In what some have called the “feminization of migration,” increasing proportions—probably close to half—of the world’s 120 million legal and illegal migrants are believed to be women, who overwhelmingly take up work as maids, domestics, and nannies.

Imagine you are locked away in a strange home. You do not speak your captor’s language. On the rare occasions when you are escorted off the premises, you are forbidden to speak to anyone.

You are often fed the leftover food of the children you are required to watch while completing your around-the-clock household duties. You have never been paid for your labors, and the woman of the house physically abuses you. While the scenario seems to hark back to an earlier time in U.S. history, it describes Noreena Nesa’s recent working conditions in the Washington, D.C. area. Tucked behind the manicured lawns and closed doors of our wealthiest residents live some of the most vulnerable people in the United States: abused migrant domestic workers, who are sometimes the victims of slavery and human trafficking.

— JOY M. ZAREMBKA, “AMERICA’S DIRTY WORK: MIGRANT MAIDS AND MODERN-DAY SLAVERY”12 The extremes—slavery and human trafficking—are criminal offenses that can be prosecuted and punished. (The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution bans slavery and involuntary servitude.) But more common abuses—long hours, inadequate pay, unsafe conditions in the home itself—are difficult to police since domestic servants are not covered by most American labor laws. Should they be?