Anna Beard
SOC 202
4/8/11
6:00 pm
This article discusses women who been trafficked into the U.S. This article focuses specifically on the Latino population and techniques they use here in the U.S. to traffic others into their "business". This article begins by talking about a girl's story that is very common in the trafficking industry. A girl named Cristina, was told by a man that he loved her and had a great life set up for her. She of course, fell for it and went with him into the U.S. Once she arrived, she realized this was not all the life she had hoped for. She was then abused and controlled to where she felt she had no choice but to stay and endure this. According to this article, Latino brothels operate basically like slavery. Girls in Latin America as young as 13 are approached by men and even women who promise them jobs in America as a waitress, cleaner, cook etc. These girls are then sent of with "coyotes" and smuggled across U.S. borders. When they arrive they are told they have a debt of $2000-$3000 to pay off. They are then forced into prostitution to work of their debt. This is main way traffickers in these brothels (housing where victims are kept) maintain and obtain control over their victims since they control their shelter and food.
This article also gave some insightful information on how their prostitution works. Victims are often moved around very quickly. They usually never remain in the brothel for more than two weeks. This keeps the selection fresh for the customers. This also keeps the girls from escaping. If they are at places for short periods of time, they will never have long enough to figure out how to escape.
They often advertise in Spanish dialect in a code that only the people within the business would know. One mentioned in the article was the ad for the 24 hour taco delivery. Customers are screened on the phone and at the door to make sure they are a part of the targeted ethnic group.
This becomes a global problem because you are bringing victims from other countries. It is extremely difficult to identify this crime since these brothels are commonly found in the Hispanic community. An organization mentioned in this article called Latino Residential Brothels is working to identify these communities so authorities can arrest the traffickers and rescue the victims. The brothels are growing in numbers and becoming less and less easier to recognize. I'm glad to see that human trafficking is getting more attention. I think if we tried to work more closely with countries in Latin America we could work more on safety on the boarders. In Nepal, I know there is an organization that monitors the border of India and Nepal. They interrogate people who come through with large amounts of women or groups that look displaced. Not only do they interrogate the trafficker suspects, they try to coax the girls into staying with them and learning skills to make money for themselves. All of this is done in hopes of the girls choosing to stay with them, and not go with the trafficker.
http://www.11alive.com/news/article/185961/166/The-sex-slaves-next-door-New-form-of-trafficking-invades-US-
1 comment:
It is sad because if someone were to come to us in America and say, hey we can offer you a low class job in another country...we would probably think twice. But in places like Mexico or India or the Philippines, etc.. when an option like that comes up, you would be stupid not to take it. They know that these children and women will most likely take the job because they need the money and its a lot of peoples dreams to one day live in America.
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