Human Trafficking Watch

From the kansascity.com Crime Scene blog, James Hart posts a press release from  US Attorney John Wood:

Ling Xu, also known as “Cherry,” 46, Zhong Yan Liu, also known as “Lucky,” 36, and Cheng Tang, also known as “Tom,” 22, all citizens of China residing in Overland Park, pleaded guilty in separate appearances this morning before U.S. District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan.

Each of the defendants pleaded guilty to coercing persons to travel across state lines and national borders to engage in prostitution and illegal sexual services.

They also pleaded guilty to money laundering by wiring more than $500,000 from the proceeds of that unlawful activity to China. Xu also pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft for using the passports and identification of her female workers in order to make most of those wire transfers. All three defendants remain in federal custody

The Kansas City Business Journal has more.

Ex-WCW Wrestler Hardbody Harrison Sentenced To Imprisonment For Sex Trafficking, Forced Labor

Sociopath,  Hardbody Harrsion had it all figured out:

From April to August 2005, Norris and a co-conspirator, Aimee Allen, lured his victims to his homes in Cartersville with promises of careers in professional wrestling. Once there, Norris turned the recruited women, many of whom were poor, homeless or addicted to drugs, to work for him as prostitutes and servants.

The victims were forced to have sex with Norris and other men at nightclubs, in apartments, at hotels, in the back of Norris’ truck, and in other locations in North Carolina and northern Georgia. Norris kept the earnings of his forced prostitution ring to himself.

Norris kept the victims indebted to him to force them to serve him. He also prevented the victims from escaping and isolated them from the families.

Photo credit goes to ninemsn staff

It’s no surprise that Juvies are used to recruit prostitutes: Police: Teen pimp lures girls into illegal sex. Underage proxies have been used for decades for everything else from armed robbery to drive-by shootings. Why not prostitution? Juvies are arrested and prosecuted while their mentors continue to escape any justice. When the Juvies turn 18, instant clean record.

“It’s a really horrendous affair,” said Dallas police Lt. Chess Williams.

Police estimate there are hundreds of teenage prostitutes on the streets of Dallas because there is a big demand. Recently, they found a 12-year-old girl dancing naked at a nightclub.

“I can’t believe that a 13-, 14-, 15-year-old child knowlingly injects herself into a world of prostitution,” Lt. Williams said.

But it did happen, and the 13-year-old in this case may have talked another school friend into prostitution.

Police won’t say what school the girl attended, but they’re not surprised. “One of the remarkable things we learned through all of this is there’s a tremendous amount of money in all this, so a huge demand for young girls in prostitution world,” Lt. Williams said.

Police said the young girls aren’t acting alone. They say some of the same people who are pimping out the adult prostitutes are the same ones exploiting young girls.

Since the news of former NY governor Spitzer has hit the news, I’ve watched story after story appearing about the underground world of prostitution. Stories like this one, this one, and this one, try to explain why men pay for sex, as if it needs explaining. “The world’s oldest profession” is what it is.

However, one particular opinion piece stood out to me last week and I wanted to comment on it. It was posted on womensenews.org by Juhu Thukral: Sex Workers Need Safety, Not Prosecutors. Thurkal argues that there is a difference between prostitution and human trafficking:

For one thing, any new expansion of the Mann Act would again conflate trafficking and prostitution, bringing police more and more wrongly into the bedrooms of consenting adults.

The thrust of this argument is that to end trafficking, you have to end prostitution, which muddles the two issues. Again, trafficking and prostitution are separate issues.

When sex workers or children are abused, coerced or tricked, they need help, not jail.

Their human rights should be protected, not only from violence but also from the police who routinely abuse them.

There is no indication yet that any sex worker was abused in the Spitzer case, if indeed there is any case here at all. Shaming him is not going to stop prostitution and it will do nothing to halt trafficking into sex work.

His case in fact shows once again that arresting people just for having sex, whether they are sex workers or clients, only makes the situation worse.

I think Thukral’s issue is well argued to a degree. However, there are definitely moral issues involved that can’t be ignored. Prostitution is certainly supply for a demand. Should prostitution be accepted socially as something between consenting adults? To go there, you have to examine why prostitution is illegal. While the legality of prostitution in many places has been dictated by religious ethics, the practical reasons are not insubstantial.

First, I believe to view prostitution as socially acceptable is to be at odds with believing that everyone deserves a minimum amount of respect and equal treatment. It’s as if to say to the prostitute, “I just have a need and you are really not worth the time I’d give a real person. Here’s a few bucks.” Prostitution removes the ritual of relationship and eliminates mutual respect. While prostitution may be the world’s oldest profession, just as old are relationships and pairing.

Next, as feminists have argued from day one, objectification of women can lead to them being seen as less than human. The problem is that there is a difference between sexual attraction and objectification and the two are confused in modern culture. Part of this can be blamed on Hollywood and the stereotypical prostitute with a heart of gold, for example, Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. Just like movies can glorify gang life, there are big screen misrepresentations of prostitution, showing little in the way of consequences and the day-to-day reality. And along comes Ashley Alexandra Dupre, cashing in on being a prostitute. Regardless of her future career of becoming a pop star, model, or author, she will have launched that career because she was a high-priced prostitute. This is not a respectable way to start a career of any kind, but the media is eating this story up and calling it the American dream. I don’t like the thought of young girls all over the country aspiring to follow in her footsteps. Also, pop culture does have an impact. Don’t forget that “pimp” used to be a negative term and women used to be insulted at being called “bitches” or “ho’s”.

Finally, prostitution encourages bad behavior from men and there are always victims in their wake. From destroying their own families to trafficking young girls, the perpetrators do hurt people. Nothing good comes from prostitution. To accept it legally and morally is to sanction abuse, neglect, and slavery. Media examples of consenting adults exchanging goods for services like car repairs or carpet cleaning are the exception, not the rule.

The problem with the world’s oldest profession is that it is the world’s oldest profession. Legalizing it will not stop trafficking; just research the problems with sex slaves in Amsterdam. But just because it’s been around since society doesn’t mean we have to accept it. We choose not to accept murder, and it’s been around just as long.

I agree with Thukral in that the demand must be cut for these women to be freed. Coming down hard on prostitutes will not stop the industry because the prostitutes are not the ones with the money, contrary to recent media reports.

A mother and son were apparently tapped into the Mexican sex slave on demand network.

Gregoria Salgada Vazquez and David Salazar were charged with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault of a child after they allegedly had the girl transported from Mexico to Houston, where they kept her pad locked in a room since Jan. 1, the TV station reports.

She reportedly was allowed to leave the room only when the two of them were present.

Police said the girl allegedly was forced to have sex with Salazar and also was taken to a Houston nigh [sic] club that the pair own and was forced to have sex with clients, the station reported.

She was ordered, trafficked in, and used in clubs just like drugs.

There are instances where illegal immigrants should not be deported, and the Washington Post published an excellent article about that very issue.

Molina, who works with the District-based La Cl¿nica Del Pueblo and founded a Virginia-based human rights organization for Latinas, said many of the women go from poverty in their countries to poverty in the United States and find themselves bound emotionally, psychologically and economically to the men who brought them across the border. Breaking that bond is one of the biggest challenges, she said.

“It’s a mixture of hatred and thankfulness,” she said. “They know they are exploited and being abused, but this is the same person who helped them cross the border. This is the same person who helped bring all the members of their family and who is going to bring their children.”

The real criminals are the traffickers and enslavement should qualify them for a lifetime in prison making small rocks out of big rocks. A good way to deal with the victims is to reward them for help in prosecution with a formal, legal process for staying in the country.