Richard Mojica is Practice Lead of Customs and Import Trade at Miller & Chevalier. He helps companies comply with the legal requirements associated with importing products into the United States. He also specializes in business and human rights. Richard joins host Gwen Hassan to discuss the overlap between customs and human trafficking prevention, and how they came to intersect.
 

 
Though the importation of goods made with forced labor is prohibited by law, there was a loophole that allowed it for decades. The loophole was that if a good was not sufficiently produced in the US to meet consumptive demand, it could be imported, which permitted the importation of goods made with forced labor that fulfilled those requirements. This was made worse by the lack of oversight from customs, which was likely driven by a focus on acquiring necessary goods. 
 
The loophole of consumptive demand was plugged in 2016 by the passing of a new law, and the US Customs and Border Protection was charged with its enforcement. The CBP’s tool for that is the withhold-release order – an instruction that detains merchandise that is suspected of being made with forced labor at the ports of entry. 
 
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