Labor Trafficking News from November

Throughout the month, there are many cases or stories that break regarding forced labor. They are usually not on the front pages of our newspapers, rather they are buried deep and sometimes are only accessible through the internet. These are some of the stories, both headline articles and those that are not, from November.

Markus Löning, Germany's Human Rights Commissioner, criticized Uzbekistan for its use of child labor in the yearly cotton harvest. He demanded that the country allow monitors to enter the country and that it stop using children during the harvest. Each year, in September, schools are closed and students as young as seven are forced to pick cotton in the fields. The country has signed two Conventions against child labor and Löning asked them to honor their commitments. At least 65 retailers including Gap and Wal-mart, boycott Uzbek cotton.

Debates raged throughout November about whether or not carpets made in India would lose designation as being produced through child and or forced labor by the United States Government. The Deputy Undersecretary of Labor, Sandra Polaski, said that the US had not determined the status of the carpets, while India's Carpet Export Council claimed that the US would drop the designation. The Department of Labor clarified that it had not removed India's carpet industry from the list, but rather believed there was not enough suitable information to determine whether it should be kept on the list. They are awaiting the results of a study on child and forced labor in Asia to determine if India should remain on the list.

The Irish Human Rights Commission asked Ireland's Government to launch an investigation of the Magdalene laundries or asylums, where women of ill-repute were forced to undertake forms of hard labor including laundry work, even into the 20th century. The Commission said that appropriate redress should be provided to the survivors of the institutions. The findings included evidence that the State knew and was involved in the process of sending women and girls to the laundries. It is also possible that the Government violated obligations it undertook through the 1930 Forced Labor Convention by not outlawing or stopping the laundries and by trading with the convents that were running the laundries. The Government admitted as early as 2001 that the women were victims of abuse but no redress has been provided.

No agreement was reached on the future of Zimbabwe diamonds after a four day meeting of the Kimberly Process. While the Chairman, Boaz Hirsch, said he was hopeful that an agreement could be reached within a few days after the meeting, as of the end of November there still was no deal. Obert Mpofu, Zimbabwe Mine's Minister, said that despite the lack of an agreement, diamonds would still be for sale with no conditions to those who wished to purchase them. Sales of Zimbabwe's diamonds were barred last year due to human rights abuses, including the use of forced labor, in the Chiadzwa fields.

Three illegal immigrants were indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with a human trafficking scheme which forced its victims to sell CD's and DVD's. Charges included conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants and conspiracy to force labor. Victims were recruited from Mexico and forced to sell the pirated wares. The accused are believed to have intimidated victims into working until they paid off their debts.

After Cyclone Giri, which hit Myanmar at the end of October, the Government began forcing affected villagers to assist with renovations including helping rebuild military sites without pay. This was one of the hardest affected areas by the cyclone. The villagers are staying in makeshift huts, since many people have not been able at this point to rebuild their own homes and since they are forced to work from dawn to dusk on Government/Military projects.

Photo by Kay Chernush for the U.S. State Department

Michigan Law School to open Sex Trafficking Clinic in Mexico

From Spero News
By Jared Wadley

The Law School's Human Trafficking Clinic, of the University of Michigan, has received a $300,000 federal grant to open a similar clinic in Mexico in 2011.

This U.S. Department of State grant means the new clinic in Zacatecas, Mexico, will help victims of human trafficking, also known as modern-day slavery. This crime involves the recruitment, transportation, harboring or receipt of people for the purposes of slavery, forced labor and servitude.

Human trafficking exists nationwide and across the world. It can be found in many industries: agriculture, spas and massage parlors, hotel work and domestic service, as well as prostitution.

“By awarding us the grant, the State Department acknowledged that the success of our clinic could be replicated elsewhere,” says clinic director Bridgette Carr, a visiting clinical assistant professor of law. “We’re excited about this new venture and look forward to helping victims in Mexico.”

Read the full article here.

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I was excited to see this announcement. Bridette Carr has led amazing work in the U.S. to use the law to protect victims and punish traffickers; she also helped start a similar clinic in Egypt. This collaboration with Mexico will be an important step to assisting victims and building multinational efforts to address slavery. Just as traffickers do not pay attention to borders, efforts to end trafficking need to cross borders and build partnerships across borders.

Descent Into Slavery, and a Ladder to Another Life

From the New York Times:

He wore a satin suit onstage, so new that a tag was still fixed to the cuff. His 2-year-old daughter wiggled in his arms. The crowd cheered. Lifting his right hand to his lips, Jose Gutierrez seemed to blow a kiss to the audience. But it was more.

Mr. Gutierrez had gotten to the other side of slavery, climbing a ladder of second chances.

More than a decade ago, he was part of the nameless, unseen cast of a horror story. Lured from Mexico on promises of prosperity, he and 56 other people lived as prisoners in two row houses in Queens. By day, they sold key chains and miniature screwdriver kits in the subways, at airports, on roadsides. At night, they turned over every penny to the bosses of the houses.

All of the peddlers were deaf. Mr. Gutierrez, the youngest, had arrived in the United States at age 15, fluent only in Mexican Sign Language.

On Tuesday morning, 13 years after two of the deaf Mexican peddlers walked into a police station in Queens with a letter describing the conditions, Mr. Gutierrez was honored for his diligent work at a company that has cleaning contracts with federal agencies.

Mr. Gutierrez’s assignment: janitor at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

“I remembered playing with a car when I was a little boy, and seeing a picture of her,” he said. “When I found out that I was going to work there, it moved me. Thrilled me.”

There are, it turns out, second acts in American lives. Mr. Gutierrez leaves his home in Astoria shortly after 5 a.m., catches a ferry at 6:30, lands on the island 15 minutes later. He cleans bathrooms, empties trash, dusts a giant globe that shows the journeys of people to the United States.

His own odyssey began in 1995, when he heard from a friend about opportunities for deaf people in the United States. He was the seventh child in a family of eight, the only one who was deaf. “My friend’s father drove us to San Diego,” Mr. Gutierrez said. “I was very awkward. I didn’t know anything. We were supposed to go around and sell things. The money we collected we had to give to the boss.”

After a year in Los Angeles, he moved to a house in New York City that ran under the same terms, led by the Paoletti family, many of whom were also deaf. They would order a box of novelties, like miniature balls and bats, paying $75. The items would be attached to cards explaining that the seller was deaf. The peddlers would spend 12 to 16 hours a day in subway cars, dropping the trinkets in the laps of riders. Each box would bring in $485 in revenue. The bosses would swap bundles of single dollars at Atlantic City casinos for $100 bills, making the money easier to smuggle into Mexico, where it was banked.

Mr. Gutierrez depended entirely on the bosses for a bed and food. They took his money. “We were like slaves,” he said. “It was very frustrating. We couldn’t talk to the cops. It was heartbreaking.”

One day in July 1997, two of the peddlers went into the 115th Precinct station house in Queens, bringing a letter they had composed with help from a couple they had met at Newark Airport. “The police brought interpreters in to get the story told,” said Maria V. Pardo, a job counselor for the deaf with Fedcap Rehabilitation Services. The police found $35,000 in cash in one of the houses and 57 imprisoned peddlers. Federal prosecutors indicted 20 people on charges that included slavery and smuggling, and ultimately, they all pleaded guilty to some wrongdoing.

The peddlers, who were in the country illegally, were subject to deportation, but the administration of Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani stepped in; the era of zero tolerance for illegal immigrants had not yet begun. They were put up in a motel by the city, and slowly found places to live, schools to attend, jobs to go to. “They were given special permission to work,” Ms. Pardo said. Nearly 40 people decided to stay in the United States.

Mr. Gutierrez, 17 at the time that the slavery ring was broken up, went to the Lexington School for the Deaf. “The support I got there was wonderful,” he said, and he also fell in love with another student, Christina Gonzalez, who was born in the United States. “I had no family here; her family has been so good to me.”

She pointed him to Fedcap, which provides training and employment for people with disabilities. In 2007, Fedcap sent him to work on Liberty and Ellis Islands under a janitorial services contract administered by AbilityOne, a federal program. He makes $20 an hour plus benefits, and now has a green card.

So on Tuesday, Mr. Gutierrez was brought back to receive a special honor at the Fedcap graduation ceremony.

With him onstage were Ms. Gonzalez and their daughter, Gloria. He lifted his fingers to his mouth, as if he were blowing a kiss. His audience knew better: it was a symbol from American Sign Language, repeated over and over.

“Thank you,” he said. “Thank you.”

What an absolutely fantastic story. This case, for all of its particular depravity for targeting people with disabilities, is one that was important for the creation and passage of the TVPA; we reference it often during trainings. It is hard to imagine in today's climate around immigration, what would have happened to the survivors in this case if there were no relief options for survivors. As the article mentions, the Mayor's office (and I'm sure other advocates) had to step in and prevent their deportation and luckily, that was more feasible at the time because "zero tolerance" had not yet begun.

I think the story is important as well, because when people are quick to assume that victims are weak individuals and that is why they are "so easily manipulated," we see the personal strength and determination in so many survivors who go on to achieve great things.

Mexico Sex Trafficking Soars

From Al Jazeera:

Mexico has become the top provider of sex slaves to the Americas, according to the United Nations.

In an effort to tackle the problem, the Mexican government has now signed onto the UN's Blue Heart campaign, but so far it has had little success in prosecuting and convicting human traffickers.

One reason, according to some analysts, is confusion over which government agencies have jurisdiction over human trafficking cases.

In addition the Mexican government has yet to conduct any comprehensive surveys detailing the true extent of the problem.

Al Jazeera's Mariana Sanchez reports.

Mexico takes lead in launching national campaign against human trafficking

"It is an honor for us Mexicans to be the first country in the world to launch this important prevention campaign against trafficking."

- Felipe Calderon, President of Mexico

Documentary: Dying to Leave

From PBS:

This two-hour WIDE ANGLE special explores the current worldwide boom in illicit migration. Every year, an estimated two to four million people are shipped in containers, shepherded through sewage pipes, secreted in car chassis, and ferried across frigid waters. Others travel on legitimate carriers but with forged documents. An alarming number of these migrants end up in bondage, forced to work as prostitutes, thieves, or as laborers in sweatshops. By listening to the voices of those who pulled up their roots, who risked all, the film will put a human face on what might otherwise be seen as statistical, overwhelming and remote. Focusing on five major stories whose journeys traverse 16 countries from Colombia to China, from Mexico to Moldova this documentary will look into the circumstances that drove these migrants from their homes, describe the difficulties involved in their epic journeys and reveal what awaits them in their new world.

Watch full episode

Texas Human Trafficking Convictions

From Chron.com:

By Ana Ley
August 21, 2008

HOUSTON — Five people linked to an immigrant smuggling operation run by the infamous Ortiz family pleaded guilty to trafficking charges on Thursday, prosecutors said.

U.S. Attorney Don DeGabrielle said in a news release that Porfirio Ortiz, 37, Calixtro Ortiz, 52, Bernardino Ortiz, 49, and Sandra Ortiz, 32, all relatives living in Bryan; and Christopher Gene Torres, 24, of Kingsland, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport undocumented immigrants for commercial advantage or private financial gain.

Lawyers for Porfirio Ortiz, Calixtro Ortiz and Sandra Ortiz did not respond to messages left by The Associated Press on Thursday. Bernardino Ortiz's lawyer declined to comment.

Torres' lawyer said his client is not as involved with the operation because he is only facing punishment for the transportation of two illegals in separate cases in 2004.

"My client is probably not looking at much time," said attorney Francisco Javier Montemayor, adding that Torres would probably serve a year or less under a plea bargain. "We're happy with the way things turned out."

The smugglers can each serve as many as 10 years in jail, face a maximum $250,000 fine and a term of supervised release of up to three years. Sentencing is set for Nov. 20.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement began investigating the group in January 2005 when Border Patrol agents found a group of illegal immigrants hiding behind a pile of hay inside a horse trailer as they crossed a checkpoint en route to Hebbronville.

The driver, 28-year-old Tyler Ross Severn, told agents Porfirio Ortiz hired him to drive the truck and trailer to Rio Grande City and loaded the five immigrants into the trailer. The immigrants were to pay Porfirio Ortiz $2,500 each, of which Severn was to receive $300 per person.

Severn told authorities he had made numerous trips transporting illegal immigrants for the Ortiz family. Calixtro Ortiz served as a guide for the immigrants and would deliver immigrants to Severn at a house in Rio Grande City, DeGabrielle said. Severn would then transport the immigrants to Bryan, where Porfirio or Bernardino Ortiz would pay him.

Read the full article

Mexican Human Trafficking Ring Manager Pleads Guilty in US

From JURIST:

A Mexican woman pleaded guilty [DOJ press release] Tuesday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York [official website] to one count of sex trafficking for her role in recruiting Mexican women, sometimes by force, for prostitution in the US. Consuelo Carreto Valencia was extradited to the US in January 2007, and in March 2007 was arraigned [DOJ press releases] in federal court on 27 counts of sex trafficking, conspiracy and smuggling. Her trial on 12 of those counts began Monday but ended Tuesday with her guilty plea. The Department of Justice (DOJ) commented on the charges:

From 1991 through 2004, Carreto Valencia served as a manager in her family’s sex trafficking operation based in San Miguel de Tenancingo, Tlaxcala, Mexico. Carreto Valencia, and her sons Josue Flores Carreto and Gerardo Flores Carreto, and other co-conspirators, recruited young, uneducated women and girls from impoverished areas of Mexico and used or approved of a combination of deception, fraud, rape, forced abortion, threats, and physical violence to compel them to prostitute themselves in brothels throughout the New York City metropolitan area, including Queens and Brooklyn. Carreto Valencia and her family made hundreds of thousands of dollars in prostitution profits, while the women who had been separated from their families in Mexico received next to nothing.

Josue Flores Carreto and Gerardo Flores Carreto were each sentenced [DOJ press release] in April 2006 to 50 years in prison for their roles in the prostitution scheme. Carreto Valencia could be sentenced to up to life in prison and a $250,000 fine. The New York Times has more. AP has additional coverage.

Read the full article

North Carolina: Man Gets 14 Years for Human Trafficking

From the Charlotte Observer:

One of two illegal immigrants charged with smuggling a teenage girl into South Carolina and forcing her into prostitution was sentenced Friday to more than 14 years in prison.

Jesus Perez-Laguna was also ordered to pay $52,500 in restitution during a federal court hearing in Columbia, the U.S. Justice Department said. U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Anderson Jr. also ordered that he be deported after his release and never be allowed to re-enter the United States.

Perez-Laguna and a co-defendant, Ciro Bustos-Rosales, 36, pleaded guilty in September, admitting that they transported the 14-year-old girl across the U.S.-Mexico border and into South Carolina, via North Carolina, to force her into prostitution.

In April, Bustos-Rosales was sentenced to nearly six years in prison and ordered to pay restitution. Authorities are still searching for a third defendant, Guadalupe Reyes-Rivera.

In June 2006, the defendants arranged for the girl to be smuggled into the country under the pretense of getting restaurant work. She was taken to Charlotte, N.C., several locations in South Carolina and eventually Columbia, where she was forced "to perform acts of prostitution and turn over the proceeds," according to a sworn statement from Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent Craig Hannah.

Prosecutors said Perez-Laguna and Bustos-Rosales marketed their business by passing out business cards and hired drivers to transport women to meet with clients, according to court documents. Federal agents have said a 19-year-old girl and 31-year-old woman also were involved in the prostitution ring.

Read the full article

Five Plead Not Guilty to Luring Women to U.S. for Prostitution

From AJC.com:

By S.A. Reid, Rachel Pomerance

Five men --- four of them related -- pleaded not guilty in a federal sex trafficking case in which prosecutors contend they brought at least 10 young Mexican women to the U.S. illegally and forced them to work as prostitutes in metro Atlanta.

Amador Cortes-Meza, 34; Juan Cortes-Meza, 31; Francisco Cortes-Meza, 25; Raul Cortes-Meza, 21; and Edison Wagner Rosa Tort, 69; face trial after entering their pleas Monday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta with help from an interpreter.

A 31-count indictment charges the defendants with human trafficking and other related offenses stemming from activities uncovered by U.S. Immigration and Customs and Bartow County and Gwinnett County sheriff's investigators.

The Cortes-Mezas, all Mexican nationals, were arrested June 5 in Norcross, where they were living.
Authorities took Tort, a legal permanent resident originally from Uruguay, into custody June 24 in Cartersville.

Prosecutors accuse the men of conspiring to seduce, entice and recruit the women ages 14-28 to travel here from Mexico with promises of legitimate jobs, then force them into prostitution in the metro Atlanta and elsewhere after their arrival.

Four women involved were under 18, and the defendants allegedly used threats, coercion, and physical violence to force them to cooperate. Some were held against their will or harbored at locations in Cartersville, where Tort lived, and in Norcross.

The women were delivered to clients' apartments or homes and were required to have sex with up to 30 men per day, authorities said. The activity dates to spring 2006, the indictment said.

The women most likely will be able to remain in the United States under visas for victims and are unlikely to face criminal charges or deportation, according to Patrick Crosby, a U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman.

Read the full article

Five plead not guilty to luring women to U.S. for prostitution

From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Five men --- four of them related -- pleaded not guilty in a federal sex trafficking case in which prosecutors contend they brought at least 10 young Mexican women to the U.S. illegally and forced them to work as prostitutes in metro Atlanta.

Amador Cortes-Meza, 34; Juan Cortes-Meza, 31; Francisco Cortes-Meza, 25; Raul Cortes-Meza, 21; and Edison Wagner Rosa Tort, 69; face trial after entering their pleas Monday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta with help from an interpreter.

A 31-count indictment charges the defendants with human trafficking and other related offenses stemming from activities uncovered by U.S. Immigration and Customs and Bartow County and Gwinnett County sheriff's investigators.

The Cortes-Mezas, all Mexican nationals, were arrested June 5 in Norcross, where they were living. Authorities took Tort, a legal permanent resident originally from Uruguay, into custody June 24 in Cartersville.

Prosecutors accuse the men of conspiring to seduce, entice and recruit the women ages 14-28 to travel here from Mexico with promises of legitimate jobs, then force them into prostitution in the metro Atlanta and elsewhere after their arrival. Four women involved were under 18, and the defendants allegedly used threats, coercion, and physical violence to force them to cooperate.
Some were held against their will or harbored at locations in Cartersville, where Tort lived, and in Norcross.

The women were delivered to clients' apartments or homes and were required to have sex with up to 30 men per day, authorities said.

The activity dates to spring 2006, the indictment said.

The defendants remain in federal custody as they await trial. Their victims, some who arrived in this country two years ago to as little as several days before the arrest were made, are in safe houses and shelters.

The women most likely will be able to remain in the United States under visas for victims and are unlikely to face criminal charges or deportation, according to Patrick Crosby, a U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman.

A Norcross teenager who lived near one of the houses where the women stayed said she was suspicious of her neighbors' activities.

A few young women -- dressed in short skirts and halter tops or dresses and heels "like they're going out on a date" -- would each climb into a different car lined up in front of the house on the weekends, sometimes during the daytime, said Vianey Trejo, 17, a rising senior at Norcross High School. The girls always seemed to be different.

When the neighbors moved to Charmaine Bend about about five months ago, nothing seemed unusual. A woman in her 30s or 40s had come over to Trejo's house to introduce herself and asked her to translate a letter about a water bill and how to arrange for trash pickup -- neighborly things.

A few of the younger women had come along, but they stayed back. Trejo figured they were her younger sisters.

Over on Rockborough Trail, several neighbors were unwitting.

"That's messed up," said Albert Brown, 60, who works mornings at Dekalb Medical. "I usually notice everything."

All he'd spotted were the nice cars in the driveway -- a red Pontiac sedan, white SUV and a sports car like a Camaro.

McCain's Delicate Immigration Dance

From Time.com:

By Michael Scherer

Back on the campaign trail late last year, amid snowdrifts and ice storms, candidate Tom Tancredo spoke often about the possibility of defecting from the Republican Party if its eventual nominee failed to meet his benchmarks of conservatism, most importantly a zero-tolerance policy for undocumented immigrants.

"I am absolutely tired and sick and tired of being forced to go to the polls and say I'm going to make this choice between the lesser of two evils," the Colorado congressman said at an October debate in Michigan, standing across the stage from his ideological opponent, John McCain, who supports a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. "I really don't intend to do that again."

But just months later, with Washington sweltering in humidity, the hawkish immigration reformer, who wants to deport the nation's 12 million illegal immigrants, has declared his support for McCain. "I expect to be supporting him in November," Tancredo told TIME last week. "But certainly it is not set in stone."

In other words, he still holds out hope of pressuring McCain to shift his positions on immigration, or at least not moderate them, by threatening to resort to the kind of public criticism that could erode the Republican base in key states. On Tuesday, Tancredo shot off a warning flare of sorts in the form of a public letter calling on McCain to clarify his position on immigration reform. "Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part," Tancredo said in an inteview. "I guess I am holding out hope that when he says he 'got the message,' that means something."

Tancredo is not the only one unclear about McCain's immigration position after the contentious primary campaign, in which the issue regularly polled as the second most important among likely Republcian voters, next to the Iraq war. "I will tell you, there is some confusion right now, some need for clarity," says Janet Murguía, the president of the National Council of La Raza, a Latino advocacy group. "There are some folks in our country who are confused about exactly where he is."

For months, that confusion has been somewhat intentional on the part of the McCain campaign. It was the issue of immigration, after all, that almost sunk McCain's candidacy back in the summer of 2007, when the Senate debated and defeated a comprehensive immigration bill that was dubbed the McCain-Kennedy bill and derided as an "amnesty bill" by opponents. After the defeat, McCain's public rhetoric on the issue changed significantly, even as his actual position only altered slightly. "I got the message," he told Republican crowds hundreds of times in the early voting states. "We will secure the borders first."

But in public comments, McCain often delivered a somewhat mixed message of his own. He continued to favor all the parts of his comprehensive plan — border security, increased employer sanctions for illegal hiring and a path to citizenship for the undocumented — but he mostly refrained from using the word "comprehensive." Instead, he spoke of a two-stage solution. First, he would secure the borders, a process that would be certified by border state governors. Then he would push for a process to allow the 12 million undocumented immigrants to become full citizens.

More recently, however, McCain has switched back to his earlier rhetoric on the issue. In late May, he took time at an event in California to point out that he had worked with Sen. Ted Kennedy on the immigration bill. "We must enact comprehensive immigration reform, and we must make it a top agenda item," he said. A couple of weeks later, McCain released the first ads of his general election campaign — for Spanish-language radio in Nevada and New Mexico. This week, he plans to travel to Colombia and Mexico, to burnish his credentials as a leader who understands Latin America. Next month, he will address La Raza at its annual conference in San Diego, along with Democrat Barack Obama.

The reason is not hard to fathom. McCain's campaign has already announced that it expects to do well among Hispanic voters, especially in key states like New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada. (President Bush won about 40% of the Hispanic vote in 2004, though most public polls now show McCain getting just under 30% of the same group, compared with 60% for Obama.) McCain aides openly talk about how the immigration issue that was a burden for their candidate in the primary could become an asset in the general election.

Read the full article

San Jose Couple Accused of Human Trafficking

From Mercury News:

By Leslie Griffy

Immigrants lured to California with promises of work by a San Jose couple found themselves forced into squalid living conditions and toiling long hours in local restaurants for little or no pay, federal prosecutors allege.

Paula Luna Alvarez and Carlos Contreras Del Carmen face counts of harboring illegal immigrants, Social Security fraud and international money laundering.

The charges are just the "tip of the iceberg," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Connell during the couple's bail hearing Thursday. The couple, he told U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard Seeborg, were "directly involved with human trafficking."

One of their alleged victims said he and others were forced to work 14-hour days with little pay and made to sleep in the couple's garage, according to La Opinion, a Spanish-language newspaper.

Family and friends in court and at the couple's home near the Rose Garden neighborhood declined to comment on the case. However, defense attorney Alfredo Morales used the presence of about 20 supporters at the hearing to paint a picture of an entrepreneurial couple with deep roots in the community.

As he requested that Del Carmen's bail be lowered, Morales told the judge, "He has every reason to stay in this county."

FBI spokesman Joseph Schadler said the investigation is ongoing, and some court documents are sealed.

O'Connell said Del Carmen acted as the recruiter for the restaurant workers, persuading "people in Mexico with false promises to work." He'd then bring them here to live in "squalid conditions" in Alvarez's garage, the prosecutor said.

The couple, according to court documents, forged Social Security numbers for at least three illegal immigrants who lived in their home.

Read the full article

Federal Prosecution of Illegal Immigrants Soars in U.S.

By Nicole Gaouette

From the LA Times:

The Bush administration has sharply ratcheted up prosecutions of illegal immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border in the last year, with increases so dramatic that immigration offenses now account for as much as half the nation's federal criminal caseload.

In the widening crackdown, administration officials prosecuted 9,350 illegal immigrants on federal criminal charges in March, up from 3,746 a year ago and an all-time high, according to statistics released Tuesday. Those convicted have received jail sentences averaging about one month.

The prosecutions are among the most visible steps in a larger effort that includes work-site raids, increased border patrols and the use of technology and fences. Often controversial, the patchwork of measures represents the administration's response to failed congressional attempts last summer to overhaul federal immigration laws.

Administration officials and conservative groups have lauded the increase in prosecutions. But critics say data show illegal immigrants are still trying to enter the country. And some lawyers argue that the push is overwhelming a federal court system with limited resources and higher priorities.

Even so, administration officials announced this month that they would be funneling more resources toward the effort, called Operation Streamline.

"The results of this criminal prosecution initiative have been striking," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Chertoff's agency and the Justice Department, which oversee the effort, recently announced a plan to assign 64 attorneys and 35 staff members to prosecutions along the Southwest border.

The program began as a pilot around Del Rio, Texas, in 2005 and spread to other areas. Officers and prosecutors participating in it practice "zero tolerance," and jail times can range from two weeks to six months.

"The reason this works is because these illegal migrants come to realize that violating the law will not simply send them back to try over again but will require them to actually serve some short period of time in a jail or prison setting, and will brand them as having been violators of the law," Chertoff said. "That has a very significant deterrent impact."

The statistical analysis released Tuesday was compiled by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, considered an authoritative source for such figures. It called the increase "highly unusual."

Operation Streamline's larger aim is to give the administration another tool to use in its crackdown on illegal immigration, said Susan B. Long, a TRAC co-director and Syracuse University professor.

"This is an effort to use the federal criminal justice system in immigration enforcement," Long said. "What it means is that immigration cases are dominating the federal court system these days. The volume of cases is really huge. This is a big deal."

Of 16,298 federal criminal prosecutions recorded nationwide in March, immigration cases accounted for more than half, Long said. The next-highest number, 2,674, was for drug offenses, followed by 702 for white-collar crime.

Read the full article

Mexican National Pleads Guilty to Trafficking

By Missy Diaz

From the Sun Sentinel:

FLORIDA, United States- A Mexican national has pleaded guilty to conspiring to smuggle Mexican women and girls into the United States and force them into prostitution, the United States 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 with 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. Those that tried to escape were tracked down. The men used physical violence and threats 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.

Call from Mexican Human Rights Ombudsman

A translation of an article from La Jornada:

The National Human Rights Commission demands a vigorous response from the State against human trafficking

The growing phenomenon of human trafficking requires the most vigorous response from the Mexican state because it is an attempt against the dignity, freedom, and the right to free development of individuals, stated the President of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), Jose Luis Soberanes.

He asserted that this crime involves the unacceptable transformation of a human being into merchandise since it reduces him to a source of profit, deprives him of freedom and person, and he is dehumanized without the least consideration of his rights and dignity.

In a communication, he reported that the CNDH signed a convention of collaboration with the Program of Support to Victims of Human Trafficking (Protection) with the purpose of combating these activities.

The agreement includes the administrative obligation of the authorities for Mexico to fulfill its commitment to protect the rights of people who are on its territory.

The National Ombudsman reported that through collaborative work and with the participation of other institutions and organizations, Protection and the Program Against Human Trafficking of the CNDH "will promote the homogenization of the national judicial framework and will generate means through which social awareness with respect to this scourge, a modern version of slavery.

He added that in the global context, especially in Central and North America, many migrants run the risk of becoming trapped by traffickers, which adds to the many adversities that confront this sector. He stated his concern for young girls, boys, adolescents, and female migrants, who are captured by force or through deception to become the victims of sexual and labor exploitation.

"The Mexican state is obligated to provide them with protection and give them every guarantee to safeguard their integrity, dignity and freedom," he emphasized. He said that the governmental response will be more effective if they unite efforts and capacities in order to prevent trafficking and alter the conditions that make it favorable, as well to rescue victims and reintegrate them into society and prevent other people from falling into these networks.

The program of the CNDH and Protection includes the joint production of a short film on the topic of their various methods, the co-authorship of the national judicial framework on the matter of trafficking, the creation of an Internet page for disseminating information on the crime, and the design and facilitation of training courses for public servants, members of civil organizations and society in general for appropriate prevention.

Links to more about human trafficking and Mexico:

The Organization of American States

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Maryland Man Pleads Guilty to Sex Trafficking

From the Baltimore Sun:

A 35-year-old Prince George's County man pleaded guilty today to human trafficking for forcing a 14-year-old female Mexican national into a life of prostitution, according to federal prosecutors.

Javier Miguel Ramirez of Hyattsville faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison when he is sentenced in June, the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office said. He pleaded guilty during a hearing in the courthouse in Greenbelt.

"Few crimes are more repugnant than sex trafficking a helpless and innocent girl," James A. Dinkins, the special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Baltimore, said in a statement. Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein called the act a "depraved and morally reprehensible crime."

Prosecutors said that from August 2005 to June 2006, Ramirez had the girl tell clients she was 20 years old and that he took her to meet clients, sometimes more than 25 a day, and took most of the money she received. Customers were charged up to $30 for 15 minutes of sex.

"During this time, the girl was dependent on Ramirez for housing, food, clothing and other incidentals," prosecutors said in a statement.

Three Memphis, Tennessee Men Sentenced for Role in Sex Trafficking Ring

From PRnewswire.com:

The Department of Justice announced today that three men from Memphis, Tenn., were sentenced yesterday for their roles in a Memphis sex trafficking ring. Raul Santillan-Leon, Fernando Cortes-Santillan and Cristobal Flores-Angeles all admitted to working at Memphis brothels, and Santillan-Leon and Cortes-Santillan admitted to working at brothels where an underage girl engaged in prostitution.

Santillan-Leon pleaded guilty on Jan. 11, 2007, to one count of child sex trafficking and was sentenced to 60 months imprisonment and 10 years supervised release. Cortes-Santillan pleaded guilty on Jan.10, 2007, to one count of child sex trafficking and received a sentence of 41 months imprisonment and 10 years supervised release. Flores-Angeles pleaded guilty on Jan. 4, 2007, to one count of enticing a person to cross state lines to engage in prostitution and one count of money laundering and was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment and three years supervised release.

Two additional defendants, Juan Mendez and Cristina Andres Perfecto, both of Nashville, Tenn., have pleaded guilty to two counts of commercial sex trafficking related to their roles in the sex trafficking ring. Perfecto admitted that she recruited two Mexican girls on behalf of Juan Mendez to come to the United States under fraudulent pretenses, knowing that the girls would be coerced into engaging in commercial sex acts and knowing that the victims were younger than 18 years of age. Mendez admitted that he dispatched Perfecto to Mexico to recruit girls under the age of 18 for the purpose of prostitution. Mendez and Perfecto face a maximum sentence of life in prison for their crimes.

"The victims in this case were thrust into the brutal and demeaning world of sex trafficking, where they were fed lies, and turned into prostitutes," said Grace Chung Becker, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "The Justice Department is committed to the vigorous enforcement and prosecution of human trafficking offenses."

Washington D.C. Couple Charged with Sex Trafficking

Adams Morgan, Washington D.C.

From the Examiner:

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - A D.C. couple was arrested on charges of human trafficking and prostituting young females from Mexico and Honduras, according to charging documents filed in federal court.

The arrests of Franklin Yasir Mejia-Macedo and Yaneth Martinez grew out of an investigation centered in North Carolina, according to court documents.

“These arrest were made out of an ongoing investigation, that is really all I can say,” said Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Richard Rocha. Mejia and Martinez had business cards printed up for services such as “Hair Cuts for Men Only” and “Flowers Home Delivery,” and handed them to men on the streets of D.C.’s predominately Hispanic neighborhood such as Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights, authorities said. The business cards are commonly used to advertise prostitution, according to an ICE special agent who signed the charging document filed in U.S. District Court.

“Based on my experience in investigating human trafficking, interstate transportation for prostitution and related offenses, I know that such language [is] commonly used as code language to advertise prostitution,” the special agent wrote.

The human trafficking and prostitution operation came to the attention of federal law enforcement when Martinez, 33, unwittingly handed one of her cards to a federal source, according to documents. On Monday, federal agents arrested her and Mejia at their Petworth residence. A 24-year-old woman at the residence told agents she served as a prostitute and shared her earnings with Martinez, according to documents.

Mejia admitted that he was a native of Honduras and living illegally in the United States. Mejia was charged with unlawful transportation of an alien. Martinez was picked up on arrest warrant out of North Carolina on charges of sex trafficking.

Read the full article

48 Charged in Supposed Human Trafficking Ring

The Arizona-Mexico border

*There is no specific mention of exploitation in this article. Smuggling is smuggling. Human trafficking is human trafficking. Although similar, there is a distinct difference in that human trafficking involves the deceit, coercion and exploitation of its victims while smuggling involves a consensual transaction between transporter and transportee for mutually advantageous reasons. Read more about trafficking vs. smuggling HERE.

From Fox News:

PHOENIX — Four dozen people accused of taking part in an immigrant trafficking ring have been indicted on human smuggling and money laundering charges, authorities said.

The group brought in as much as US$130,000 a week moving people from Naco, Mexico, to its center of operations in Phoenix and then to destinations across the U.S., Phoenix police Lt. Vince Piano said Thursday. Piano said the ring was believed to be one of the biggest operating in Arizona, the busiest illegal entry point into the country.

"It's not the end of the game, but we believe we have made some very important intelligence directions in the fight against the smugglers," said Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, whose office was prosecuting the case.

Ten of the 48 suspects were arrested. An additional 10 people who are expected to face charges in the future also were netted in the sweep, authorities said. The investigation led to the discovery of 13 "drop houses" in Phoenix where human smugglers hold customers until they pay up and are sent to their final destinations. The area is believed to have about 1,000 drop houses.

Authorities allege that two Cuban immigrants living in the area, 41-year-old Jose Luis Suarez-Lemus and 35-year-old Roel Ayala Fernandez, ran the ring and paid people in Mexico and Arizona to help smuggle immigrants.The two paid recruiters in Mexico to find customers, Mexican police to allow smugglers to stage their crossings and trail guides to lead immigrants through a conservation area in southeast Arizona, Piano said.

Drivers were paid to bring the immigrants by van to Phoenix, and other drivers were used to spot law enforcement vehicles and protect rival smugglers from forcing them off the road in an attempt to kidnap and extort their customers, he said. Once the immigrants were in a drop house and payments were made, drivers were hired to bring immigrants to spots across the country, authorities said.

They said the group would move four to six loads of immigrants per day, each with six to 10 people. Smuggling fees averaged US$2,500 per person.