known as HSI, is the second largest federal law enforcement agency. We are the investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. We have broad authority to investigate domestic crimes. We have about 237 offices give or take. We have always expanding. We're in the domestic footprint, but we also have offices across the world through our attaches. We have seats in with the State Department across a variety of countries. We have wide investigative authority.
Speaker 2:One of the cornerstones of Homeland Security, as well as DHS, is human trafficking We take it very seriously. We partner with the US Attorney's Office as well as our state and local agencies to prosecute offenders from a variety of crimes. One of the cornerstones of us is that we are a victim-centric agency where we put equal footing to stabilizing victims and their well-being, in coordination with targeting offenders and prosecuting them. We have victim assistance specialists in almost every office. We're actually expanding the program. They're known as VASAs.
Speaker 2:I'm based out of the Baltimore office. We do everything in lockstep with our victim assistance specialist. The one we have in Baltimore is a former trauma specialist who's well-versed in trafficking. She stood up a task force in Utah and was also a trauma therapist at a center in Boston for people that were tortured over in Africa under different governments. We're able to incorporate her. When we meet a victim I might be able to ask the difficult questions, but our victim assistance specialist is able to smooth out and do those softer skills to help us tease out the information. That's often very difficult and painful for victims to talk about.
Speaker 1:I just love the idea that you all are victim-centered and take a victim-centered approach. Your victim assistance specialist understanding trauma is just an amazing benefit for survivors that you engage with. Can you tell us what you do as the supervisory agent or what a Homeland Security investigator would do, and then what a victim assistance specialist would do?
Speaker 2:Yes, regarding trafficking investigation specifically, we get a variety of leads, whether they come from. There's the HSI tip line, there's the DHS tip line and then there's Polaris, which is the National Human Trafficking Resource Center. We, if someone wants to call in a tip, we might get a lead that way, where we start to interview, do a little bit of investigative work. We get referrals from nonprofits The SAFE Center, based out of the University of Maryland, is a very strong partner with us And then also our relationship with our state and local agencies. We have task force officers from a ton of different police departments who typically originate out of their vice unit or sex trafficking unit, depending upon how their agency is organized. We will generate a lead And the first thing we typically get is someone who is a victim. What we'll do is we'll go out, we'll meet with them and it's the investigator as well as the victim assistant specialist.
Speaker 2:And we're very careful about the language we use. We've done a ton of training and take very seriously the words that we use, the way we convey them. You know we don't want there to be any shame or judgment. What we want to do is what I often employed was I'm going to ask you questions at any time if you feel uncomfortable or you don't want to answer it. You absolutely do not have to, because you want to be able to give people a sense of control over what's going to happen, and oftentimes what I did find is allowing them that comfort to know that they didn't have to tell me. Anything that they didn't want to would eventually reveal itself down the line.
Speaker 2:Once we built that rapport, we do a lot of investigative work on the backside. We did a lot of search warrants. You know, if somebody had a device telephones, email accounts we, based on our interviews with victims, we generated a lot of leads. So if we had to look at social media or find other people, we do a lot of investigative techniques on the backside of that. The victim assistant specialist is there with us the entire way, but at the same time she's also providing a connection to local nonprofits that you know she's already established relationships with and stays with them throughout that process, and so does the victim assistant specialist?
Speaker 1:do they have a timeline or a deadline, or can they do they, do they support maybe the victim even through the trial? Or how far, how long do they stay?
Speaker 2:alive. It's beyond that. We we are with these people for years And there's still times. I had my last federal trial in 2016. And for almost through 2019, she was a child at the time. During the trial, she maintained contact with me And every now and then I still hear from other people And the vast's role it's it's in perpetuity because of the relationships that we've established and sort of what we've gone through with the prosecutorial phase, because we sit with these people while they testify in grand jury And then, if they ultimately have to get up and testify at trial and then through sentencing and sometimes there might be court appeals or this person who's at this point now become a survivor. You know they might encounter something in their life and they knew that we were the ones that could help them through it. And we still get telephone calls from from people that resolve all the way back to 2010, 2011, 2012. It's a very interesting dynamic that develops, i think, just due to the intensity of everything that we all go through together.
Speaker 1:Now so is this a? is this a Kelly way of doing business And this particular victim assistance specialist, or is this something that's very common across the US, would you say?
Speaker 2:You know, based on the fact that we are a victim-centric agency, these are the expectations of any HSI agent throughout the country. I do think that some offices who have been doing this a long time and have a very specialized vast that might be a trauma specialist we sort of got into a groove, maybe faster than other offices, but we're all trending that way, and part of it too is the US Attorney's Office. They are our partner with these cases And if the US Attorney's Office in a certain jurisdiction doesn't want to prosecute these type of cases, you may not have as a robust relationship. But this is something that we've honed and specialized in, for It's been almost 13 years now that we've been working through this. It takes a while to sort out the machinery and figure out what works best and what the best approach is.
Speaker 1:Well, this is going to sound very different than what people's perspective is of Homeland Security, because we typically associate it with a lot of power and arrest and conviction and those types of things, not the victim-centered piece. We don't really think about that. So tell us simply. Many of us don't know what's the difference between DHS, department of Homeland Security, homeland Security investigations, border Patrol and the FBI. They investigate these. So who's what?
Speaker 2:It's definitely confusing And when people say you're making a federal case out of it, there's some truth to that matter. It is complicated. We are I don't know how best to describe it but it's sort of a tree. If DHS was the tree, we are our branch off of that and Border Patrol is a branch off of it. Tsa, fema, the Secret Service There are a lot of components under the umbrella of DHS.
Speaker 2:I'd like to think that our FBI is a sister agency to us. We do a lot of the same investigations Here in Baltimore. We work very well with them on a variety of investigations. I actually spent seven years with them as a task force officer for them doing national security work, so you don't have a fondness for those memories, and it was actually difficult for me to leave. They are in another tree. They are the Department of Justice tree and they have their branches where it be the FBI or ATF or US Marshals. Even though the Secret Service is an investigative agency, they lean more towards protection, which is why HSI runs the landscape of investigations for DHS. We are all special agents, the ones that do the law enforcement. Right now there's about 6,500 of us. We can't compare in size to the Border Patrol. But the Border Patrol is very specific where they are doing enforcement along the border, whereas we are throughout the entire United States and then in those offices in our foreign countries as well. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1:That makes sense. Tell us now the difference between ICE and Homeland Security investigations. Is there a difference or has the name just changed?
Speaker 2:That's sort of the mothership, that there's enforcement and removal operations, which typically handles the administrative component for the civil immigration portion. Homeland Security handles doing federal prosecutions in the courts. Then there's an attorney component to it, then Office of Professional Responsibility. So again it's maybe more branches off of that other branch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and tell the audience what you think is one of the biggest myths about Homeland Security investigations that you'd like to clear up and let people know about.
Speaker 3:I want to break into the podcast to invite you to celebrate our 20th anniversary with us. Over the past two decades, the International Human Trafficking and Social Justice Conference has welcomed thousands of attendees from all 50 states and from 50 countries. We are the largest and oldest academic conference on human trafficking in the world. Our 20th annual conference will be hosted virtually this year, on September 20th through the 22nd. You'll have the opportunity to learn from and collaborate with thousands of advocates, researchers, providers and survivors from across the globe. This will be our largest conference to date, with over 115 breakout sessions featuring 200 expert presenters speaking about various topics related to human trafficking and social justice issues. You won't want to miss this special 20th anniversary conference. Make sure you are part of the conversation and don't miss out. Find out more and register today on our website traffickingconferencecom. Now on with the podcast.
Speaker 2:I don't know if it's a myth, more than it's an agency that I think is a little unrecognized. We've gone through some iterations. We've only been in inception since March of 2003 when the Department of Homeland Security was established. It was a merger between the former US Custom Service and Immigration and Naturalization Service for the investigative components of it. We've gone through some growing pains and some maturation processes. Out of that came Homeland Security investigations.
Speaker 1:What would you say? the US is investigating more of sex trafficking, labor trafficking, domestic, foreign. What do you see more common, at least at this time?
Speaker 2:Definitely sex trafficking, it is far more easier to detect. We find labor trafficking is a very insular crime. It's occurring but it is so insular you know whether it be a domestic servitude case or you know you have a foreign national who is being exploited terribly on a work site. They don't want to lose their job, they don't want to upset the apple cart And unless you have someone who knows about what's going on and will notify authorities, those crimes are very difficult.
Speaker 2:I had a labor trafficking case a domestic servant who came from Zimbabwe, who was with a family for eight years, and it was only until she confided in her pastor and a family member of the traffickers that helped her realize she was a true victim of trafficking. So she just thought this was culture and life and the way things had to be. I think not. Unlike when people come from foreign countries and you know they're placed into very harsh working conditions, they don't know any different and they don't know that they're being victimized. So sex trafficking is out there. It's readily apparent. Police get called to domestic violence cases which are in actuality a pimp assaulting you know a victim or you have vice operations where you're attempting to do John stings or where you're doing outreach and you're encountering sex workers who are in situations that they don't know how to get out of. It's just easier to identify those cases And we have a nice mixture. We do foreign national cases, but it's the majority in Baltimore and the state of Maryland. The ones we deal with are US citizen based.
Speaker 1:And do you see more youth cases or do you have adult cases as well in terms of sex trafficking?
Speaker 2:It's mixed. We have everything If you have a pimp who's been operating for a long time. there's no delineation between 15, 16, 17 and 22, 23, 24. The cases that we've worked have a mixture of both. There was one that went to trial in November of 2021. And the pimp was actually a foreign national who was victimizing US citizens, both juveniles and adults, who were suffering from narcotics investigations.
Speaker 2:There were eight victims who were undicted, which is a little bit different than just identified. They're ones that they can substantiate charges in federal court And between the VAS and the case agents in the US Attorney's Office. they were able to get seven on the stand to testify a trial. Sadly, the eighth victim died of a heroin overdose prior to trial, which, regrettably, is not uncommon in the situations that we're dealing with. During that trial, they had to go and locate one of the victims that was in a vacant, you know, in between addiction and having to medicate to not go into withdrawal. It was a really challenging situation and they were able to prevail and get a substantial sentence for this offender.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's that you're doing important work. So, kelly, what do you do personally to keep yourself motivated to not burn out, to not suffer vicarious trauma yourself?
Speaker 2:I came to realize, especially when dealing with juveniles, that I had to focus more on the offender. I would, maybe to my own detriment, hyper focus on the investigation to lock down as much evidence as possible. There were times when I had a juvenile in a case who unfortunately was a chronic runaway and we would go out and we would find her and she would be very unhappy when I would find her and bring her back to where she needed to be. to the point I was transporting her in the car one time and she was screaming and yelling at me so much that I had to ask her like hey, you have to stop yelling and screaming at me because I know that. you know I'm driving and I need to be able to concentrate.
Speaker 2:You know I would allow things being said to me by you know, both women and children who I would never allow my children or friends or anything to say, because this is a different situation and the trauma that they've experienced. So I compartmentalize and I also run a lot and if I'm feeling stressed I run faster and that really helps me just sort of settle out and work through stuff in my mind. And you know the VAS is also very helpful for me to help me process this stuff as well. That's one of the things that we recognize as an agency. We have an incredibly robust program to protect our investigators who do child sex abuse and are exposed to child sex abuse material, and we are trying to pilot the same type of program and protections in place for those who are exposed to trafficking, because what we see is it is trauma causing. So, you know, what we often see are children who were, you know, abuse victims ultimately might become trafficking victims and it's just a vicious cycle. So it's something that agencies recognize and is working on as well.
Speaker 1:Well, i think that's good to talk about that running and processing and things because even if you are a special agent and you work for the government and all these, you know you have a lot of power. still, it can get very personal, And being able to talk about self-care and be involved in self-care is very important for people that are listening, that are involved in this anti-trafficking work as well. So tell us just in general, what kinds of things, what kind of services can people get if they are trafficked, whether they're foreign or domestic? what kind of services do they have access to?
Speaker 2:Well, if you are a foreign national child, there is a fantastic center in Virginia that we were able to utilize through the HHS Ducks program, which is the division of unaccompanied minors. There was a FABLUS program out here and then also you're eligible for benefits. Regrettably, with our US citizen children they don't have the same type of benefits and we often use child protective services. We are a mandated reporter so anytime we suspect a child is a victim of trafficking it requires a mandated report. So the Safe Center tends to specialize in foreign nationals, which is a great referral point for us. There's another nonprofit in Baltimore where we tend to send US citizen adults.
Speaker 2:There is a program through Mercy Hospital called Blue Dot. It actually just won a presidential award for combating human trafficking. We're incredibly proud to partner with them. They are a program that is established in an emergency room and all we need to do is call up security and say we have a Blue Dot and we're 20 minutes away. We bring them in. They don't go through registration, they go down a back hallway into the forensic area where they're segregated from everyone. We take safety precautions to put their cell phones in bags where there's no transmission and there are peer counselors there. If they need a forensic exam medication, at that time we were clearing people with COVID tests and then also, if they need to go to detox, we help them find a bed for step down through detox and that program's been monumental in Baltimore. We watched it be piloted in 2018 or so and it's going to eventually end up being a national model for other ERs.
Speaker 1:That's amazing, and I'm already jealous that we don't have that, and so we need to have that in Ohio.
Speaker 1:So, kelly, anything that you would like to share with? I mean, you have years of experience. You've directly worked with survivors yourself, you've worked with US Attorney's Office and prosecutors, and so you have not only putting your lens right on victims and knowing their process, but also bringing your lens back out and having that 30,000 foot view. So is there anything that you would like to share? in terms of people who they're anti-trafficking advocates and they want to make a difference, do you have any words of wisdom for them?
Speaker 2:I think, be involved. Some of the best advocates that I have encountered are those people who are just relentless in their pursuit of victim advocacy, victim needs, whether it be detox units or housing or job training or therapeutic help. I've found very strong supporters in the religious communities here. That pastor that assisted the labor trafficking victim was a staunch advocate, And then also throughout schools, I think education and literacy about trafficking and what happens in those situations starts as young as middle school, especially in urban areas where it's prolific. I think they determined to keep working. If you see legislative packages and you can be an advocate to even call up your congressional reps, stay true to whatever you can do to keep this topic on everyone's radar.
Speaker 1:Right, get in where you can fit in, like whatever your skill, your talent, your passion. that's gonna be a critical piece. So the last question I wanna ask you is how did you get the job that you have? Maybe there's somebody out there that wants to do work that you do, so how did you make your pathway to this job?
Speaker 2:I had an incredibly circuitous pathway to this job. I went into college and ultimately graduated with a degree in nutrition. I did an internship with Indian Health Service where I shadowed a dietician and I realized people really don't care what you're telling them. I thought, well, maybe I should do something different in the healthcare field. So I became an EMT and there was one night where we had a terrible car wreck and it's raining and everybody's messy and I look out in the corner and I see a state trooper who's directing traffic and I thought that's what I want to do. So I started applying to police departments and ultimately I had a grad school advocate. She was my advisor, who encouraged me to apply to a very specific program in the government called the Presidential Management Fellowship. So for any of your grad students who are interested, it is an excellent way to get into the government.
Speaker 2:I started with an agency that wasn't quite the type of law enforcement that I wanted to do. So I applied to HSI. Due to their wild authorities or I should say I shouldn't say wild, but I should say wide ranging authorities We will have an announcement coming out this summer for entry level for grades five and seven. So recent college graduates, if anyone is interested. It is the type of job that you will never be bored in, because, aside from trafficking, we also do money laundering, narcotics, counter proliferation, human smuggling. It's a never ending breath of work that we do, and we also are super robust with child exploitation investigations.
Speaker 1:I'm not sure some people would be interested and passionate in getting involved in some of those activities, and I love the authenticity of your pathway, because some people believe that oh, it's too late for me I already got my degree in this, so I can't do that or whatever.
Speaker 1:They look at people who are in these positions as if they knew 20 years ago what they wanted to do and went straight directly toward it, and that is very rarely the case. So it's just good to hear somebody who found their way one day when they saw somebody doing the job and they're like I like that job and then I like this next job, and then they got into the place where they're passionate and they're making a difference in the world. So thank you so much, kelly. I know you are very busy and I am glad that you shared the time with us so that we can learn a little bit more about Homeland Security investigation and we can stop walking around pretending that we know what you do with many of us and didn't really know what you do. So it's good now that we have a good sort of primer on what HSI does. So thank you so much, kelly, and please keep doing what you do and please keep running so that you don't suffer trauma, because people need your help and we're so grateful. So thank you so much.
Speaker 2:This has been a real honor to be able to come out here and talk about something that I'm very passionate about as well as representing HSI, so thank you very much for the invitation.
Speaker 1:Homeland Security Investigations has the authority to investigate terrorism, national security threats, narcotics smuggling, transnational gang activity, illegal exports of technology and weapons, money laundering, financial fraud and scams, worksite and employment crime, cyber crime, intellectual property theft and trade fraud, identity and benefit fraud, human rights violations, war crimes and child exploitation, and human smuggling and trafficking. What they do is they gather evidence to identify and build criminal cases. They work with prosecutors to indict and arrest violators, they execute criminal search warrants, they can seize criminally derived money and assets and they can take other actions designed to disrupt or dismantle criminal organizations operating around the world. They have over 8,700 employees, including special agents and criminal analysts, and they have about 6,000 special agents alone. Their victim centered approach is a way of engaging victims that prioritizes listening, not re-traumatizing, and it's really focused on victim safety. So victims need to be safe and supported, they need to know and understand their rights and they need to receive services that rebuild their lives.
Speaker 1:And often, when we think about Homeland Security investigations, we don't often think about the human side of these government agents. We don't think of the face behind the badge and how they might feel or how a case can affect them. I never knew how long they stayed involved with a survivor which is apparently long after the legal case has been settled. So thank you so much, kelly, for helping us to better understand Homeland Security investigations and the work of the people involved. Until next time, the fight continues. Let's not just do something, let's do the best thing. If you liked this episode of Emancipation Nation, please subscribe and I'll send you the weekly podcast. Until then, the fight continues.