Human Trafficking Articles

Report reveals exploitation of migrant women

Thursday, 16 April 2009 22:44

New research has uncovered what is being described as a heartbreaking and sickening litany of rape, abuse and exploitation for profit of migrant women in Ireland.

A report commissioned by the Immigrant Council of Ireland has identified more than 100 women and girls who have been trafficked into or through this country for sexual exploitation over a period of less than two years.

It also found that hundreds more women, the majority of whom are migrant women, were being sexually exploited for profit in the Irish sex industry, which is worth an estimated €180m a year.

ICI founder Sr Stan Kennedy said the level of exploitation of migrant women within the Irish indoor sex industry demanded a response from the Government.

Sr Stan said: ‘This report uncovers a heartbreaking and sickening litany of rape, abuse and exploitation for profit of migrant women on Irish soil.’

ICI Chief Executive Densie Charlton said the findings showed that sex trafficking was a real problem in Ireland.

The study identified 102 women who were trafficked to Ireland for sex during 2007 and 2008.

11 of them were children at the time.

None of them knew that was the reason they were brought here.

These figures only represent the women who went looking for help.

The agencies who help these women say that Ireland has become a lucrative location for sex trafficking because of the high prices charged and therefore the high profits made by sex traffickers.

They say the fact that buying sex is not criminalised in Ireland also makes it an attractive destination for traffickers to do business.

Up to 97% of the women working in the sex industry here are migrants.Youths trained as peer educators against human trafficking

COREY ROBINSON, Observer staff reporter robinsonc@jamaicaobserver.com

Friday, April 17, 2009

MORE than 70 youths were certified as peer educators against human trafficking in Jamaica during Wednesday’s closing ceremony of part three of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Sean Osner, deputy director in the Office of Sustainable Development at the United States Agency for International Development, talks with participants in the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Project, (seated from left) Shanei Guthrie, Fiona Little and Tashana Brown while Jennifer Williams, director of research and policy at the Bureau of Women’s Affairs, listens in. (Photos: Aston Spaulding)

The youngsters, whose ages range from 14 to 24, were among 427 participants in the programme aimed at increasing awareness about the heinous practice of human trafficking in Jamaica.

The yearlong project also exposed the participants to training in barbering, cosmetology, information technology, photography, videography and basic language and literacy improvement activities.

The initiative was administered through the People’s Action for Community Transformation (PACT), in collaboration with other non-government organisations.

“This is the third part of the programme. In 2004 we entered into a sort of pact funded by USAID to (inform young people about the threat of human trafficking); because it was understood that our young people were being trafficked. Our young people, especially those in coastal towns, were being lured out of the society and into these negative situations, many times where they were being sold into prostitution. So we basically wanted to educate the public about this criminal practice through the projects,” said Sheila Nicholson, project co-ordinator and CEO of PACT.

Nicholson said that the youngsters were mainly from communities in St James and neighbouring parishes.

According to Ricardo Rose, a participant from the troubled March Pen Road community in Spanish Town, St Catherine, “I learned peer education in teaching young people about life, HIV/AIDS and the training that I got in Videography during the project has opened my mind on life and its expectations. The programme worked a lot and it taught us a lot about human trafficking and how to avoid getting caught up in it.”

But while Jamaica has improved in its human trafficking status, according to the United States Government, deputy director in the Office of Sustainable Development at USAID, Sean Osner, said that there is still more to be done.

Participant Ricardo Rose accepts his certificate from Jennifer Williams, director of research and policy at the Bureau of Women’s Affairs, during Wednesday’s closing ceremony for part three of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Project.

He commended the efforts of the recently developed Anti-Trafficking in Person Task Force, but said that the Government should do more in encourage private sector organisations to join the fight against the practice.

Human trafficking is considered as an international crime which is of grave concern to Jamaica. Though it is difficult to obtain exact statistics, an estimated 600,000 – 800,000 persons are trafficked across international borders worldwide annually.

Often regarded as the fastest growing criminal industry in the world, the practice is estimated to rake in US$ 5-9 billion each year.

Seminar will focus on fighting human trafficking

Hassan Hassan

Last Updated: April 16. 2009 8:30AM UAE / April 16. 2009 4:30AM GMT

ABU DHABI // The country’s new Human Rights Department will hold a two-day symposium here next week to address human trafficking.

“This is the department’s first activity to stamp out human trafficking,” said Col Ahmad Mohammed Nekhaira, the head of the human rights directorate for Abu Dhabi Police. “The symposium is two-fold: it will explore the nature of human trafficking and its dimensions, and explore the role of national institutions in fighting the issue.”

Ministries, institutions, associations and human rights activists from inside the country will take part, as will representatives from the United Nations Development Programme.

Col Nekhaira listed a number of measures already taken to fight human trafficking in the UAE. In 2006, a federal law was introduced calling for a minimum of five years in prison for traffickers – the first such law in the Arab world.

The country has also ratified the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and joined its protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children.

“The UAE exerts a great deal of efforts to safeguard the dignity of humans and their fundamental rights,” Col Nekhaira said. “These efforts are inspired by the religion of Islam and the state constitution.”

A report issued by Abu Dhabi Police in December called for the establishment of a fund to support efforts to combat human trafficking and offer aid and compensation to victims.

It also called for adding a financial penalty to imprisonment and extending confiscation to include all money, luggage or items used in the trafficking process as well as all proceeds and possessions acquired from the crime.

The Human Rights Department was founded in December under the auspices of the Interior Ministry to oversee the condition of human rights in the UAE. It is also tasked with producing regular reports according to criteria approved by the UN.

The symposium, titled “Protection of Human Trafficking Victims”, will be held at the Interior Ministry on Tuesday and Wednesday.

hhassan@thenational.ae

Drug cartels raise the stakes on human smuggling

Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press

“The only way we’re going to be successful is to truly mount a comprehensive attack upon the cartels,” said Arizona Atty. Gen. Terry Goddard, left, with Justice Department officials William Hoover and Anthony Placido.

Exploitation of illegal immigrants has become worse, officials say, and the failure of U.S. agencies to work together has hindered efforts to stop the organizations.

By Josh Meyer
March 23, 2009

Reporting from Washington — Mexican drug cartels and their vast network of associates have branched out from their traditional business of narcotics trafficking and are now playing a central role in the multibillion-dollar-a-year business of illegal immigrant smuggling, U.S. law enforcement officials and other experts say.

The business of smuggling humans across the Mexican border has always been brisk, with many thousands coming across every year.

But smugglers affiliated with the drug cartels have taken the enterprise to a new level — and made it more violent — by commandeering much of the operation from independent coyotes, according to these officials and recent congressional testimonies.

U.S. efforts to stop the cartels have been stymied by a shortage of funds and the failure of federal law enforcement agencies to collaborate effectively with one another, their local and state counterparts and the Mexican government, officials say.

U.S. authorities have long focused their efforts on the cartels’ trafficking of cocaine, marijuana, heroin and methamphetamines, which has left a trail of violence and corruption.

Many of those officials now say that the toll from smuggling illegal immigrants is often far worse.

The cartels often further exploit the illegal immigrants by forcing them into economic bondage or prostitution, U.S. officials say. In recent years, illegal immigrants have been forced to pay even more exorbitant fees for being smuggled into the U.S. by the cartel’s well-coordinated networks of transportation, communications, logistics and financial operatives, according to officials.

Many more illegal immigrants are raped, killed or physically and emotionally scarred along the way, authorities say. Organized smuggling groups are stealing entire safe houses from rivals and trucks full of “chickens” — their term for their human cargo — to resell them or exploit them further, according to these officials and documents.

Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) said greed and opportunity had prompted the cartels to move into illegal immigrant smuggling.

“Drugs are only sold once,” Sanchez, the chairwoman of the House Homeland Security border subcommittee, said in an interview. “But people can be sold over and over. And they use these people over and over until they are too broken to be used anymore.”

The cartels began moving into human smuggling in the late 1990s, initially by taxing the coyotes as they led bands of a few dozen people across cartel-controlled turf near the border.

After U.S. officials stepped up border enforcement after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the price of passage increased and the cartels got more directly involved, using the routes they have long used for smuggling drugs north and cash and weapons south, authorities said.

Sometimes they loaded up their human cargo with backpacks full of marijuana. In many cases, they smuggled illegal immigrants between the two marijuana-growing seasons, authorities said.

Kumar Kibble, deputy director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s office of operations, said the cartels made money by taxing coyotes and engaging in the business themselves.

“Diversification has served them well,” Kibble said.

Unlike the drug-trafficking problem, the cartels’ involvement in human smuggling has received scant attention in Washington.

That is the case even as the Obama administration and Congress increasingly focus their attention on Mexico, fearing that its government is losing ground in a battle against the cartels that has resulted in the deaths of more than 7,000 people since the beginning of 2008.

At one of many congressional hearings on the subject last week, Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) unveiled a chart that he said described the cartels’ profit centers: drugs, weapons and money laundering.

“I would add one thing, senator,” said Arizona Atty. Gen. Terry Goddard, who then described to Durbin his concerns about the cartels’ movement into illegal immigrant smuggling. “It is really a four-part trade, and it has caused crime throughout the United States.”

Arizona has become the gateway not only for drugs, but also illegal immigrants. Fights over the valuable commodity have triggered a spate of shootings, kidnappings and killings, Goddard and one of his chief deputies said in interviews.

In Arizona, the cartels grossed an estimated $2 billion last year on smuggling humans, Goddard said.

Senior officials from various federal law enforcement agencies confirmed that they were extremely concerned about the cartels’ human smuggling network.

In recent years, the U.S. government has taken significant steps to go after illegal immigrant smugglers on a global scale, setting up task forces, launching public awareness campaigns and creating a Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center to fuse intelligence from various agencies.

But at the southern border, the effort has stumbled, in part because Homeland Security and various Justice Department agencies have overlapping responsibilities and are engaging in turf battles to keep them, Goddard and numerous other federal and state officials said.

The vast majority of ICE agents cannot make drug arrests, for instance, even though the same smugglers are often moving illegal immigrants.

The reason: The Drug Enforcement Administration has not authorized the required “cross-designation” authority for them, according to Kibble and others. A top DEA official said that was partly to prevent ICE agents from unwittingly compromising ongoing DEA drug investigations and informants working the cartels.

Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives focus almost exclusively on cartel efforts to smuggle large quantities of American-made weapons into Mexico.

“The only way we’re going to be successful is to truly mount a comprehensive attack upon the cartels. They’re doing a comprehensive attack on us through all four of these different criminal activities,” Goddard told a Senate Judiciary subcommittee.

“I’m afraid in this country we tend to segregate by specialty the various areas that we are going to prosecute. And our experience on the border is we can’t do that. We’ve got to cross the jurisdictional lines or we’re going to fail.”

Kibble agreed, saying that the cartels’ diversification will require federal agencies to work together. “It means we need more teamwork so things don’t slip through the cracks.”

He added: “We are very focused on it and applying law enforcement pressure to all aspects of the cartels’ activities.”

Asked for comment, Justice Department officials referred calls to Homeland Security.

But authorities are also hampered by budget shortcomings and other obstacles.

Even though ICE has primary responsibility over illegal immigrant smuggling, it has only 100 agents dedicated to the task, Kibble said.

There is no line item in ICE’s budget for human smuggling, so no one knows how much money is being spent on it, he told Sanchez’s border subcommittee, before acknowledging that the agency needs more resources to fight the problem.

There are also not enough resources for providing medical treatment and protection for those illegal immigrants who are caught, so many of them are not available to testify, said Anastasia Brown, the director of refugee programs for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

As a result, there have been relatively few prosecutions and convictions.

In fiscal 2008, ICE initiated 432 human smuggling investigations, including 262 cases of alleged sexual exploitation and 170 cases of suspected labor exploitation.

Those efforts resulted in 189 arrests, 126 indictments and 126 convictions related to human smuggling, according to Homeland Security documents provided to Congress.

Cameron H. Holmes, an assistant Arizona attorney general at the front lines of the fight against cross-border human smuggling, agreed that federal authorities were trying to collaborate better.

“Are they working together enough? Absolutely not. Are they being successful? Look around,” Holmes said, before describing details of illegal immigrant smuggling cases in which people were killed or enslaved for years.

“We have a multibillion criminal industry that has grown up in the last 10 years and it all involves violations of federal law. I would not call that a success.”

josh.meyer@latimes.com

Will Iraq Crack Down on Sex Trafficking?

By Rania Abouzeid / Baghdad Monday, Apr. 13, 2009

A street in eastern Baghdad around midnight

Chris Hondros / Getty

Ravaged by rights groups and upbraided by the U.S. for failing to take measures against human trafficking, the Iraqi government has been quietly working on a draft law to tackle the scourge. Baghdad was prodded into action late last year, after the release of the U.S. State Department’s “Trafficking in Persons Report,” according to Human Rights Minister Wijdan Mikhail Salim. “Let’s say it was a tough report about the situation in Iraq, and in so many cases it was right,” she says.

The report was damning. Baghdad, it concluded, “offers no protection services to victims of trafficking, reported no efforts to prevent trafficking in persons and does not acknowledge trafficking to be a problem in the country.” As a TIME.com story detailed, trafficking in Iraq is a shadowy underworld where nefarious female pimps hold sway and impoverished mothers sell their teenage daughters on the sex market. (See pictures of a women’s prison in Baghdad.)

The situation is slowly changing. The draft law, a copy of which was obtained by TIME, imposes tough penalties, including life imprisonment and a fine not exceeding 25 million dinars ($21,000) for traffickers if the victim “is under 15, or a female, or has special needs.” The same punishment applies if the crime was committed by kidnapping or force, or if the criminal “is a direct or distant relative or the victim’s caretaker or husband or wife,” a tacit acknowledgment that victims are often trafficked by people they know.

The years of war and instability after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003 have provided unfettered opportunities for criminal elements, including traffickers, to profit. Nobody knows for certain how many Iraqi women and children have been sold into slavery since then. Some Baghdad-based activists put the figure in the tens of thousands, but there are no official numbers due to the nature of the business and the reluctance of victims or their families to come forward in a society where female virginity is prized and the stigma of compromised chastity can be a permanent social stain — or worse.

The State Shura Council, a legal advisory body that reviews drafts before they can be passed to the Cabinet and parliament, is vetting the anti-trafficking bill. It’s not the first of its kind in Iraq. The old penal code included a law issued in 1969 and amended in the 1990s that outlawed and penalized trafficking.

But laws are only one aspect of the battle. Enforcing them is another. Activists complain that corruption within the security forces is enabling traffickers to operate with impunity. Many traffickers have “very good ties with the police,” says Yanar Mohammed, who heads the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, a group at the forefront of the fight against trafficking. Young women who have attempted to escape from brothels have sometimes been returned by police officers, she says. “It turns out [the cops] were loyal customers.” Saad Fath Allah, director of the National Institute of Human Rights and the head of an inter-ministerial anti-trafficking committee, acknowledges that a law is only the first step. “We need to enhance the independence of the judiciary,” he says. “There are many criminals who have been released.” (See pictures of Iraq’s revival.)

There are other challenges. Poverty and certain social traditions make some vulnerable members of society easy targets for traffickers. Although Iraq’s constitution grants equal rights to women, their traditional role of domesticity often makes them dependent on male relatives for basic needs. War widows are rendered economically marginalized and vulnerable to exploitation. Salim, the Human Rights Minister, knows alleviating female poverty is key but says there are other considerations. “I can’t ask to have jobs for women while the men don’t have jobs,” she says. “Here in our society, the first thing is for the men.”

There are even tougher issues to tackle. According to several activist organizations, traffickers ferry their victims overseas illegally on forged passports or “legally” through forced marriages, sometimes abusing the Islamic tradition that allows a man to have four wives. A trafficker “will marry four, he will take them to Syria, it’s legal, and divorce them there, and he comes back and does it again. How can we stop it?” Salim says. Similarly, the principle of temporary marriages, known as al-Mut’a in Shi’ite Islam and al-Misyar in Sunni Islam (they can extend anywhere from two hours to six months in the Shi’ite tradition), has also been exploited to trade in women. The draft law does not address how victims are trafficked, avoiding the sensitive subject of the abuse of religious principles, but says it is an offense to transport people with the purpose of trading in them. (See more about human rights.)

Still, the fact that trafficking is even being acknowledged is a significant and welcome development, says Dalal Rubaie, a senior activist with the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq. She wasn’t aware of the draft’s existence until TIME contacted her. The government says it has reached out to key NGOs in drafting the law, but that was news to some of the organizations it cited, including the prominent Al-Amal Association, headed by Hanaa Edwar.

The interplay between the government and women’s rights NGOs is fraught with suspicion. Salim readily admits that “there’s no trust” between the two groups. Yanar Mohammed’s organization has been petitioning, unsuccessfully thus far, to be legally registered as an NGO and women’s shelter, which would allay fears that it could be shut down at any moment. It has also sought, but been refused, permission to visit Baghdad’s women’s prison, where it previously identified victims of trafficking who were locked up for offenses committed as a result of being trafficked, like having false documents or prostitution.

Salim says some NGOs used the prison visits “in a political way, or in the media not in the right way.” The government will visit the prisons and set up women’s shelters, she says, as well as train select NGOs to help fulfill those roles. Some old habits clearly die hard. But new ones are slowly forming. “Many people say there is no trafficking in Iraq — they refuse to admit this phenomenon,” says Fath Allah, head of the inter-ministerial committee. “But we say that this exists and we are working to prevent it from happening. There will be an anti-trafficking law.”

January 15, 2009

2 charged after ICE rescues illegal aliens from Los Angeles-area drop house Hostage claims he was starved, beaten and subdued with stun guns

LANCASTER, Calif. – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents executed a search warrant overnight at a home here where a Salvadoran and Ecuadoran national were rescued by ICE Tuesday night after reportedly being held hostage by human smugglers in the residence, one for at least three weeks.

Following their rescue Tuesday night, one of the hostages told ICE investigators his captors had beaten him repeatedly and forced him to go nearly two weeks without food. Agents said that one of the other smuggled aliens at the residence shared portions of his daily meal with him, possibly helping him to survive. A hostage also told investigators his captors often assaulted him with stun guns. The men are now in protective custody.

The two were freed after ICE agents received a tip late last week that smugglers were holding a hostage and abusing him in an effort to collect a $5,000 smuggling fee. Based upon that information, investigators determined the smugglers were operating somewhere in the Lancaster area. After working virtually around-the-clock over the weekend, ICE agents traced the activity to a home at 646 Martha Court.

When agents knocked on the door Tuesday evening, they heard one of the victims crying out for help inside. As investigators entered the residence, they saw windows boarded up from the inside, and one of the suspected smugglers straddled atop a man beating him. The victim was soaked in sweat and clad only in underwear.

“Tragically, this case shows yet again the ruthlessness and brutality of the human smuggling trade,” said Robert Schoch, special agent in charge for the ICE Office of Investigations in Los Angeles. “To the smugglers, these people are nothing more than a payday and they have no qualms about using threats and violence in an effort to collect their smuggling fees. ICE is working aggressively to disrupt this kind of activity and dismantle the criminal organizations involved.”

The two suspected smugglers, both of whom are in the country illegally, made their initial appearance in federal court yesterday. Roberto Jose-Tomas, 23, of Mexico, and Diego Francisco-Pascual, 32, of Guatemala, have been charged in a criminal complaint with harboring illegal aliens, an offense that carries a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in federal prison. At yesterday’s hearing, a United States Magistrate judge ordered the men held without bond pending an arraignment on February 2.

During last night’s search of the Lancaster residence, ICE agents recovered additional evidence related to the investigation. Authorities say the investigation is ongoing.

– ICE –

2 Mexican nationals sentenced to years-long prison terms for alien smuggling
Arrest led to 29 smuggled individuals at drop house

January 9, 2009

HOUSTON – Two Mexican men were sentenced on Tuesday for their part in local alien smuggling activities. These sentences were announced by acting U.S. Attorney Tim Johnson, Southern District of Texas, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Special Agent in Charge Robert Rutt.

Lander Gonzalez-Lopez, 21, and Juvenal Barrera-Izquierdo, 26, both illegal aliens from Mexico, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein Jr. to 46 and 57 months imprisonment, respectively, for conspiring to harbor and transport illegal aliens within the United States for financial gain. Barrera-Izquierdo was also sentenced to 57 months imprisonment for being an illegal alien possessing a firearm. Both individuals will be deported after they serve their sentences.

Both men were indicted together with Jesus Hernandez-Hernandez and Cristino Salazar-Cortes for conspiracy to harbor and transport illegal aliens within the United States for financial gain. They previously pleaded guilty to the offense, admitting their participation in the conspiracy which occurred in March 2008.

On March 19, ICE received a call from Houston Police Department regarding a woman who reported that her two brothers were being held in the Houston area by human smugglers and demanding a payment of $1,700 each to release each brother.

The woman went to ICE. While there, an undercover agent and the woman called to arrange a meeting with the smugglers, who agreed to meet at Bissonet and the Southwest Freeway in Houston. At the meeting, Barrera-Izquierdo told the undercover agent he had the brothers in the vehicle and said the smuggling fees were $3400 for both aliens. As ICE attempted an arrest, Barrera-Izquierdo and Salazar-Cortes fled from the vehicle, but were apprehended by ICE agents after a short foot pursuit. Barrera-Izquierdo possessed the cell phone that was used to call the woman. As Barrera-Izquierdo fled from the vehicle, agents observed a 9mm Glock pistol on the driver’s seat.

The brothers told agents that when they left the residence where they were being held, there were additional aliens with three or four armed smugglers guarding them. The brothers led ICE agents to the 4900 block of Wickview in Houston. While watching the residence, ICE agents saw a Dodge Durango arrive. ICE Agents stopped the vehicle and apprehended Hernandez-Hernandez, the driver. Shortly afterwards, as agents approached the residence, four individuals attempted to flee from the rear of the residence. ICE agents apprehend three of the four subjects.

A search of the house led to the discovery of 29 illegal aliens and a 9mm pistol with a magazine loaded with six rounds. A second 9mm Glock magazine containing 10 rounds was also found at the house. ICE agents found several “pollo lists,” (ledgers commonly used by alien smugglers), Western Union receipts for cash payments and cell phones inside the residence. Agents also found two chains the victims identified as fastened to their ankles to prevent their escape. A further check of the “pollo lists” matched some of the names of smuggled aliens being held at the location where they were subsequently arrested.

According to the brothers, they arrived at the stash house and provided smugglers with the telephone number of a relative who would pay their smuggling fees. When the smugglers attempted to call, the number was inoperable, which angered Barrera-Izquierdo and Hernandez-Hernandez to the point that they began to hit and punch one of the brothers in the face. After the assault, Hernandez-Hernandez threatened both of the brothers with death if they did not come up with a working telephone number. Salazar-Cortes then tied the two brothers together with chains that were later located in the stash house. While being transported to the buyout location, Barrera-Izquierdo instructed the brothers not to look up or they would be shot.

Co-conspirators Hernandez-Hernandez and Salazar-Cortez had also been convicted for their role in the conspiracy after entering guilty pleas and are scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 16 and Feb. 6, respectively.

This case was investigated by ICE, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Davis, Southern District of Texas.

– ICE –

Law enforcement sting of alleged human trafficking leads to arrest

Advertiser staff from HonoluluAdvertiser.com

A man was arrested for investigation of kidnapping, terroristic threatening and promoting prostitution for his role in what police believe to be human trafficking, police said.
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Honolulu police, the U.S. Immigrations and Custom Enforcement and the state Department of Public Safety conducted a human trafficking investigation at massage parlors in Honolulu from Feb. 18 to March 3, police said.

They arrested a 27 year old man today came after a 24-year-old woman came forward and said she was coerced into working as a prostitute for the man who used a firearm to threaten her.

The victim was originally from the Mainland and was taken to a temporary shelter following the arrest.

Qatar Begins Human-Trafficking Awareness Campaign
By Mandy Clark Doha 10 March 2009

The Gulf state of Qatar has vowed to tackle the problem of human trafficking. A new anti-trafficking campaign began after a U.S. State Department report claimed Qatar was a destination country for traffickers.

Qatar

Qatar has launched a human trafficking awareness campaign to highlight the threat of forced labor and abuse to the country’s legion of foreign workers.

A member of the National Human Right Committee, Mohammad Fouad, says the campaign hopes to reach migrant workers and local Qataris.

“We make hotline for anyone, any people live in Qatar if he feels any form of trafficking against him. We have program on Qatar radio and two programs on Qatar TV,” said Fouad. “Every person in Qatar must know what is the meaning of trafficking in people.”

Qatar’s migrant workforce makes up roughly 80 percent of the country’s population. Many of those people from South Asia or the Philippines work as laborers. But some of them work for dubious companies that bring them into the country and force them to work for nothing in order to pay off their flights and visas.

The National Human Rights Committee says it plans to hold a meeting with the diplomatic missions whose countries export workers to Qatar to discuss stopping the practice of forced labor.

A recent human-trafficking report from the U.S. State Department criticized Qatar’s human rights record. In the Trafficking in Persons report, it said the Gulf state was a destination country with widespread trafficking abuses, particularly forced laborers from Asia who are subject to restrictions on movement, as well as physical and sexual abuse.

The chairman of Qatar’s Human Rights Committee dismissed the reports findings, saying it was “full of wrong information” and added it ignored the progress made by Qatar on its human-rights record.

Foaud says a lot has changed during the past couple of years in Qatar.

“We work maybe two years in trafficking in person, you must know, now if anyone sees the situation in Qatar, he find this situation is different now,” he said.

On top of the anti-trafficking campaign, Qatar is moving towards legal reform with a law drafted to protect the rights of domestic servants, one of the most vulnerable migrant workers’ groups. The Human Rights Committee says it plans to bring in stiffer punishments for those found guilty of sexual or physical abuse of workers in order to discourage the crime.

Cambodia’s Thriving Child Prostitution Industry

October 28, 2008

Al Jazeera’s investigation found underage girls working in brothel’s around Phnom Penh.

Girls as young as 14 work in brothels’ around Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, and while the industry is often shown as serving predatory foreign tourists, local men have been found to be the mainstay of clients.
Thousands of children are bought and sold for sex every day in Cambodia an investigation by Al Jazeera found.
Al Jazeera filmed secretly at several brothels, and in each case found much the same thing – rooms full of young women in their early twenties, as well as teenagers. “For my virginity they gave me $200,” Ya Da, a 16-year-old former prostitute, said.

Ya Da worked in a brothel for two years before she ran away. Now, she lives in a safe house with other former prostitutes and abused children. “There were just a few foreign customers [at the brothel],” she said. “I never slept with any, I slept only with Cambodian men.”

‘Local customers’
Mu Sochua, a politician with the opposition Sam Rainsy Party and a former minister for women’s affairs, told Al Jazeera that most of Cambodia’s sex industry was supported “by local customers”.

“And some of these local customers are high-ranking officials. You have the military, the police and civil servants. you have rich businessmen who have lots of money,” she said. The involvement of high-ranking officials has been one reasons, NGOs say, that the sex industry has thrived in Cambodia.

“Very often these brothels and criminal networks are being supported and protected by high ranking officials,” Mark Capaldi, from Ecpat International, an orgnaisation working to eliminate child prostitution, said. “The problem is not just as abusers but also the impunity and lack of law enforcement in closing down these brothels and karaoke bars.”

Daniela Reale, an advisor from Save the Children, told Al Jazeera: “The reality is that we do know local demand is the force driving this abuse. “We also know it is around 70 per cent of local demand rather than sex tourism.”

But General Bith Kim Hong, from the Cambodian national police force, rejected allegations that the officials focused their efforts to curb prostitution almost exclusively on foreigners. “The national police are concerned about anyone who commits a crime, who has sex with children, whether they are foreigners or Cambodian,” he told Al Jazeera.

“We have a very high commitment to prevent child prostitution.”

Few arrests
Last year, the Cambodian police arrested only 21 people for committing sex crimes with children – eight of those arrested were foreigners and 13 were Cambodians. The police also admit that the brothels they shut down in high-profile raids often reopen a few weeks later.

In 2002, Gary Glitter, the British pop star, was expelled from Cambodia amid child-sex allegations.
But while the arrest and conviction of foreigners make the headlines, most child sex trafficking supplies local demand, Mu Sochua said.

“It is easier to catch a foreigner and also the government wants to have showcases to make itself look good – that Cambodia is actually taking care of this problem of human trafficking, which is really not the truth,” she told Al Jazeera.

Reale said that governments need to combat the worldwide problem: “They need to address their legal system and their law enforcement.” To tackle the poverty that forces girls into prostitution, Reale said that governments must provide support systems to help families match their needs.

She said that the 3rd World Conference on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Rio de Janeiro next month will be as a big opportunity to make real and genuine committments.
Adapted from: “Cambodia – Child Sex Trade Soars in Cambodia.” Al Jazeera. 21 October 2008.

VIDEO Direct Link:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2008/10/20081021560267677.html

Five Defendants Convicted of International Sex Trafficking for Forcing Central American Girls and Women into Prostitution

Feb. 12,2009 US Department of Justice

WASHINGTON – Five defendants, all members or associates of an extended family, face potential life sentences after being found guilty of sex trafficking for participating in a scheme that lured young Central American women and girls into the Los Angeles area and forced them into prostitution, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King for Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Thomas O’Brien for the Central District of California.

The defendants, four Guatemalan nationals and one Mexican citizen, were convicted on Feb. 11, 2009, of conspiracy; sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and importation of aliens for purposes of prostitution. The jury in the case was unable to reach unanimous verdicts on additional charges.

During a six-week trial, the government presented evidence that the defendants targeted young, uneducated, impoverished and undocumented women and girls from Central America. The defendants conspired to lure and smuggle their victims into the United States for prostitution by enticing them with false promises of legitimate jobs. But after arranging for the victims to be smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border, the defendants used a combination of threats, including deception, rape, physical violence and witchcraft, to compel the victims to perform acts of prostitution.

The defendants intimidated and controlled their victims, the evidence showed, by threatening that if the victims tried to escape, the defendants or their associates would find them, beat them and kill their loved ones in Guatemala. Some defendants also used witch doctors to threaten the girls that a curse would be placed on them and their families if they tried to escape. Two defendants further restrained the victims by locking them in at night and blockading windows and doors to prevent their escape. The defendants’ scheme of coercion and control also included, according to the evidence presented at trial, beatings and threats; manipulation of debts; verbal abuse; psychological manipulation; strict controls over the victims’ work schedules; and ominous comments about consequences that befell the families of other victims who attempted to escape.

Defendants collected the profits generated by the compelled prostitution, and maintained control of the prostitution proceeds, earning tens of thousands of dollars for their profit while the victims received almost nothing.

The defendants found guilty are Gladys Vasquez Valenzuela, aka Gladys, 38; Mirna Jeanneth Vasquez Valenzuela, aka Miriam, 27; Gabriel Mendez, 34; Maria de los Angeles Vicente aka Angela, 29; and Maribel Rodriguez Vasquez, 29. All of the defendants face statutory maximum penalties of life in prison. All of the defendants except Rodriguez Vasquez face a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Morrow, who presided over the trial, will sentence the defendants later this year.

Additional defendants Flor Morales Sanchez, Pablo Bonifacio, Luis Vicente Vasquez and Albertina Vasquez Valenzeula previously pleaded guilty to various offenses in connection with the defendants’ scheme.

“It is heart-wrenching to see young girls and women being victimized and exploited in this horrific way. The Civil Rights Division will work in conjunction with U.S. Attorneys Offices nationwide to stamp out this vicious and intolerable crime and seek significant prison sentences for anyone engaging in these despicable acts,” said Loretta King, Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. “This verdict is a message to all international and domestic sex traffickers that they cannot escape justice for committing egregious human rights violations.”

“The defendants in this case trafficked in human beings, using these victims’ desire for a better life to lure them into a situation where they were deprived of their basic human rights,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien. “No one should be victimized in this way.”

Human trafficking prosecutions are a top priority of the Justice Department. In Fiscal Year 2008, the Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices filed a record number of criminal civil rights cases, including record numbers of both sex trafficking and labor trafficking cases.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cheryl O’Connor Murphy, Curtis A. Kin, Anthony J. Lewis, Sara J. Heidel and Special Litigation Counsel Andrew J. Kline from the Civil Rights Division. The case was investigated by Special Agents Tricia Whitehill and Valerie Venegas of the FBI, Miguel Palomino of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Jesus Quezada from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Arizona Man Sentenced to 5 Years for Distribution of Child Pornography

Fab. 10,2009 US Department of Justice

WASHINGTON – Theodore Allan, 54, of Glendale, Ariz., was sentenced today to five years in prison for distribution of child pornography, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Rita M. Glavin and U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona Diane J. Humetewa announced.

Allan was indicted on charges of distribution, receipt and possession of child pornography on March 6, 2007. The charges followed a July 14, 2006, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) search of Allan’s home. According to court documents, ICE agents discovered approximately nine videos and 267 images depicting the sexual abuse of children.

Allan pleaded guilty on Aug. 4, 2008, to one count of distribution. As part of the plea agreement, Allan admitted to distributing child pornography via e-mail.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney James Silver of CEOS and Senior Litigation Counsel Vincent Q. Kirby of the District of Arizona. ICE conducted the investigation.

Former Tulsa Businessman Sentenced to 11 Years in Prison For Receiving Child Pornography

Feb. 10, 2009 US Department of Justice

WASHINGTON – Terry Brian Dobbs, an Oklahoma businessman, was sentenced today to 11 years in prison for receiving images of child pornography, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Rita M. Glavin and U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma David E. O’Meilia announced.

Dobbs, 51, was also sentenced to lifetime supervised release following his term in prison by U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzel, and was ordered to pay an $8,000 fine. Dobbs was found guilty after a six-day jury trial in November 2008 of receiving picture and video files of child pornography, which were found on his home computer by federal investigators in July 2006. According to testimony presented at trial, the computer files of child pornography were downloaded by Dobbs between December 2005 and April 2006.

The original indictment charging Dobbs was issued by a federal grand jury in September 2007. A superseding indictment adding to the original charge was issued by the grand jury in July 2008. After the verdict in his trial, Dobbs was ordered to be detained by the U.S. Marshal’s Service without bond.

The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Barak Cohen of CEOS and Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Morgan of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tulsa. CEOS’ High-Tech Investigative Unit and the Tulsa Police Department provided forensic analysis of Dobbs’ computer. The charges were the result of an investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Member of Human Trafficking Ring Pleads Guilty to Sex Trafficking Charges

Feb. 5, 2009 US Department of Justice

WASHINGTON – Raul Cortes-Meza, 21, aka “Oscar”, a Mexican national, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Atlanta to sex trafficking of a minor from Mexico, Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King of the Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias for the Northern District of Georgia announced.

According to the information presented in court, Cortes-Meza harbored a 17-year-old girl in the United States after she was pursued romantically by Cortes-Meza’s alleged co-conspirator in Mexico, then smuggled into the United States and brought to the Norcross, Ga., area. After the victim’s arrival in Norcross, Cortes-Meza, knowing that the victim was under 18 years of age, drove her to numerous apartments in the Atlanta metropolitan area to have sex with paying clients. Cortes-Meza instructed the victim to enter the apartments and provide fifteen minutes of sexual services to each man who was present, and subsequently collected money from the men with whom the victim engaged in commercial sex.

“Human trafficking occurs in hidden corners across the country,” said Loretta King, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “Few crimes are more reprehensible than profiting from the sexual exploitation of a minor. The Department is committed to enforcing laws that put human traffickers behind bars.”

“Human trafficking violates basic human rights and will not be tolerated,” said U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias. “Using girls under the age of 18 to engage in commercial sex acts is a serious violation of federal law. The victimization of the young woman in this case was unfortunately made easier by her illegal status, unfamiliarity with U.S. laws, and fear of law enforcement instilled in her by the trafficker. Federal laws protect all victims of such heinous crimes, whether or not they are U.S. citizens. No victim should fear coming forward to report illegal activity.”

The sex trafficking of a minor charge to which Cortes-Meza pleaded guilty carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison . A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled by the court.

The prosecution of human trafficking offenses is a top priority of the Justice Department. In fiscal year 2008, the Section filed the largest number of federal criminal civil rights cases ever in a single year in the history of the Civil Rights Division., including a recod number of both sex trafficking and labor trafficking cases.

The case is being investigated by special agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The case is being prosecuted by Civil Rights Division Trial Attorney Karima Maloney and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Corey Steinberg and Susan Coppedge for the Northern District of Georgia.

Seven Defendants Convicted for Participation in International Child Exploitation Enterprise

Jan. 14, 2009 US Department of Justice

WASHINGTON AND PENSACOLA, Fla. – Seven U.S. defendants charged for their activity in a global child pornography trafficking enterprise were convicted today in the Northern District of Florida following a six-day jury trial before Senior U.S. District Judge Lacey A. Collier, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida Thomas F. Kirwin and FBI Executive Assistant Director J. Stephen Tidwell announced.

The federal jury convicted the defendants of multiple charges, including: engaging in a child exploitation enterprise; conspiracy to advertise, transport, ship, receive and possess child pornography; advertising child pornography, transporting child pornography, receiving child pornography and obstruction of justice.

“This was a wide-scale, high volume, international trafficking enterprise that used sophisticated computer encryption technology and file-sharing techniques,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division. “Those who operate such enterprises can expect law enforcement, not only here but abroad, to react swiftly and aggressively, as we have done here.”

The defendants convicted at trial were: James Freeman of Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.; Gary Lakey of Anderson, Ind.; Marvin Lambert of Indianapolis; Neville McGarity of Medina, Texas; Warren Mumpower of Spokane, Wash.; Daniel Castleman of Lubbock, Texas; and Ronald White of Burlington, N.C.

Seven additional U.S. defendants, also indicted in the case, previously pleaded guilty to offenses related to the child pornography enterprise. Members of the highly-sophisticated international network were charged in a 40-count superseding indictment on March 19, 2008.

Evidence presented at trial, including approximately 50 witnesses and 500 exhibits, established that the defendants participated in a well-organized criminal enterprise whose purpose was to proliferate child sex abuse images to its membership during a two-year period. According to trial testimony, members of the illegal organization used Internet newsgroups – large file-sharing networks where text, software, pictures and videos can be traded and shared – to traffic in illegal images and videos depicting prepubescent children, including toddlers, engaged in various sexual and sadistic acts. Specifically, an Australian constable who infiltrated the group in August 2006 testified about how group members employed a complex system of pseudonyms, screening tests for new members and sophisticated encryption methods to avoid detection. He also testified that the group traded more than 400,000 images and videos of child sexual abuse before it was dismantled by law enforcement.

Each defendant convicted at trial faces a minimum prison sentence of 20 years and a maximum of life in prison, in addition to statutory fines and the possibility of a lifetime period of supervised release following completion of any prison sentence. Sentencing is set April 14, 2009, for all defendants convicted today.

On the return of the guilty verdicts, Acting U.S. Attorney Kirwin said, “This jury verdict signals, once again, the community’s reprehension for the culture of abuse and torture that is child pornography. I am as proud as I can be of our investigative and trial team for the hard work and countless hours they devoted to the investigation and successful prosecution of this scourge. This was truly a team effort by U.S. and foreign law enforcers and by prosecutors from our office and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. I want to specifically commend the dedication and superlative efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney David L. Goldberg, CEOS Trial Attorney LisaMarie Freitas, Appellate Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert G. Davies, and Queensland, Australia Constable Brenden Power, and the agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Goldberg of the Northern District of Florida and Trial Attorney LisaMarie Freitas of CEOS. The case is being investigated by the Innocent Images Unit of the FBI and the Queensland, Australia, Police Service, with the assistance of the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA) Child Pornography Unit in Germany and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre in the United Kingdom.

Cameroon: Combating Human Trafficking

Posted by yabastablog on June 5, 2008

Brenda Yufeh

The American Bar Association yesterday conducted a training programme for police, judges and prosecutors about trafficking in persons.

During the 18th and 19th century, Slave Trade was progressively abolished. Many people, particularly those sold as slaves thought the dark days of slavery were gone. Far from it! People have devised other forms to continue with what the world had put an end some 200 years back. Trafficking in persons, also known as “human trafficking” is a current form of modern-day slavery. Traffickers often prey on individuals who are poor, frequently unemployed or underemployed, and who may lack access to social safety nets, predominantly women and children in certain countries. Victims are often lured with false promises of good jobs and better lives, and then forced to work under brutal and inhuman conditions.

more here: http://allafrica.com/stories/200806050915.html

Human Trafficking Suspected At Two Richmond Massage Parlors

Posted by yabastablog on May 21, 2008

RICHMOND, Ohio — Local and federal officials raided two massage parlors Tuesday in Richmond, Ind., as part of a national sting operation investigating prostitution and human trafficking.

News Center 7 was the only television news crew on the scene when authorities busted the Apple Studio Spa and the Sunshine Spa in Richmond Tuesday afternoon.Four women were taken away in handcuffs from the two establishments. Police said they found evidence of a sex shop in both locations.The raids were part of 19 in 3 different states by U.S. Customs, Immigration Enforcement and local police.Authorities said they suspect the women are sex slaves in an international human trafficking ring. They believe the ring operated from Korea to Ohio and two other states.

Vigil to raise awareness of human trafficking in our cities

Posted by yabastablog on May 20, 2008

this is something simple that anyone can do in their community and be a start to start community discussions on human trafficking in your own area.

***

NEWARK May 16, 2008 — The Newark Coalition Against Human Trafficking will hold a vigil Wednesday, May 21 at 5 p.m. in Newark’s Military Park on Broad Street, between Rector Street and Raymond Boulevard.

The theme of the vigil is “Break the Chains.” “Human Trafficking is modern day slavery, and it exists right here in New Jersey” says Sr. Joann Marie Aumand, coordinator of the Newark Coalition Against Human Trafficking. “No city is immune to the problem of human trafficking. We hope to raise awareness about this issue so that in the end, we can stop the trafficking of human beings.”

The Vigil will feature a testimonial from a victim of human trafficking and a variety of opportunities to learn more about the problem of human trafficking in our communities.

“It is important to tell the real human stories of human trafficking,” says Sr. Joann Marie. The Newark Coalition Against Human Trafficking is made up of a number of organizations that are working to both end human trafficking and help victims.

Member organizations include Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Newark, Covenant House of New Jersey, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan New Jersey, and Polaris Project New Jersey.

The vigil is free and open to the public.

WHEN: Wednesday, May 21, 2008, 5:00 to 6:00 PM

WHERE: Military Park, Broad Street, Downtown Newark, New Jersey

CONTACT: Sr. Joann Marie Aumand, SCC
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Newark
973-733-3516

Grand Jury Indicts Human Trafficking Suspect

Posted by yabastablog on May 16, 2008

A man charged in connection with a human trafficking case in Lexington now faces more serious charges.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports a Fayette County Grand Jury indicted Calvin Walker on two human trafficking charges.

Police say Walker lured two women to Lexington then forced them to work at a strip club then took their money.

The women also say Walker tried to keep them from leaving.

In December, police downgraded Walker’s charges to promoting human trafficking but the grand jury returned stiffer indictments.

Walker has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Falls man admits human trafficking

Posted by yabastablog on May 16, 2008

Falls man admits human trafficking
St. Catharines Standard – St. Catharines,Ontario,Canada

A Niagara Falls man who made more than $400,000 selling two young girls for sex has pleaded guilty to two counts of human trafficking.

Imani Nakpamgi, 25, formerly of Toronto, also admitted using a counterfeit government-issued identification in a Brampton court on Tuesday.

He was remanded in custody until sentencing on May 26.

Police believe it’s one of the first pleas to human trafficking since legislation was enacted in November 2005.

In pleading guilty, Nakpamgi admitted he was well aware the girls he put to work were juveniles, aged 14 and 15.

The prosecutor said Nakpamgi advertised the girls on the Internet and sex was offered at $200 for 30 minutes and $300 for a full hour. “He was acting as their pimp,” Crown prosecutor John Raftery said.

Both girls had been reported missing, the older one by her family and the other by the Children’s Aid Society, court heard.

Court heard that the older girl, now 18, worked for Nakpamgi for 26 months starting in September 2005.

“She kept a log and said she had earned him about $360,000,” Raftery said.

“He used intimidation and threats” to control her, Raftery said, saying he knew where her younger brother lived and would kidnap him if she “ever got out of line.”

When the girl tried to quit, Nakpamgi told her she’d have to earn another $50,000 first, Raftery said. “There would also be a $100,000 exit fee.”

The girl went to police after she was robbed at gunpoint by a client, court heard.

The younger girl worked for Nakpamgi for two months and earned about $65,000, Raftery said.

“She’s carrying his child,” he said.

Nakpamgi was arrested Dec. 6 following a police sting in which an undercover officer posed as a client interested in the younger girl, who had been advertised as being much older.

Lurid photos of young girls were found in his possession when a search warrant was executed at his Niagara Falls residence, police said.

Charges Upgraded In Trafficking Case

Posted by yabastablog on May 16, 2008

Charges Upgraded Against Man In Human Trafficking Case

A Tennessee man is in custody and faces more serious charges in a Lexington human trafficking case.

A grand jury Wednesday increased 45-year-old Calvin Walker’s charges to human trafficking. He had previously been charged with lesser counts of promoting human trafficking.

Police say in December Walker brought two women to Lexington and forced them to work at a local strip club while taking their wages.

Walker is free on bond and is due back in court Friday morning.

Prostitution case suspects could be victims of human trafficking

Posted by yabastablog on May 15, 2008

By: SARAH MOORE, The Enterprise

05/11/2008

Updated 05/10/2008 11:24:07 PM CDT

EAUMONT – Possible prostitution at two spas raided last week could be linked to a Houston-area operation and be part of a worldwide human trafficking network, Beaumont police investigators say.Police suspect one spa owner, who lives out of state, might have been the owner of a similar operation in Montgomery County before being shut down.Beaumont Lt. Curtis Breaux said the two women arrested Wednesday, Su Han Jun, 45, and Li Zhao, 51, might be among untold numbers of foreign women lured from their homes with promises of lucrative jobs. They then are ensnared in a web of debt and coercion amounting to a form of feudal bondage, Breaux said.

The two were arrested in a sting at the Sun Spa on Old Dowlen Road and VIP Spa on Calder Avenue. Police charged each with three counts of prostitution, a Class B misdemeanor.

If convicted, the women, who are Chinese, face up to six months in jail on each count. They also could be deported, immigration officials have said.

In addition to perhaps being the iceberg tip in a much larger prostitution picture, the case also presents a prosecution challenge similar to what police and lawyers have faced in larger cities.

Police and prosecutors must grapple with small penalties for the offenses, unwilling witnesses and absentee business owners.

Women are lured to work by ads on the Internet, in newspapers and by word of mouth, according to a 2006 Dallas Morning News report.

And while some of them might have known they were expected to prostitute themselves, the issue of consent can become blurred after their arrival, said Terry Coonan, executive director of the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights at Florida State University.

“Consent is always the question. Did they consent initially, and did they continue to consent?” Coonan told the Dallas Morning News. “Even if they initially consented to doing this, even if they knew they were going to come over and work, did they know they were going to ultimately be held as a slave or not have recourse to leave and do anything else?”

Breaux said Jun and Zhao told police that they were free to come and go as they pleased.

“But that’s not necessarily true,” Breaux said of cases in general, adding that prostitutes often have a misplaced sense of loyalty to their pimps. “They tend to protect the people that are exploiting them.”

Beaumont detectives are working with the FBI, which has jurisdiction in international human trafficking cases.

Breaux said the Sun Spa owner might have owned KM Massage near The Woodlands – and previous legal actions related to that establishment might help law enforcement in Beaumont’s case.

The Montgomery County Attorney’s Office, working with the county sheriff and the fire marshal, secured a civil injunction closing KM Massage, according to a Texas County and District Attorneys Association newsletter posted online.

A judge ordered the parlor closed immediately after the state presented evidence showing that owner Kit Ming Chen “was flagrantly violating the licensing provisions for a massage establishment” and that imposition of a permanent injunction closing the business was warranted.

What, technically, constitutes prostitution?

Assistant District Attorney Michael Packard said it is considered prostitution when someone has either offered or solicited a sex act for money or other compensation.

He said the offer does not have to be spoken. It can be conducted through gestures or sign language – although use of nonverbal communication can make the case more ambiguous.

“Then we have to present it before a jury, and they will decide whether that person was agreeing (to an act of prostitution) or not,” Packard said.

Charging those who engage in prostitution and their customers is the least aggressive means of dealing with the problem, as the offenses are generally confined to the misdemeanor range.

While a third offense bumps up the crime to a state jail felony, punishable by up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine, it seldom gets to that point for various reasons, experts said.

Breaux said offenders often are sentenced to deferred probation, meaning that once they complete their terms, the case does not count as a conviction.

Also, if the prior offenses happened long ago or in another county, prosecutors might not be aware of them, Jefferson County Assistant District Attorney John Nelson said.

Nelson said he has only prosecuted a handful of felony prostitution cases in his 16 years with the county.

Moving up the legal food chain, aggravated promotion of prostitution is a third-degree felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

In the Beaumont spa cases, immigration status could be jeopardized, with deportations possible.

Breaux said it might prove difficult to prosecute the Sun Spa’s owner because he appears to be living in another state.

“We don’t have the kind of resources to dedicate to this kind of offense,” he said.

In addition, even if he were to be brought back to Texas, the case still could be tricky to prosecute, said Assistant District Attorney Clint Woods.

“If he’s out of state, he could just say, ‘I just own the business. I didn’t know what the women were doing,’” Woods said.

Woods said one way to prove involvement would be if bookkeeping showed revenues larger sums than a legitimate spa business could realistically generate.

The owner of the building that VIP Spa operated already has begun eviction proceedings against the business.

Sun Spa is under investigation by the city of Beaumont for code violations, as it appears that the place was also used as a residence, police said.

Breaux said it is almost impossible to eradicate prostitution in a community.

“All we do is try to keep it under control,” he said.

Breaux said prostitution has escalated in Beaumont since Hurricane Rita, when an influx of construction and utility workers in the region created a demand for sexual services.

The demand should only continue as refinery expansions draw still more temporary construction workers, he said.

Man Sentenced for Human Trafficking and Alien Smuggling

Posted by yabastablog on May 15, 2008

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-12-2008/0004811869&EDATE=

WASHINGTON, May 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Acting Assistant Attorney
General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division Grace Chung
Becker and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas Don DeGabrielle
announced that Walter Corea was sentenced today for his role in a scheme to
smuggle Central American women and girls into the United States and hold
them in a condition of forced labor in bars and cantinas in the Houston
area. U.S. District Judge Vanessa D. Gilmore sentenced Corea to 180 months
in prison and further ordered that he, jointly with his co-defendants, pay
$1,715,588 in restitution to the victims.

“These defendants used false promises and threats of harm to lure and
coerce vulnerable women and girls into conditions of forced labor and
servitude,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Becker. “The Department
of Justice is committed to vigorously prosecuting human trafficking cases
such as this one.”

In all, eight defendants have been convicted in connection with this
scheme to compel the victims into service in restaurants, bars and cantinas
in the Houston area, using threats to harm the victims and their families
if they attempted to leave before paying off their smuggling debts.

“Some measure of justice has been meted out today,” DeGabrielle said.
“Any who think of smuggling and enslaving fellow human beings should count
this very real cost of doing business.”

Corea previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to hold persons in a
condition of peonage and to illegally and knowingly recruiting, harboring
and transporting persons for labor and services. Peonage is a condition of
involuntary servitude imposed to extract repayment of an indebtedness. He
has also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bring, harbor and transport known
illegal aliens for purposes of commercial advantage and private financial
gain.

Corea lured young Central American women to the United States with
promises of good jobs. However, once the young women arrived, they were
forced to work in the bars and cantinas of the defendant and co-defendants
selling high-priced drinks to male customers. The women were subjected to
numerous threats of harm to themselves and family members in order to
compel their servitude, and some suffered sexual assaults at the hands of
the defendant and his co-defendants.

Co-defendant Oscar Mondragon, the operator of the Mi Cabana Sports Bar,
pleaded guilty in May 2006 to conspiring with his brothers, Maximino
Mondragon and Victor Omar Lopez, and others to smuggle Central American
women and girls into the United States and forced them to labor in Houston
area bars and cantinas. Judge Gilmore sentenced Mondragon on April 28,
2008, to 180 months in federal prison and ordered him to pay, along with
his other co-defendants, $1.1 million of the $1.7 million total ordered in
restitution to the victims. Lopez was sentenced April 21, 2008, to 109
months in federal prison and was ordered to pay, jointly with all other
co-defendants sentenced to date, the entire $1.7 million restitution
amount. Olga Mondragon, who was convicted of multiple charges stemming from
her involvement in these schemes to hold young Central American victims in
a condition of forced labor and to smuggle the young women to the United
States for financial gain, was sentenced to 84 months in prison. Maria
Fuentes was convicted of harboring the young women for financial gain and
sentenced to 30 months in prison. Lorenza Reyes-Nunez was convicted of
obstruction of justice and has been sentenced to 19 months in prison, and
Kerin Silva was convicted of conspiracy to smuggle aliens and sentenced to
12 months home detention followed by three years of probation. Maximino
Mondragon has also pleaded guilty and will be sentenced June 9, 2008.

Human trafficking prosecutions such as this one are a top priority of
the Department of Justice. In the last seven fiscal years, the Civil Rights
Division, in conjunction with the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, has increased by
nearly seven-fold the number of human trafficking cases filed in court as
compared to the previous seven fiscal years. In FY 2007, the Department
obtained a record number of convictions in human trafficking prosecutions.

In announcing the sentencing, Becker and DeGabrielle commended the
Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of
Labor, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, the Harris County Constable
Precinct Five Office, and the Human Trafficking Rescue Alliance, a
federally-funded multi-agency human trafficking task force, for their work
on this investigation and prosecution.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ruben Perez and Joseph Magliolo and Civil
Rights Division attorneys Jim Felte and Hilary Axam prosecuted this case
for the government.

FBI Investigates Human Trafficking In Miami Valley

Posted by yabastablog on May 15, 2008

http://www.whiotv.com/news/16242271/detail.html

DAYTON, Ohio — The Federal Bureau of Investigations is warning local law enforcement that human trafficking is happening more and more in local neighborhoods.

The FBI estimates that more than 100,000 children and young women are victims of human trafficking in the United States today. And, the Dayton area is not exempt from the disturbing trend.Authorities said human trafficking is often undetected.On Monday, officers from approximately 20 different local law enforcement agencies gathered in Centerville to learn how to spot human trafficking and who is at risk.FBI special agent Wendy Surikov said, “People have a misconception of what human trafficking is.”She said, “It is not a problem of illegal aliens, it is not a problem of immigration. It is an issue of domestic servitude, which is a sex trade.”Authorities said trafficking victims are forced into prostitution, agricultural work, domestic work, construction and janitorial and restaurant services.At this time, the FBI is investigating incidents in the Miami Valley.Surikov said there have been several cases between Dayton and Cincinnati and Columbus.Authorities compare human trafficking to modern-day slavery, which is why local officials are taking extra efforts to make it stop.If you believe you know someone who may be a victim of human trafficking, you should contact your local law enforcement, and the FBI.There is a hot line number specifically designed for human trafficking cases. That number is 1-888-373-7888.

http://www.krdo.com/Global/story.asp?S=8317893

DENVER – Two people have been arrested for allegedly withholding pay from two of their employees and threatening them with deportation. The FBI took Young Jo Kwon and his wife, Jessie Kwon, into custody Tuesday and charged them with five counts of theft and forgery.

The Kwons are accused of forcing two South Korean immigrant employees to work without pay while they were the owners of Osaka Sushi in Denver. They allegedly threatened two of their employees with the revocation of their “sponsorship,” which the Kwons claimed would result in the deportation of the employees’ families. One of the informed the FBI that Young Jo Kwon claimed ties to the Korean mafia, and Kwon allegedly told Choi “he knew how to hurt someone who did not obey.”

In addition to being accused of depriving the two employees of more than $100,000 in wages over a five-year period, the couple is charged with forging employee tax and labor forms.

While the Kwons no longer own Osaka Sushi, they are the current owners of Sushi Moon, located at 6585 Greenwood Plaza Blvd. in Greenwood Village. The defendants were held in Denver County Jail before posting $10,000 bonds. They were arraigned on May 9, and will appear before the Court again on May 30, 2008.

According to the FBI, Human Trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery and is a rapidly growing problem in the U.S. that typically involves aliens and economically disadvantaged victims. Trafficking cases have been identified in a number of everyday industries, including prostitution, exotic dancing, construction, agriculture, restaurants, and domestic services. Any citizen who would like to report possible civil rights violations should contact the Denver division of the FBI at 303-629-7171.

Man charged with human trafficking

Posted by yabastablog on May 15, 2008

http://www.kentucky.com/779/story/405005.html

By Brandon Ortiz

BORTIZ@HERALD-LEADER.COM

A Fayette County grand jury has increased criminal charges against a Memphis man accused of forcing two women to work at a Lexington strip club.

Calvin “Slim” Walker, 45, was charged with two counts of human trafficking in an indictment released Wednesday. He had previously been charged with lesser counts of promoting human trafficking.

According to police testimony at a preliminary hearing in December, Walker lured two young women from Arkansas to Lexington in December with a promise to help them start a new life and make money. But once they arrived, they learned they would have to dance at a strip club and engage in prostitution.

Police say Walker used the 8-month-old child of one of the women to coerce them from escaping or calling police.

It was not clear why Walker’s charges were increased to a Class C felony, which carries a punishment of 5 to 10 years in prison for each count.

Fayette Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Larson declined to comment because the case is still pending. Walker’s attorney, Charlie Gore of Lexington, also declined comment.

Walker is free on a $10,000 unsecured bond. He is scheduled to be arraigned at 8:30 a.m. Friday in Fayette Circuit Court.

Local legal immigrants protest treatment by employer

Posted by yabastablog on February 26, 2008

http://www.wwltv.com/video/news-index.html?nvid=218183&shu=1

Local legal immigrants protest treatment by employer

February 14th, 2008

A group called the Workers Center for Racial Justice led a protest Thursday on a Tangipahoa Parish strawberry farm. Eyewitness News’ Doug Mouton reports.

Mexican national pleads guilty to human trafficking

Posted by yabastablog on May 9, 2008

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-flpplea0509sbmay09,0,1228210.story

A Mexican national has pleaded guilty to conspiring to smuggle Mexican women and girls into the United States and force them into prostitution, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Thursday.

Juan Luis Cadena-Sosa, 43, is one of 16 defendants charged in 1998 with smuggling the women and girls from Mexico to Florida and South Carolina. Cadena-Sosa remained a fugitive until November 2007 when he was extradited from Mexico to the United States. Nine of the defendants, including Cadena-Sosa, have now been convicted in federal court; one was convicted in state court and another was convicted on related charges in Mexico. A third defendant died while a fugitive. Three remain at large.

According to federal court documents, Cadena-Sosa, his brothers and a nephew operated a number of brothels, some staffed by girls younger than 18, throughout South Florida. The women and girls were smuggled into the country primarily from Veracruz, Mexico, by Cadena-Sosa and his associates. Once in the United States, the women and girls were informed that they owed a debt to the Cadena organization for bringing them here and that they would be required to repay the debt by working as prostitutes. The women were not allowed to leave the organization. Those that tried to escape were tracked down. The men used physical violence and threats of physical harm to intimidate the women and girls, according to court records.

Cadena-Sosa, who pleaded guilty on Wednesday, will be sentenced on Aug. 20. He faces 15 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

Prosecutions of human trafficking cases have increased seven-fold over the past seven fiscal years, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Missy Diaz can be reached at mdiaz@sun-sentinel.com

Study details concerns about Spokane-area human trafficking

Posted by yabastablog on May 15, 2008

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_wa_human_trafficking.html

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SPOKANE, Wash. — Human trafficking is a “considerable concern” in the Spokane area, contributing to teenage prostitution, forced labor and other ills, according to a new study.

“Trafficking victims work on our streets, are often held captive in residents’ homes and hotels and travel over our highways to other destinations where they will experience further exploitation and abuse,” according to the report prepared by Debbie R. DuPey for the Western Regional Institute for Community Oriented Public Safety.

Such “victimization is of considerable concern for this region,” DuPey wrote. “There is a wide spectrum of trafficking activities that include sex slavery, forced prostitution, forced panhandling, farm labor, janitorial work and domestic servitude.”

The study consisted of a written survey and interviews with 25 service agencies last year.

Human trafficking “is a new issue for our region, and we are only beginning to assess the nature and extent of the problem,” DuPey concluded.

Law enforcement agencies “frequently fail to understand the severe human rights abuses and suffering occurring through the exploitation of vulnerable humans of all types,” said former Spokane County Sheriff John A. Goldman, institute director.

Washington state adopted the first anti-human-trafficking law in the nation, but few cases are prosecuted under that statute or the Federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act, partly “due to perception and misunderstanding,” Goldman said.

“Too often, the victims are viewed first as criminals and enforcement is aimed at the low-hanging fruit – prostitutes and illegal immigrants,” he added.

Goldman said police, ambulance crews and other first responders need better training on the problem, which was broken into six categories in the study – gangs and organized crime, the prostitution industry, minors in prostitution, mail-order brides, labor exploitation and “other trafficking situations.”

Prostitution accounts for the largest form of human trafficking in the region with an estimated 500 adult women and an unknown number of men and underage boys and girls providing sex for money through escort businesses, massage parlors, drug houses and on the streets, the study found.

One of those surveyed in the study said about a third of those selling sex in the Spokane area had been sold into prostitution by their mothers.

Male prostitution is “much hidden” and those involved “are especially vulnerable,” DuPey wrote.

“Spokane has a significant teen prostitution problem and is considered an entry area for child prostitutes,” the study found. The youngsters “are initiated here and then moved into larger metro areas.”

The study also reported problems with mail-order brides, who frequently are divorced with children in their country of origin and thus are disowned by their native families. At least one man in the Spokane area has had five or six mail-order brides, DuPey wrote.

Children as well as adults, especially the homeless and those from unstable families, are subject to “labor exploitation,” she wrote. In one case in north Idaho, two or three agricultural workers received housing but no food or pay, according to the study.

—

Information from: The Spokesman-Review, http://www.spokesmanreview.com

Woman charged with locking immigrant in office

Posted by yabastablog on December 4, 2007

http://www.themonitor.com/news/svenningsen_7038___article.html/home_city.html

Jeremy Roebuck

December 3, 2007 – 10:20PM

RIO GRANDE CITY — A makeshift distress signal led police to a 15-year-old Mexican national Saturday, two days after he was reportedly locked in a downtown office building and held for ransom.

Officers spotted flashing lights and a hand sticking out through the blinds just after 2 a.m. at the offices of 1st Choice Provider Services Inc., a home healthcare company located near the intersection of Corpus Christi and 5th streets.

The boy told investigators he had recently paid a coyote to smuggle him across the border but upon arrival he was trapped inside the building while the smugglers demanded $200 more for their services, said Rio Grande City police Det. Osdy Luna.

“They would give them a price to get across the river,” he said. “But once they were there, they would demand more from their families back home.”

Odilia Svenningsen, a 1st Choice employee, was arrested later that day after the boy identified her as the woman that had imprisoned him.

Luna described Svenningsen as a known human smuggler in the city and said only three weeks earlier officers and U.S. Border Patrol agents had rescued 31 illegal immigrants from a stash house on her property.

She was not immediately arrested after that raid, pending an ongoing investigation by federal authorities, Rio Grande City police Chief Dutch Piper said.

Since her arrest Saturday, Svenningsen has denied the boy’s allegations against her and refused to cooperate with authorities.

Other 1st Choice employees could face criminal charges if the investigation proves they knew of her alleged activities, Luna said. But so far, officers said they have been unable to find anyone else working at the office.

However, two women working there late Monday afternoon refused to open the door, but spoke through a closed window.

They said Svenningsen had never worked for the home healthcare service despite a note pinned to the door that appeared to bear her signature.

Neighbors at Svenningsen’s home on the 300 block of Garcia Street rarely spoke to her but often spotted her driving large SUVs and wearing scrubs, they said.

She was charged with unlawful restraint at an arraignment hearing Saturday and released from custody on a $1,000 personal recognizance bond. If convicted, she could face up to two years in jail and $10,000 in fines.

Mexican consular officials are currently working to return the 15-year-old back to his family in Ciudad Victoria, Tamps.

The ongoing saga of trafficking in persons in Jamaica

Posted by yabastablog on May 15, 2008

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080511/focus/focus5.html

Glenda Simms, Contributor

The ongoing saga of trafficking in persons in Jamaica has again been highlighted in a recent report covered by one of the local media houses.

According to this latest account of human trafficking, poverty-stricken Haitians are being exploited as cheap labour in the eastern sector of the island, and these desperate human beings are being paid starvation wages of J$250 daily by heartless individuals.

These are individuals, otherwise called employers, who obviously cannot even imagine that poor people have rights which must be protected in line with both national and international human rights standards.

Unable to deal with issue

The tragedy of the different categories of trafficked persons, including the Haitian girls who get submerged in the morass of evil in the society, is the inability of our nation state to deal effectively and decisively with the plight of men, women and girls who are constantly being trafficked internally and through cross-border routes.

The issue of trafficking is usually highlighted when the American State Department is ready to issue their evaluation of the effectiveness of the anti-trafficking initiatives that Jamaica has pledged to implement. It can be argued that in this process we appear to return to our nine-day wonder slumber, especially when we are put on an acceptable ‘tier watch’ for trafficking.

While we slumber, the global movement of human beings for sexual exploitation and forced labour continues unabated, and many of our citizens and the poor of Eastern Europe, the Philippines, the Indian subcontinent and the Caribbean region are being exploited by individuals and groups who make big money by this form of slavery.

This modern phenomenon of trafficking in human beings is an extension of practices rooted in the history of many societies (western and non-western).

In 1899, the International Conference on the White Slave Trade was convened in England. At that time a decision was taken “to do everything possible to protect the vulnerable against the practice of trafficking.“

In spite of these early good intentions, many developing societies, such as Jamaica, are forced to acknowledge that their world is now faced with a modern form of slavery – a form that is protected by the monied class and the global tentacles of organised crime.

Amiha Abueva, the coordinator of a 2002 project entitled Asia’s Children In Peril: A Regional Study of Child Trafficking noted in the introduction to this study that: “If we view human civilisation as a history of conquest and slavery, then it is easy to see that trading in humans is as old as civilisation itself.“

Furthermore, the coordinator reminds us that modern-day trafficking is usually equated with women and girls trafficked into prostitution, but the reality is much more widespread and complex; and many children of both sexes and women are trafficked “for the purposes of begging and for cheap labour”.

Inadequate database

In Jamaica, the latest story of Haitians being trafficked for the purpose of cheap labour expands the arena of trafficking activities in the country.

To date, the trafficking database, which is largely inadequate, points to the fact that human trafficking is part of the continuum of violence against women and girls, who make up the majority of the persons who fit within the definition of trafficked persons.

These are the women and girls who come in from the streets of Moscow and other Eastern European cities, Havana, and Santo Domingo as exotic dancers and uptown call girls; the ‘brownings’ of St Elizabeth and Westmoreland and other rural areas who have little or no educational foundation, but are enticed by the seductive advertisements for work in exotic and erotic massage parlours, go-go clubs and other disguised institutions of prostitution.

These advertisements appear on a regular basis in the classified advertisement sections of both morning and evening editions of the local media houses. These categories of women are likely to include the dozens of teenagers between the ages of 11-19, who are currently reported as missing in Jamaica.

It is quite likely that many of them are victims of internal trafficking into the underbelly of the sex trade.

By now, we know that the root causes of trafficking in persons are poverty, lack of skills and education, low self-esteem and all the social ills linked to patriarchal values that commodify the female body and result in far too many young women who have no choice but to depend on the male of the species for economic security and the validation of womanhood.

So, while the Jamaican Government has put in place guidelines for action by the security forces and a select small grouping of non-governmental organisations have been trying their best to sensitise a few communities on these issues, there is no concerted effort within a holistic approach to tackle the monster of human trafficking in our society.

Implementing measures

The time has come for all nation states which are prepared to deal effectively with human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children and women to revisit the following common-sense strategies:

The promotion of de facto equality between women and men.

The speeding up of legal reform to remove all the barriers that prevent societies from achieving just justice systems for all victims of violence.

The provision of state funding to sustain legal clinics, shelters and therapeutic centres for victims of rape, incest, carnal abuse, trafficking and spousal abuse.

The refocusing of poverty eradication and related social programmes in order to reach the most marginalised and the underclass in both rural and urban centres.

The strengthening of partnerships with private sector entities in order to ensure a reasonable economic base for single parents, poor women and the working poor of both sexes.

The establishment of a framework that will ensure that men and boys are consciously targeted in all efforts to peacefully resolve conflict at the levels of the home and the community.Waged dailyWhile these measures must be seen as essential building blocks to deconstruct the modern plantation in which another generation of human beings are being trafficked, the fight against modern forms of slavery must be waged on a daily basis by every citizen in the society.In Jamaica, we do need emancipation from both mental and modern-day slavery.Glenda P. Simms is a gender expert and consultant.

¡Ya Basta! Stop Human Trafficking Today

Texas RioGrande Legal Aid

¡Ya Basta! Blog Updates You On:

Stop Human Trafficking Today Project

Victims of Trafficking and Their Needs

Choice

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Human Trafficking Articles

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Will Iraq Crack Down on Sex Trafficking?

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By Brandon Ortiz

BORTIZ@HERALD-LEADER.COM

Local legal immigrants protest treatment by employer

Local legal immigrants protest treatment by employer

Mexican national pleads guilty to human trafficking

Study details concerns about Spokane-area human trafficking

Woman charged with locking immigrant in office

The ongoing saga of trafficking in persons in Jamaica

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Texas RioGrande Legal Aid

¡Ya Basta! Blog Updates You On:

Stop Human Trafficking Today Project

Victims of Trafficking and Their Needs

Choice

Recent Posts

Archives

Post Categories

Human Trafficking Articles

Report reveals exploitation of migrant women

Seminar will focus on fighting human trafficking

Drug cartels raise the stakes on human smuggling

Will Iraq Crack Down on Sex Trafficking?

2 Mexican nationals sentenced to years-long prison terms for alien smuggling Arrest led to 29 smuggled individuals at drop house

Cambodia’s Thriving Child Prostitution Industry

By Brandon Ortiz

Local legal immigrants protest treatment by employer

Leave a Reply

2 Mexican nationals sentenced to years-long prison terms for alien smuggling
Arrest led to 29 smuggled individuals at drop house