Surviving With Digital Imperial Shackles: Community-Engaged Oral History of Asian Migrant Massage Workers in U.S. Human Trafficking Laws

This study investigates the impact of human trafficking laws and digital carceral technologies on Asian migrant massage workers in the United States. Drawing on community-engaged oral histories and my advocacy in human trafficking legal cases, it highlights the survival strategies these workers adopt in response to digital carceral surveillance. The paper introduces the concept of the digital imperial shackle , which reveals the punitive mechanisms of racialized, sexual, migrant, and moral control within U.S. imperialism. Despite the constraints of these digital carceral systems, Asian migrant massage workers utilize non-digital strategies to navigate their daily lives. This research reinterprets their survival tactics as a form of visceral knowledge, challenging the prevailing discourses on the intersection of digital technology, trafficking, and anti-sex work regimes.