© The Protection Project, 2002
The United States is a country of destination for women and children trafficked for purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and exploitative labor. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) estimates that between 50,000 and 100,000 women are trafficked into the United States each year.1 Analysis of Protection Project data indicates that women and children are trafficked into the US from over 49 countries. Analysts from the U.S. Department of State suggest that a relatively equal number of trafficked women come from four main areas: Asia, Central and South America, Russia and the newly independent states, and eastern Europe.2
Cases of trafficking have been documented from Russia and Ukraine; from Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand; from Brazil, Costa Rica, and Puerto Rico; and from Cameroon, China, the Czech Republic, and India. In Los Angeles alone, trafficking instances have involved women from Burma, Cambodia, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Romania, Russia, Thailand, and Vietnam.3 Trafficking routes from China, the Philippines, and Thailand to the Northern Mariana Islands (a U.S. territory) have also been discovered.4
Additional trafficking activities into the US use both Mexico and Canada as transit points to include the following routes: Malaysia and Thailand to Canada to San Jose and Los Angeles;6 Korea to Canada to Minnesota; Ukraine to Mexico City to Los Angeles;7 Russia to Mexico City to San Diego.8
Two well known cases illustrate the dimensions of trafficking of women and children into the US. In 1995, Snakeheads (an Asian crime syndicate) smuggled Asian women into Atlanta, Georgia. The syndicate would regularly trade the women between local and out-of-state brothels, both to avoid detection and because customers "got tired of the same women."9 The women lived in brothels described as "prison compounds" and suffered beatings, forced abortions, and isolation-one girl was kept in a closet for 15 days for trying to escape.10 These 500 to 1,000 women from China, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam were shuttled around the country from Atlanta to other brothels in Arizona,
1Amy O'Neill Richard, U.S. Department of State, International Trafficking of Women to the United States: A Contemporary Manifestation of Slavery and Organized Crime, April 2000.
2U.S. Department of State, "International Narcotics and Law Enforcement," 2000.
3Kathryn McMahon, "Trafficking of Women: A Report from Los Angeles," paper presented at the 1999 Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, 3-6 June 1999.
4U.S. Department of Justice, "Three Plead Guilty to Forcing Women into Slavery and Prostitution in Northern Mariana Islands," 5 October 1999, <http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/1999/October/466cr.htm>.
5"40 Held over Canada Sex Slave Trade," Daily Telegraph, 12 September 1997.
6Jon Tevlin and Chris Graves, "In a Quiet Suburb, FBI's Raids Target a Prostitution Ring," Star Tribune (Minneapolis), 4 March 2001. See also Bill Wallace, "19 Indicted in Area-wide Prostitution, Smuggle Ring-Allegedly Forced Asian Women in Brothels," San Francisco Chronicle, 13 February 2001.
7Josh Meyer, "11 Held in Immigrant Smuggling Operation," Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2001.
8Marisa Taylor, "Man Gets 5-Year Term for Smuggling 3 into U.S. for Prostitution," San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 June 2001.
9William Booth, "13 Charged in Gang Importing Prostitutes," Washington Post, 21 August 1999.
10Amy O'Neill Richard, U.S. Department of State, International Trafficking of Women to the United States: A Contemporary Manifestation of Slavery and Organized Crime, April 2000.
California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington, D.C.11
The Cadena smuggling ring trafficked women and girls, some as young as 14, from Mexico to Florida. The victims were forced to prostitute themselves with as many as 130 men per week in a trailer park. Of the US$25 charged the Johns, the women received only US$3. The Cadena members kept the women hostage through threats and physical abuse. Some were beaten and forced to have abortions (the cost of which was added to their debt).12 The women worked until they paid off their debts of US$2,000 to US$3,000. During their stay in the United States, the women were circulated among brothels in different cities in Florida. Sixteen men were indicted for importing aliens for immoral purposes; transporting women and minors for prostitution; subjecting them to involuntary servitude; and committing visa fraud, conspiracy, and violations of civil rights. The defendants' sentences ranged from 2.5 years to 6.5 years, with the ringleader receiving 15 years' imprisonment. The judge also ordered the ring to pay US$1 million in restitution. Several of the ringleaders had fled before the trial. Extradition proceedings are under way. The women are now in shelters in Florida and have received some compensation after the smuggling ring's assets were seized.13
Other Instances of Trafficking Include:
o Organized crime syndicates trafficking Russian women to Alaska and forcing them to work as exotic dancers.14
o Organized crime syndicates trafficking Latvian women to Chicago and forcing them to work as exotic dancers.15
o An American sex tourist trafficked two Mexican boys to Denver, Colorado to live with him.16
o A US Citizen trafficked a Chinese woman for marriage and then forced her into prostitution.17
o A US citizen trafficked four Indian girls to California and forced them into prostitution.18
o Inter-State trafficking of children: A couple from Dallas, TX kidnapped a girl from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and forced her into prostitution in six different US cities.19
o A Hmong gang in Fresno, California, kidnapped and enslaved girls between the ages of 11 and 14 for purposes of prostitution and trafficked them across state lines.20
o Men from St. Louis, Missouri recruited girls, mostly between 14 and 18 years old, from Wisconsin and Minnesota to work at massage parlors and escort services around the country.21
o A US couple in Silver Spring, Maryland trafficked a girl from Cameroon for purposes of involuntary servitude.
o The yakuza, or Japanese mafia, and Snakeheads, the Chinese triad that deals in the trafficking of drugs and illegal immigrants, also specialize in trafficking Chinese children to the United States.22
11William Booth, "13 Charged in Gang Importing Prostitutes," Washington Post, 21 August 1999.
12"Enslaved Women Hope to Start a New Life in America," Associated Press, 9 April 1999. See also "Smugglers Lure a Million Women; Congress Told That Girls as Young as 14 Are Being Forced into Prostitution," San Francisco Examiner, 23 February 2000.
13Robert Schroeder, "CIA Report," lecture presented in the Protection Project Seminar Series, 11 May 2001.
14Anthony M. DeStefano, "Feds Lessen Charges in Sexual Slavery Case," Newsday, 26 June 2001.
15Eric Fidler, "Two Charged for Enslaving Strippers," 12 September 2000, <http://www.neww.org>.
16Karen Abbott, "Denver Man Accused of Importing Boys for Sex," Chicago Sun-Times, 26 February 2001.
17"Legal Secretary Testifies of Sham Marriage," Associated Press, 9 May 2001.
18Matthew Yi, "Berkeley Landlord Jailed for 8 Years; He Is to Pay $2 Million to Victims," San Francisco Chronicle, 20 June 2001.
19Scott Parks and Tiara Ellis, "Teen Prostitutes Living in the Shadows," Dallas Morning News, 17 October 2001.
20Kieran Nicholson and Sheba Wheeler, "3 Held in Alleged Sex-Slave Ring," Denver Post, 13 November 1998.
21"Men in Prostitution Ring Convicted," Associated Press, 29 March 2000.
22Ibid.
o The U.S. Department of Justice reported on 5 October 1999 that three individuals pled guilty to luring women from China to the Northern Mariana Islands, where they were held in slavery and forced into prostitution.23 23U.S. Department of Justice, "Three Plead Guilty to Forcing Women into Slavery and Prostitution in Northern Mariana Islands," 5 October 1999, http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/1999/October/466cr.htm. |
