Human Trafficking in [USA Street Children in [USA] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [USA] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery The United States of America (USA) [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] The U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency estimates that 50,000 people are trafficked into
or transited through the The United States
(U.S.) is a destination country for thousands of men, women, and children
trafficked largely from East Asia, Mexico, and Central America for the
purposes of sexual and labor exploitation. A majority of foreign victims
identified during the year were victims of trafficking for forced labor. Some
men and women, responding to fraudulent offers of employment in the United
States, migrate willingly—legally and illegally—but are subsequently
subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude or debt bondage at work
sites or in the commercial sex trade. An unknown number of American citizens
and legal residents are trafficked within the country primarily for sexual
servitude and, to a lesser extent, forced labor. The U.S.
Government (USG) in 2007 continued to advance the goal of eradicating human
trafficking in the United States. This coordinated effort includes several
federal agencies and approximately $23 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 for
domestic programs to boost anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts, identify
and protect victims of trafficking, and raise awareness of trafficking as a
means of preventing new incidents. – Adapted
from U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2008 [more] |
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CAUTION: The following links have been
culled from the web to illuminate the situation in the ***
FEATURED ARTICLES *** Human trafficking cases increase in El Paso Gardes showed the photograph of a field
worker standing on top of a large farm truck -- a scene common across the
Southwest. His name is Ricardo, she said. He was smuggled across the border
in Arizona and abandoned in the desert for eight days with only three days'
worth of food and water. He was found by another smuggler who offered to
guide him, for a fee. When Ricardo couldn't pay, the smuggler sold him to a
Florida labor contractor for $1,100. This became Ricardo's debt. He
worked in a field for $80 a week to repay it. At the same time, his
trafficker overcharged him for rent and other necessities. Gardes said he was never meant to be able to repay the
debt. One day, another trafficking victim escaped, was recaptured and
was beaten in front of Ricardo and the others. "At this point, Ricardo
realized this was really slavery," Gardes
said. Runaway raped, held as sex slave [ Since September, the
15-year-old girl had been raped repeatedly, threatened with death and sold
for sex over the Internet, police said. Her captors hid the runaway in
a hollowed-out box spring covered with a piece of wood and tucked underneath
a bed in a small apartment complex adjacent to Interstate 17 in west Phoenix. Gov't Effort to Stem Human Trafficking Helps Very Few But what the ads don't mention is, in order to take advantage of these benefits, victims must first agree to cooperate in the criminal Investigations of their abusers. This is not a viable option for most. Those who cooperate may face retaliation from their exploiters or risk harm to their loved ones in their homelands. For example, a Thai domestic worker who has agreed to testify against her abuser may want to bring her two children from Thailand to safety before the abuser is released from jail. He often threatened to have them killed if she were to ever seek help. Victims who come forward must also go through the arduous task of proving themselves survivors of "a severe form of trafficking." And they must demonstrate they would face extreme hardship if returned to their home country. ***
ARCHIVES *** Human
trafficking more common in Ca. California is the top destination
in the U.S. for people who force women and girls into hard labor and sex
trade. U.C. Berkeley researchers found 57 forced
labor operations over a five year period, in about a dozen California cities,
involving more than 500 people from 18 countries. Sex
slaves, human trafficking ... in America? In spring of 2004, Katya (not her real name), like thousands of other
foreign exchange university students, was looking forward to the summer job
placement that she and a friend had received in Virginia Beach, Va. When she
and her friend Lena arrived at Dulles Airport after a long flight from
Ukraine, they were relieved to be met by fellow countrymen who spoke Russian. “When we got to the hotel in
Detroit, everything changed,” says Katya. “They
closed the door and sat us down on the couch, took our passports and papers
and said, ‘You owe us big money for bringing you here.’ They gave us strip
clothes and told us that we were going to be working at a strip club called
Cheetahs.” Georgia
Wrestler Forced Women In Sexual Servitude In addition to forcing the victims
to work as prostitutes, Norris made the women work in and around his two
homes in Cartersville. Witnesses testified that Norris required the victims
to haul trees, lay sod, and paint. The evidence at trial further established
that Norris set strict rules and fined the women for such infractions as
talking too much or failing to exercise. In addition, he kept the women
financially indebted to him by charging them for food, medicine, and
cigarettes. Norris then told the victims that they could not leave until
their debts were paid, all the while continuing to increase the debt he
claimed he was owed. Human
trafficking often below radar in Columbus Human-trafficking cases in
Columbus are rare, but when they occur, they aren't likely to be reported to
law-enforcement agencies. "In four of the five
labor-trafficking cases, service providers indicated that, although they knew
whom in law enforcement to contact about trafficking victims, they could not
take the chance that the disclosure could lead to negative consequences for
their clients," researchers wrote in their report, released last
month. Language barriers and the fear
of arrest and deportation were among the reasons that human-trafficking cases
go unreported, the study found.
"For the undocumented, the overriding concern is about
immigration status," said Angie Plummer, executive director of the
Community Refugee and Immigration Service, one of the groups interviewed by
researchers. "There is a
reluctance to present victims to officials who have the right and ability to
turn them over to (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)." "Sue" says she ran away
from a foster home at 13. She met a man in his 40's who promised her free
rent, meals and a job. After a few months, "Sue" says things
changed, drastically. "He
started beating me with sticks, poles, knives, hammers. It really got out of
control. So besides fighting the street you had to fight this non-human. i was told,
if we left, he was gonna hunt us down, and, you
know, kill us." "Sara" says the
traffickers who held her poured gasoline on her while they held a match.
"They kicked and stomped on me. They dragged me by the hair. Fifteen
guys circled me and stomped on me." Ukraine woman forced to dance at strip club testifies in D.C. Lured from the Ukraine with the
promise of a student visa, the young woman believed she was headed to the
U.S. to study and to Virginia Beach to work as a waitress -- not to Detroit,
where she was forced to dance at a strip club. Using the alias "Katya"
to protect herself, the 22-year-old woman spoke publicly for the first time
today, describing to a congressional panel how she was forced to work at the
Detroit club for months until she and another young woman escaped with the
help of one of the patrons of the club.
"They forced me to work six days a week for 12 hours a day,"
she said of the men who made her work at Cheetah's in Detroit. "I could
not refuse to go to work or I would be beaten." While she was forced to
dance at the strip club, she said she was not made to be a prostitute. Houston major
hub for human trafficking The picture, with its implicit threat,
was all it took. It was taken just
before Christmas 2004. She had been thinking about running away from the
windowless bar on Houston's northwest side, where he kept her and other
women, forcing some of them into prostitution while they paid off their
"debts." But Maximino
"Chimino" Mondragon
knew of her plans. Carrying a camera
and Christmas presents for the woman's daughter, he had appeared unannounced
at her family's home in El Salvador. The woman, who was not identified by
authorities, told investigators that Mondragon had
talked his way into the home by saying the gifts were from her. "By the way," Mondragon
reportedly asked her parents, "would you mind taking a photo of me with
the little girl?" There were no
more plans of escaping. With similar threats, Mondragon and a network of family members and associates
operated one of the largest human trafficking rings in U.S. history in which
as many as 120 women were held captive and coerced to work off their
smuggling debts. Some of the women were raped and forced to have abortions. Slavery
in my backyard and a thousand points of light (At the lecture) Coonan also said
that it’s happening within the Chinese community as well, with traffickers
promising young women a better life in America. According to Coonan, in
nearby Quincy, a
Chinese restaurant has Hispanic women working there and living in a small
shed behind the restaurant. Many of these restaurants also have their
employees living in the kitchen after hours as well. “I think the most shocking thing
is that everything is close to home,” said Danielle May, who attended the
lecture. “This is not something that you see on the international news being
in Cambodia, or Thailand. This issue is happening at home. I think it’s
scary. Quincy is 45 minutes away and people are being enslaved. This is
shocking that this is 2007 and slavery is still going on.” Md.
Cracks Down On Human Trafficking One who escaped told her story
with the condition that she not be identified. "We were kept in one room, me and my
daughters," said the woman. Their
passports taken, her children were forced to work in the home without pay
while she worked on the outside.
"We've had a number of significant cases in the Washington
suburbs, mostly women, who have been held in basements doing labor at no
charge. Domestic labor," said Rod Rosenstein, U.S. Attorney for
Maryland. It took 12 years for Martina Okeke to break free. After moving from Nigeria to New
York in 1988, she cooked, cleaned and took care of a Staten Island couple's
children on the promise of a $300 monthly wage and tuition help for her kids
back home. She never received a penny.
Friends from Okeke's church finally
convinced her to leave the family, but she refused to report them to the
authorities. "I did not want to have a bad name," she told a
reporter from the New York Times. In June 2001, two Indonesian
women, who paid $3,000 each for a falsified visa, airline tickets from
Jakarta and the promise of a well-paying restaurant job in New York, escaped
from a Brooklyn brothel. They had arrived in New York only to find that their
"debt" had increased to $30,000. The men waiting for them at the
airport also threatened to kill them if they refused to work as prostitutes, according
to the Brooklyn Rail. Cary's
Neo-China accused of 'human trafficking' According to a lawsuit filed in
Wake County court, Neo-China's parent company, Freshco
Inc., sponsored Amu Zheng
and his wife and son to come to the United States in 2001. Under immigration
law, employers can sponsor someone for a green card if they can offer a
full-time position. Once in the country, Zheng
alleges, Neo-China's owner Diana Yu and manager Chris Chang told Zheng and his family that they had to work at the
restaurant "at whatever terms they imposed"—more than 90 hours a
week at less than minimum wage. HUMAN TRAFFICKING: A MILLION-DOLLAR INDUSTRY IN DESTIN - She was 19, petite and brunette. She was from Eastern Europe and had been in the United States for less than a month. Promised a job as a housekeeper at a hotel or condominium in Okaloosa County, she instead found herself stripping at a local topless bar. She had to borrow a costume and when she hit the dance floor, she moved without rhythm or style, as if her body and her mind were in two different places. This isn’t what she came to the United States to do. Man Sentenced On Child Prostitution Charge A man was sentenced to five years
in prison Friday in a case where federal prosecutors have said a child was
essentially bought and sold for crack cocaine Prosecutors said Geiler took a 17-year-old girl to Gray's house in
January. He told Gray the girl owed him money, and he left her with Gray so
she could work as a prostitute to pay off her debt. They say Gray ultimately let the girl leave
with another person who promised him crack. Three
charged in hair salon human trafficking ring The women lived in crowded
apartments rented by the alleged ringleaders in Newark and East Orange,
sleeping 8-10 to an apartment and sleeping on tattered mattresses on the
floor, Manifase said. Victims told investigators
their travel documents were taken from them and they were threatened with
return to Africa if they objected to working without pay, authorities said. Man
Pleads Guilty as Trial is About to Begin on Federal Sex Trafficking and Mann
Act Charges Wan J. Kim, Assistant Attorney
General for Civil Rights; David E. Nahmias, United
States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia; Gregory Jones, Special
Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Richard Pennington,
Chief, Atlanta Police Department, today announced that Jimmie Lee Jones, also
known as "Mike Spade," 31, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, pleaded
guilty yesterday to federal charges of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking
and transporting young women across state lines for purposes of
prostitution. Just after his trial
began, Jones admitted to U.S. District Court Judge William S. Duffey, Jr. that he had lured and coerced eight young
women -- including two juveniles -- into prostitution. "The defendant in this case
took advantage of numerous young women by enticing them with promises of
modeling contracts and then using force, threats, and coercion to force them
to work as prostitutes," said Assistant Attorney General Wan J. Kim. AMW Fugitive Data File For Maribel
Rodriguez Vasquez BOGUS JOB OFFER ENTICES GUATEMALAN
GIRL TO U.S. - Jane
Doe told authorities that after a month of working as a babysitter, Vasquez
turned the tables and began forcing her into a life of
prostitution. According to Doe, when she refused to become a sex slave,
Vasquez threatened to kill the family she left behind in Guatemala. Doe
also recalled that Vasquez forced her to see a so-called witch
doctor who cast spells and foretold bad fortune if she ever tried
to escape or told anyone about the prostitution ring. RP
diplomat: No human trafficking in case filed by maid According to the Associated Press,
under the plea, Reyes must pay Gado about $78,000
to make up the difference between what she was paid and what she was supposed
to get under her contract. Gado had claimed she was promised $8 per hour for a
40-hour workweek and $12 an hour for overtime, but was paid $250 a month, pay
that was increased to $325 in July 2006 when she was required to begin caring
for the Reyeses’ infant granddaughter. 'Slave
trade' growth prompts action in FW The International Chiefs of Police
Association delves into the secret world of human trafficking; and one
officer has managed to breach te walls and delve
into that world. He is one of few who work in the new Fort Worth Anti-Human
Trafficking Division. "You can buy a human being
out on the street for $90 and put him to work as a slave," the
undercover said. Women, men, boys and
girls are forced into prostitution. Some can end up having sex with different
men every 15 minutes while others are purchased to work on farms or
restaurants for little to no money. "Some of them are put to
sleep in garages," the officer said. "They're locked up in closets.
They're being fed very minimal. Especially, the females are being verbally
abused, physically abused." US
hands Lithuanian 7-year-sentence for human trafficking Michail Aronov,
34, and his business partners "smuggled women into the United States and
compelled them through threats and coercion to work as dancers in strip
clubs, holding them in a condition of involuntary servitude," the
department said in a statement. The
human trafficking network used the guise of a legitimate business, Beauty
Search Inc., to cover their criminal conduct, it added. "These criminals preyed upon
the hopes and dreams of women who came to the US for a better life, but found
only enslavement, exploitation, violence and isolation," special agent
in charge of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of investigations
in Detroit said in the statement. Blacks enslaving blacks in 2008 [mssg
#81] Elizabeth, 54, was meted a three-year jail
term by the U.S. court after pleading guilty to a charge of forced
labor. The judge noted that Ruiz was made to sleep on a dog bed and
work 18 hours a day. Too, while she cleaned and provided fresh food to
the pets of the Jacksons, she was only given
three-day old food for her meals. After working several months for the Jacksons, Ruiz only got $300 as payment and was even
threatened by the Jacksons that she would be turned
over to the immigration authorities should she try to leave them. Christian Medical
Association Doctors: U.S. Government Must Link AIDS, Anti-Trafficking Efforts Highlighting a just-published
study showing that sex slaves spread AIDS even after their rescue from human
trafficking overlords and pimps, the nation's largest faith-based association
of doctors today called for more concerted U.S. government action related to
the link between AIDS and human trafficking. Dr. Barrows said, "Health
officials have just begun to recognize this link, and stronger emphasis is
needed. Interventions aimed at eradicating sex trafficking, rescuing and
restoring sex-trafficked victims, and preventing future sex trafficking need
to be a more strongly emphasized strategy in the President's Emergency Plan
for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and other AIDS-related
programs. Anti-trafficking measures should be specifically and consistently
emphasized in AIDS-related grant stipulations and proposal evaluations." Enslaved
in the U.S.A. - American victims need our help President Bush made combating
human trafficking a priority. Both Attorney Generals Ashcroft and Gonzales
have spoken out against trafficking in the U.S. and made the investigation
and prosecution of trafficking a priority. Most of the focus on identifying
and assisting victims and prosecuting offenders has been on foreign nationals
trafficked into the U.S. There are
more American citizens than foreign nationals victimized by sex traffickers
in the U.S., yet there are no federally funded services for them,
particularly if they are over age 17. Company
Accused Of Human Trafficking Workers from Thailand say they've
been made into economic slaves by the company that brought them to our
area. They're 20 men from Thailand who
for the past year have picked mushrooms in Armstrong County. They say they often did not get paid and
now they must return home where they will face enormous debt. Venture into an abandoned
limestone mine in Armstrong County and you'll find hundreds of workers
picking mushrooms in the dark. It's
tough work and not enough locals wanted the job so last year Creekside Mushrooms hired 20 legal guest workers from
Thailand through a California company called Global Horizons. Under the contract, Creekside
paid Global but soon discovered that Global wasn't paying the workers for
long stretches of time. Some nights, the men had to go fishing after work
just to feed themselves. "We made multiple phone calls
to the president of the company who then chose not to return any of my calls
or emails and the gentlemen just weren't getting paid," Domenic Galassi, an official with Creekside
Mushroom, said. And Galassi says their situation has become even more dire.
He says each man paid upwards of $20,000 to a recruiter in Thailand to come
to America on Global's promise of three years
employment. 3
Arrested in Human Trafficking Some factors taken into
consideration to file criminal charges against these individuals included allegations
of victims receiving rationed meals of limited quantity, the acrobat
performers not being paid the salary they were promised, their passports and
work visas being held from them, enforcers watching and controlling the
movements of the performers, and a fear of the performers that their families
in China, as well as themselves, would be harmed if they attempted to leave. Nevada
man sentenced to life in prison on charges related to the sex trafficking of
minors The evidence at trial showed that
during the first two weeks of May 2005, Doss conspired with his wife, Jacquay Quinn Ford, to transport two girls across state
lines to work as prostitutes. Doss and Ford transported the victims -- one 14
and one 16 -- from Nevada to work as prostitutes in Los Angeles, Sacramento,
San Francisco and Oakland. Doss recruited and transported the 16-year-old
victim by the use of force. Las
Vegas Acrobatic Troupe Busted For Human Trafficking On Friday, the FBI and Metro
descended near Desert Inn and Grand Canyon. That's where authorities say
they found four adults and five juveniles being held against their will. State
struggles with legal, moral aspects of human trafficking "I saw the victims in the
brothels," said state Rep. Joanne Giannini,
recalling that many of the prostitutes were minors. "A lot of people
think that it doesn't exist." Giannini said when police have raided these facilities
the women refused emergency social and medical services. "They are
afraid of getting into trouble," she said. According to Garry Bliss, director
of policy and legislative affairs for Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline, efforts have been made to provide counseling
and social services to the women, but they rejected them, fearing retribution
from their captors – the owners of the establishments who reap big profits. He believes most of the women to
be in their 20s or 30s, and said some have probably been in this country for
some time, being moved constantly from state to state. They are initially
enslaved to pay off debts incurred in traveling to the United States. Often,
they have come to this country assuming that they are to work as housekeepers
or nannies. "It's a hole that
they can never dig themselves out of," Bliss said. "These women are
not acting on their own free will." Middle
Tennessee sees rise in human trafficking GIRLS LURED INTO SEX TRADE - As a result of November's
arrests, Nashville resident Cristina Andres Perfecto pleaded guilty to two
counts of commercial sex trafficking and admitted luring two Mexican girls to
the United States by telling them they would be employed at a restaurant in
Nashville. Perfecto admitted she knew all
along that the girls, who were 13 and 17, would be coerced to engage in
prostitution in brothels in Memphis and Nashville. Perfecto said physical
force and threats against the victims and their families were used to force
the girls to engage in prostitution. Woman Pleads
Guilty to Human Trafficking Related Charges Olga Mondragon
is a 47-year-old El Salvadoran national.
She and her co-defendants conspired with others to smuggle female
illegal aliens from Central America to Houston. Once in Houston, Olga Mondragon,
working with other co-defendants held the women and girls in a condition of
servitude in bars owned by the conspirators until the women had paid their
smuggling debts to the defendants. The
defendants used threats of harm to the women and their families to keep the
women in a condition of servitude. Specifically, Olga Mondragon
and her co-defendants threatened that the women's families or children would
pay the consequences if any of the young women attempted to leave before
paying their smuggling debts, including threats of kidnapping and threats to
report the young women to dangerous co-conspirators who could have people
killed or burn people's houses down. Falling Short
of the Mark: An International Study on the Treatment of Human Trafficking
Victims [PDF] UNITED STATES - The United States is complying
with its international obligations under the Trafficking Protocol for the
protection of victims of human trafficking. Increasing approval rates for
victims seeking residency and support are encouraging signs that the system
is working and not being abused. The integration of government and civil
society support, which receives some government funding as well, has had
encouraging results. There are some concerns about the needs of child victims
which warrant attention, as well as the degree of pressure put on victims to
cooperate with law enforcement officials. RESIDENCE - Under the Trafficking Victims
Protection Act (.TVPA.)78 and Trafficking Victims
Protection Reauthorization Act (.TVPRA.),79 the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security may issue .T-Visas. to allow victims of
.severe forms of human trafficking. To remain in the country in order to
provide assistance in federal investigations and prosecutions of those
responsible for the harm they have suffered. After three years of having
T-Visa status, victims may apply for permanent residency. Victims may, in
some cases, also apply for non-immigrant status for their spouses and
children; or, in the case of victims under 21 years old, their parents. Details
emerge in human trafficking case in San Antonio How's $600 to buy what you'd like
simply for accompanying men on trips? We can make it happen, al otro lado — on the other
side. That pitch allegedly made by a
trio of women sounded like gold to some impressionable teens and a young
woman not making much in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Three girls agreed to be smuggled to the
United States in mid-May and once they were in or near San Antonio, they were
primped, new clothes were bought for them and they were given English
lessons. Their understanding was that they did not have to have sex with the
men. But rather than the glitz they
were promised, they were sold in an underground world for prostitution,
according to prosecutors and documents filed in federal court Friday. The girls were delivered to a man in San
Antonio referred to in court records as the "boss," who had them
strip, inspected their bodies and told them they were going to be having sex
with men for up to five years to pay off their smuggling debt. The "boss" said he had paid
$3,000 apiece for two of the girls and said he would pay even more to get
them ready for other men, witnesses told investigators, according to their
statements. Anyone who fled would die, and their families would also suffer
the same fate, the statements said. - HTUSAMX Laws
Block Trafficking; Sexual Terror Ignored The report found that half of all
states' laws now make trafficking a felony, nine state laws provide
restitution to victims and 11 states enacted laws providing for victim
protection. Many Midwestern states, including Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota and
Nebraska, had additional laws such as those to regulate travel service
providers that facilitate sex tourism. Report
Card on State Action to Combat International Trafficking [PDF] Each state therefore received fi ve letter grades, one for
each type of law — criminalization, victim protection and services, statewide
interagency task force, regulation of international marriage brokers, and
regulation of travel service providers that promote sex tourism. Each state’s
individual report card includes a brief analysis of the state’s legislation
and includes recommendations for improvements. Fourth Chinese
National Pleads Guilty to Trafficking-Related Charge Each defendant acknowledged in his
or her plea having a role in recruiting and arranging travel and immigration
documents for Chinese females to travel to American Samoa to engage in
prostitution. Upon arrival, the victims, who were unpaid, were denied access
to their passports and return airline tickets, and were denied the
opportunity to leave until they had paid off increasing debts. Beatings,
Isolation and Fear: The Life of a Slave in the U.S. Evelyn Chumbow
was once a slave, but not in some distant country. She worked right here in
the United States. Chumbow,
now 21, was brought to suburban Maryland in 1996 from her native Cameroon by
Theresa Mubang. Mubang
promised Chumbow's family that if 11-year-old
Evelyn came to America, she would have the prospect of a bright future and a
first-rate education, as she had been a top student in her native country. Wealthy
N.Y. Couple Charged With Slavery The women, prosecutors said, were
subjected to beatings, had scalding water thrown on them and were forced to
repeatedly climb up stairs as punishment for perceived misdeeds. In one case,
prosecutors said, one of the women was forced to eat 25 hot chili peppers at
one time. One of the women also told
authorities they were forced to sleep on mats in the kitchen and were fed so
little, they had to steal food. The women legally arrived in the
United States on B-1 visas in 2002; the Sabhnanis
then confiscated their passports and refused to let them leave their home,
authorities said. Identified in court papers as Samirah
and Nona, the women said they were promised payments of $200 and $100 a
month, but federal prosecutors said they were never given money directly. One
of the victims' daughters living in Indonesia was sent $100 a month,
prosecutors said. Human
Trafficking on Long Island, NY The Long Island group was born in
the fall of 2004, just months after the arrests of a couple on Long Island in
what was then considered one of the largest human-trafficking cases in the
country. Mariluz Zavala and her husband, Jose
Ibanez, later pleaded guilty to smuggling 69 fellow Peruvian immigrants and
enslaving them in Amityville, Brentwood and Coram. Both are in prison; Zavala
was given 15 years, even longer than prosecutors asked for. Most Wanted Women: Human Trafficking Mastermind The Federal Bureau of
Investigations says this Guatemalan national lured twelve women -- three mere
minors -- with the promise of the American dream. "What they would do is go to these
countries to the rural areas and recruit women with the promise here and
making good money." After
crossing the border, promised dreams quickly turned in to nightmares as the
victims were forced into street prostitution to work off their smuggling fee. "Often times they were
physically abused if they tried to leave they were beaten up." Trafficking
victims spurn help But local investigators are finding
that victims of human trafficking don't surface easily. In the six months since World
Relief got a $450,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to help
survivors in the region, none have been found. Human
trafficking called a concern for N. Texas Given Kachepa,
20, of Zambia said he was lured out of his country nine years ago by a
Sherman-based Christian group that promised him a better life in the United
States. When he and 10 other boys got here, they were organized into a choir
that toured the nation, earning large fees for the ministry. Regardless of sickness or fatigue,
they were required to perform up to seven concerts a day, with no payment. "If we did not sing, the
choir manager would say, 'No singing, no food,' and he would turn off the gas
for the stove so we couldn't cook," Mr. Kachepa
said. "Sometimes we went for three days without having anything to
eat." Modern
day slave trade: Human trafficking continues, even in the U.S. According to a report published on
the Central Intelligence Agency Web site, “International Trafficking in Women
to the United States: A Contemporary Manifestation of Slavery and Organized
Crime,” 45,000-50,000 women and children are brought to the United States as
slaves every year. The document also reported that the majority of these
victims come from Latin American and Southeast Asia, although there has been
a recent influx of trafficking from Central and Eastern Europe. “After drug
dealing, trafficking of humans is tied with arms dealing as the second
largest criminal industry in the world, and is the fastest growing,” states
the United States Department of Health & Human Services Web site. Yes, There Are Slaves in the
United States, and the Problem Is Getting Worse. Emily Nicely, 19, was routinely
beaten with broom handles, a metal pipe, belts and wooden boards. She was forced to quit school, to do chores
and deliver newspapers without pay. She was by any definition - including
those of the federal government and the family that held her captive for six
months - a slave. Man
charged with human trafficking Carter said human trafficking
"is something that is coming to our attention more due to the fact that
we have a growing diverse population within Hillsborough County that could
potentially be victims." Victims generally do not report the crime,
because they are in the country illegally, she said. State mobilizes to fight human trafficking The problem: Trafficking has
proved hard to detect. Victims typically fear retribution and clam up,
experts say. Unlike smuggling, trafficking involves confiscation of travel
documents and other coercion. The U.S.
State Department estimates 14,500 to 17,500 foreign workers are brought into
the country each year via trafficking - part of a $9 billion global criminal
trade exceeded only by illegal arms and drug dealing. The
victims of human trafficking “I felt more like a slave,” he told
11 News in Spanish. While often
invisible, the stories are strikingly similar. “They were making sure I was so scared so
that I wouldn’t walk out, or immigration would come get me. “It was really hard for more it was tiring
my feet had blisters,” Diego said. At just 14, Diego journeyed alone
from Honduras to El Paso with an American dream, one that quickly turned into
a nightmare when ranchers took him in and forced him to clean stalls seven
days a week, he said. WJZ Investigates Sex Trafficking 19-year-old Chantee
was hanging out with two friends in downtown Baltimore. They decided to go
for a ride with an older man, who was a friend of a friend. They thought they
were going for a joy ride, but it would become much more than that. Human
trafficking and slavery still active practices People can be sold repeatedly,
Atkinson said. This creates a tier of markets and prices, based on how worn a
person has become in the sex or labor trade, he said. In the sex trade,
people get sold overseas when they reach the lower prices. “From there, they die and never come back,”
he said. Human
Trafficking Plaguing Maryland Lidia and her daughters came to
Maryland from Asia to get married to a man they thought they could trust. But
when the three arrived, he made them his personal servants. He beat them and
fed them only once a day. "We were kept in one room, me and my
daughters", said Lidia. The man also seized their passports, and
while Lidia was forced to work outside the home for
no money her children did house chores. "Each day I came home I had a
scary feeling, that I might not see my kids." Human
Trafficking Victims May be Hidden in Plain Sight They are kidnapped, branded and
forced into prostitution. Or they are lured from their home countries to the
U.S. with the promise of jobs as nannies and housekeepers and then,
"once they get to the United States, it turns into quite a
nightmare." Man
pleads guilty to smuggling women for prostitution in brothel ring The ringleaders sneaked hundreds
of women into the United States, most of them from Latin American countries, and
forced them to have sex with as many as 40 men a day, according to the court
documents. They moved the women from brothel to brothel and kept the
earnings. "The prostitutes
reported they were not free to leave the brothels on their own, and the
brothel operators were usually armed with firearms," according to the
filing. Lawsuit
accuses Connecticut nursery of human trafficking A dozen Guatemalan workers filed a
federal lawsuit Thursday accusing one of the nation's largest nurseries of
engaging in human trafficking by forcing them to work nearly 80 hours per
week, paying them less than minimum wage and denying them medical care for
injuries on the job. The workers, who filed the lawsuit
against Imperial Nurseries in Granby and its labor recruiter, say they were
promised jobs planting trees in North Carolina for $7.50 per hour. Instead,
they say they were taken in a van to Connecticut without their consent, had
their passports confiscated so they would not escape and were threatened with
arrest or deportation. "These workers came here
lawfully to earn a living and support their families," said Nicole Hallett, a Yale Law School student helping the workers.
"Instead they were defrauded and trapped into conditions of forced
labor." U.S.
intensifies fight against human trafficking A senior U.S. Justice Department
official estimated about 15,000 victims of human trafficking arrive in the
United States annually, some as young as 9 years old, destined for jobs in
brothels, as unpaid domestic servants, or in other jobs as virtual slaves. The victims represent a source of
continuing income for the rings that provide them, making human trafficking
more attractive than drug smuggling to some criminal syndicates, authorities
said. Tall
Americano, Hold the Paycheck A Tacoma teen's coffee shop servitude
shows that human trafficking isn't just about sex slaves. When Abdenasser
"Sammy" Ennassime returned home to visit
his family in Morocco six years ago, he could brag of a bustling coffee shop,
a baby son, and an American wife to show for his more than two decades in the
United States. In this light, Ennassime's suggestion to bring his adolescent niece, Lamyaá, to his home in Tacoma to help with the new
baby—in return for enrolling her in school and guiding her toward U.S.
citizenship—was seen as the magnanimous gesture of a generous uncle. Woman
Pleads Guilty to Forcing Juvenile Girls Into Prostitution In Memphis At her plea hearing, Perfecto
admitted that she told the girls, who were 13 and 17 years of age at the
time, that they would be employed at a restaurant in Nashville, knowing all
along that the girls would be coerced to engage in prostitution in brothels in
Memphis and Nashville. Perfecto
further admitted that co-defendant Juan Mendez then used physical force and
threats against the victims and their families to force the victims to engage
in prostitution. Legislation
targets human trafficking in state Bradley and O'Dell, of Litchfield,
were convicted in 2003 of forcing four Jamaican men to work for their
tree-cutting business. The men lived in unsanitary and unsafe conditions, and
received no pay for their work, according to Zuckerman. Both Bradley and
O'Dell were sentenced to five years, 10 months in prison. Albany needs to wake up and pass a
law that will quash human traffickers and protect the most vulnerable. Human slavery - not just crummy pay and
lousy work conditions, but outright forced servitude, including the
kidnapping, buying and selling of people - is going on in New York City,
which is a major hub and destination in a monstrous, global slave trade. The modern resurgence of this ancient
horror will continue for exactly as long as cynical politicians and an
apathetic public allow it. "Pimps promise to smuggle the
impressionable girls into the United States, telling them they can get jobs
as nannies, cooks and maids - making enough money to support their families
back home," Bode wrote. "These traffickers charge the girls as much
as $7,500 in illicit crossing fees - but once they get to the United States,
the girls are raped and forced into prostitution. By the time the girls realize they have
been kidnapped, it's too late for them to escape." Human
trafficking is 'alive and well' in U.S. Human trafficking most commonly is
found in the sex trade, but also plagues the lives of farmworkers,
domestic servants and hotel and restaurant workers. The $10 billion annual revenue generated
through human trafficking, Colletti said, can start
like it did for a Chinese girl, "Maria." Maria is not her name but is a
documented example of trafficking. She was sold in China for $2,000 and taken
to France. She was then shipped to the United States, where she was sold to
her owner for $8,000. Maria logged
12-hour days in a Florida manufacturing company and received $20 per week.
She earned $55,000 annually for her owner but had to pay from her own pocket
for housing and food. New
Yorkers Draw Attention to Human Trafficking REPORTER: Human trafficking is a crime,
but there's no state law against it - only federal authorities can go after
the people who force women to prostitute themselves. But federal prosecutors
don't have the resources to go after low profile, smaller-scale traffickers,
so Jane Manning of Equality Now says it's outrageous that New York hasn't
joined 21 other states and made it a crime. MANNING: There are traffickers all over
NYC getting way with it. REPORTER: New York is a hub for
traffickers but when police encounter prostitutes here, they're not trained
to recognize which are victims of trafficking and they have little power to
go after the trafficker. Thais
Receive Compensation and Visas in Los Angeles Human Trafficking Case Ten people were hired to work on
the Bay Bridge retrofit by Trans Bay, a manufacturer of hinge pipe beams. Others
worked in two Thai restaurants owned by Kim in the Los Angeles area. The
restaurant workers were kept in safe houses where they slept on floors and
were given scraps of food, Martorell said. Some of
them were paid about $200 over three months, despite working seven days a
week, 10 hours a day, she said. It
wasn't until one of them escaped and went to the Thai community center that
an investigation was launched. Officials
decry trafficking of women for sex Campbell said the women work,
sleep and eat in the dingy massage parlors that are run from storefronts near
the State House, downtown and on South Main Street. “They work from the time they get
up til the time they go to bed,” he said. “They
don’t go home at night.” Campbell said the women, mostly between the ages of
20 and 50, sleep on mattresses and cook from Sterno
cans in the back rooms. Feds
raid human trafficking ring Citing unnamed law enforcement
sources, CBS 4 News said the raid disrupted the ring that allegedly has
imported hundreds of Korean women into the United States and forced them into
prostitution as a means to pay off their debts. Human
trafficking cases increase in El Paso Gardes showed the photograph of a field
worker standing on top of a large farm truck -- a scene common across the Southwest.
His name is Ricardo, she said. He was smuggled across the border in Arizona
and abandoned in the desert for eight days with only three days' worth of
food and water. He was found by another smuggler who offered to guide him,
for a fee. When Ricardo couldn't pay, the smuggler sold him to a Florida
labor contractor for $1,100. This
became Ricardo's debt. He worked in a field for $80 a week to repay it. At
the same time, his trafficker overcharged him for rent and other necessities.
Gardes said he was never meant to be able to repay
the debt. One day, another trafficking
victim escaped, was recaptured and was beaten in front of Ricardo and the
others. "At this point, Ricardo realized this was really slavery," Gardes said. Human
Trafficking Charges Filed The immigrants were charged
between $13,000 and $19,500. Those who failed to repay their smuggling debts
were physically threatened, a federal prosecutor, Winston Chan, said yesterday at the
arraignment. In one instance, a
defendant, Oktavian Kupchanko,
said he would have the wife and daughters of one of the immigrants raped
because the immigrant was behind on his debts, according to a court papers
filed by prosecutors. Human trafficking focus of workshop http://bangordailynews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=142413&zoneid=500 Part of the problem has been that
those smuggled into this country, whether on promises of a better life, other
false pretenses or coercion, have largely been treated as criminals
themselves, he said. The victims have faced prostitution charges and in the
case of them being here illegally, face deportation back to their own country
where living conditions could be equally bad or worse. The image of the victim as
criminal seems to be changing, largely prompted by a federal law change in
2000 that Gilbert said establishes provisions for treating the victims as
refugees. The provisions include the possibility of a special trafficking
visa and the prospects of housing and employment assistance and medical and
mental health services, if needed. The idea is to take a new approach
to an old problem by bringing in social services and law enforcement on the
ground level, identifying indicators of possible trafficking so that the
traffickers can be caught and those that they smuggled in can be helped. Human
Trafficking in Minnesota Minnesota social service groups
have assisted up to 500 sex trafficking victims and 55 labor trafficking
victims in the past three years, according to results of a study issued last
month by the state Department of Public Safety and reported in the Sept. 16
Star Tribune. The study confirms my experience as a prosecutor that human
trafficking is a much bigger issue than had been imagined in our state. Trafficking victims may be
desperately poor, dependent on drugs, in a country illegally, or just a kid
running away from home. Whatever the vulnerabilities, traffickers create
situations in which their victims are nearly powerless -- from beating,
raping and starving them, to hooking them on drugs, to taking away their
passports or other documents and threatening to deport them. Federal
human trafficking bust implicates downtown establishment Many of the women who were brought
to the United States to work in such establishments came from Korea in the
hopes of making money to support their families but were caught in the grasps
of debt bondage and sold their bodies to pay off transportation costs,
according to the Department of Justice press release. Brothel owners and
managers often confiscated the women's identification and travel documents,
and some of the women worked under threats of harm to their families back
home. Woman Gets 10
Years For Human Trafficking A tearful woman was
sentenced to just over 10 years in federal prison Friday for her role in a
human trafficking operation that enticed women from Korea to come to the U.S.
to work as hostesses at a Flushing bar. Anti-Human
Trafficking Law Helps Workers But Many Still Afraid Advocates say the public is
increasingly aware of the plight of young girls kidnapped or tricked into
working in brothels. They say, however, that too often the cases of farm
workers forced to work off ballooning smuggling debts through fraud or
coercion are shrugged off as part of the illegal immigration issue. Officials
name sex slave suspect Investigators say the girl, who
was 13 years old at the time, told a teenage girlfriend, also alleged to have
been smuggled and forced to have sex for money with many men here, of her
plan to escape to Mexico. Affidavits say the friend informed one or both of
their captors, a reportedly 32-year-old Idaho carpenter and a 42-year-old
Jackson restaurateur -- both in custody -- of the escape plan. That caused
the alleged coyote-ringleaders to threaten to kill a man the 13-year-old
victim said she “had met and liked” in Phoenix if she tried to run away, the
documents say. 5 Charged
In Alleged Human Trafficking Scheme Authorities said that the victims
thought they had signed up for a student-work program, where they could earn
as much as $10,000 over the summer. Instead, they allegedly worked 13-hour
days, seven days a week. One student earned what amounted to 87 cents an
hour. In addition, investigators said
that eight of them shared two, one-bedroom apartments that had a television
and a mattress. "The defendants
cut the students off from nearly all forms of communication -- no telephone,
no Internet," Schlozman said. Investigators said the students were also
told their movements were being tracked by a global positioning system device. Don’t
sweep human trafficking under the rug Media coverage of human
trafficking has alternated between the polar extremes of nonexistence and
hysteria — a New York Times Magazine story in 2004, for example, referred to
an “epidemic” of trafficking and published numbers that, in retrospect, seem
grossly inflated. The irresponsible use of the word
“epidemic,” a hallmark of trend journalism, takes the emphasis away from
where it should be. The issue isn’t the statistically dubious claim that
human trafficking and sexual servitude are swelling uncontrollably in the
United States, it’s that the situation exists at all. Fear-mongering and hysteria are
not helpful. What is helpful is the approach taken by the D.A.’s office and
Jewish Coalition: Find a way to get these women away from their captors and
set aside money for such programs — as new state laws do — while
energetically prosecuting human traffickers. Human
trafficking investigated in American Samoa Court affidavits filed in the
government’s case against two Chinese nationals believed to be a the
forefront of the prostitution ring indicate that young Chinese women were
promised jobs at a store. They instead
were forced in to prostitution. Human trafficking
is the new face of slavery in America In Arkansas, awareness of
trafficking abuse is low -- but it's probably happening out there. Immigrants
and women are at highest risk. Catholic Charities is collaborating with the
FBI and other organizations in the Arkansas Civil Rights Working Group to
raise awareness and help spot cases. Anti-trafficking
expert teaches training course Another emerging problem in the
human trafficking world is gangs, he said. California gangs are starting to
venture into the lucrative crime by recruiting girls from U.S. elementary and
high schools into prostitution with the promise of good money and nice
clothes, he said. But conditions soon change and girls are forced to stay, he
said. Some girls are trafficked out of state, said Castro, noting that San
Diego law enforcers have three or four such open investigations. 5
D.C. Spas Raided In Human-Trafficking Case Authorities have 31 people in
custody and more than 70 suspected Korean sex slaves were freed.
Investigators said the suspects smuggled Korean women through Canada and
Mexico. To help pay off their smuggling fee, the women were forced to work in
brothels in seven states -- including Maryland -- and the District. Seen, but
not heard [ACCESS
RESTRICTED] At the recent sentencing hearing
of Mi Na Malcolm, the madam's victims — women who worked as prostitutes at
Dallas brothels — finally had the chance to tell a federal judge about their
horrific experiences since coming to the United States. Yet they did not speak. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah
Saldana recalls that the four women, who had worked in this country without
proper documentation, told her they were too afraid to talk in the Dallas
courtroom — even though they faced no criminal charges themselves, and
telling their stories to the judge might bolster their visa applications.
Such victims often fear retribution from those who kept them captive, and
they don't trust the authorities to help them, Saldana says. Immigrant
sisters admit charges in human trafficking Two Honduran sisters admitted
yesterday that they helped smuggle dozens of illegal female immigrants --
some as young as 14 -- into the United States, then forced them to live
together and work at North Jersey bars. The admissions by Noris Elvira and Ana Luz Rosales-Martinez, during a
federal court hearing in Trenton, brought to five the number of guilty pleas
in what authorities say was a case of indentured servitude. Under questioning from
prosecutors, the women said they helped oversee dozens of illegal Hondurans
who were forced to work six days a week and live in cramped Hudson County
apartments until they could repay smuggling fees as high as $20,000. The immigrants earned $5 an hour,
plus tips, by dancing and drinking with male patrons at bars in Union City
and Guttenberg. One ring member said the girls were encouraged to prostitute
themselves; another said they were beaten if they ignored the house rules. Woman sentenced to 10 years in human trafficking case A Korean woman who admitted making
illegal immigrant women pay off their smuggling debt through prostitution was
sentenced today in Dallas to ten years in prison. Mi Na Malcolm, known as Sora,
also was ordered to pay a 460-thousand dollar fine. She must forfeit a B-M-W,
a Lexus, more than 218-thousand dollars in cash, and electronic equipment. 3 men sentenced for roles in bar prostitution ring Two members of a ring that
smuggled Central and South American women into the United States and forced
them into prostitution were sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison. A
third was sentenced to four years. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ruben
Perez said the case is evidence of a major shift toward more aggressive
investigation and prosecution of human trafficking cases since the formation
of the alliance of law enforcement agencies and nongovernmental organizations
that work with victims. Oversight: Human Trafficking In New York City TRAFFICKING IN NEW YORK CITY - New York City is an ethnically diverse city with a large population of undocumented migrants, some who may have been trafficked. Although statistics are difficult to ascertain, New York City is considered to be a main port of entry and transit area for trafficking because of its airports, rail and bus stations, and ports. In a report on human trafficking in the United States published in 2000 by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John F. Kennedy (JFK | |
