Domestic servitude

"Domestic servitude" describes a condition where individuals are promised decent pay and opportunities for education if they work as nannies or housekeepers for families in the U.S., but neither are given to them. They are forced to work long hours, given little or no pay and psychologically abused. Sometimes members of the family may also demand that they perform sexual services for them. Often their immigration documents are taken away from them.

Involuntary servitude

“Involuntary servitude" is a condition of servitude induced by means of any scheme or plan intended to cause the individual to believe that if he or she did not enter into or continue in such condition that they or someone they know would suffer serious harm.

Debt bondage

"Debt bondage" is used to describe the condition in which a person pledges his/her personal services (or of those of a person under his or her control) as a security for debt, but the value of those services, as reasonably assessed, is not applied towards paying off the debt, or the length and nature of those services are not limited or defined. Often these debts are exaggerated travel debts that are supposed to cover the cost of getting into the U.S.

Trafficking also covers people who are held against their will to pay off a debt; this is known as peonage. A victim's initial agreement to travel or perform the labor does not allow an employer to later restrict that person's freedom or to use force or threats to obtain repayment.