LA human trafficking

[ilbegone]

2 new task forces to tackle LA human trafficking

Daily Breeze

From wire service reports

01/11/2010

The state's emergency preparedness agency announced today it has put nearly $3 million toward two new task forces dedicated to eliminating human trafficking in Los Angeles and elsewhere.

The announcement follows President Barack Obama's declaration of January as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, a campaign to raise awareness of slavery and human trafficking.

The California Emergency Management Agency's award of $2.7 million will go toward efforts already in place, as well as the establishment of new task forces targeting human trafficking in California.

"There are few things, if any, more heinous than the scourge of human trafficking," said CEMA Secretary Matthew Bettenhausen. Also launched today was the educational campaign "From Slavery to Freedom," designed by the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking to let victims know that if they come forward, they will not be treated as criminals by law enforcement.

"Human trafficking is a serious problem right here in the United States," said Kay Buck, CAST's executive director. "It is unfathomable that nearly 150 years following the abolition of slavery in the United States, there are at least 17,000 people who are trafficked into the U.S. every year, with Los Angeles serving as one of the top three points of entry."

The agency estimates California is among the top states for human trafficking, which can involve forced labor, domestic servitude and other forms of slavery and exploitation.

"I applaud CAST's leadership against the scourge of modern-day slavery in all of its forms and its work in providing essential services to human trafficking victims," said Luis CdeBaca of the U.S. Department of State. "The `From Slavery to Freedom' campaign is an important effort to achieving our overall goal of ending slavery once and for all."

More than 20 events will take place over a monthlong period ending Feb. 12th, the anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's birthday. A full listing of events can be found at www.castla.org.

CAST, an organization working with and for trafficking victims and survivors in the Los Angeles area, was established in the aftermath of the 1995 El Monte sweatshop case, which involved 72 Thai garment workers held in slavery.

[ilbegone]

The web version of this story edited out some of what was in the print version:

Human trafficking involves forcing victims into prostitution or other exploitive labor for little or no pay, often keeping them isolated, confiscating travel documents or threatening them with violence.

"these women are forced to do what they are doing," Sen. Leland Yee, D- San Francisco, said of women working in brothels disguised as massage parlors. "When you talk to them, they're frightened, they don't speak English well"

[Kathy63]

Forcing? Really?

How many of them were kidnapped off streets or out of their homes? I would bet very few.

Most of them made a bad bargain, they thought they were paying for one kind of criminal activity and found themselves involved in quite another.

[ilbegone]

Forcing? Really?

How many of them were kidnapped off streets or out of their homes? I would bet very few.

Most of them made a bad bargain, they thought they were paying for one kind of criminal activity and found themselves involved in quite another.

Forcing, in most cases yes.

And yes, some are kidnapped out of their homes or off the street.

I posted this in the other thread, the legally correct immigrant woman was sold into sex slavery for $200.00 after she responded to a job offer concerning cleaning and answering phones:

Survivor's tale of sexual captivity grips crowd

January 11, 2010

By PAUL LAROCCO
The Press-Enterprise

Maria Suarez has replayed her story over and over again to others.

About being enslaved to a witch doctor nearly 50 years older, and repeatedly raped inside his Azusa home from 1976 to 1981. About the day she learned a neighbor had clubbed her captor to death with a table leg.

But many gathered Monday to hear her speak on National Day of Human Trafficking hadn't heard Suarez's full ordeal -- and audibly gasped when she mentioned that she spent 22 years in prison for hiding the murder weapon.

"I have not wasted a minute of my life," the now-49-year-old Suarez told more than 100 attendees inside San Bernardino's Inland Regional Training Center, referring to the time since her 2004 release. "I don't think anything can stop me."

Suarez was the keynote speaker at an event organized by San Bernardino County's Coalition Against Sexual Exploitation. Since forming last March, the unit has sought to shift the view of child prostitutes from criminals to victims.

"This is truly a non-traditional role for prosecutors," said Chief Deputy District Attorney Karen Bell, whose department leads the coalition. "Our focus is on prevention and education, as well as suppression."

The problem of children, primarily runaways, being forced into providing sex for sale is heightened in San Bernardino County's west end of Ontario and Montclair, where juvenile prostitution arrests have increased more than five-fold over the last 11 years.

Prosecutors have joined with local police departments, probation officers, public defenders and social service providers to brainstorm ways top provide more options for young victims and push for stronger punishments for pimps.

District Attorney Mike Ramos said he'd like to one day see a safe house specifically for minors forced into the sex trade.

"It's us that need to be there," Ramos said. "So they can fall into our arms and not the arms of a pimp."

Suarez, who lives in Rialto, provided an emotionally charged example of how vulnerable people are targeted.

Not two weeks after Suarez and her family legally settled in the Los Angeles County community of Sierra Madre from Mexico, she was offered a job she believed to be cleaning and answering phones. It turned out she was sold for $200 to a 62-year-old man who practiced witchcraft.

A day into her captivity, she was stripped naked and made to beg for her clothes before being knocked out and raped. It began five years of abuse, she told the audience.

"Where could I go or what could I do?" Suarez recounted, noting the man's threats to kill her family. "Nothing."

In 1981, a neighbor killed the man, and because Suarez admitted to cleaning and hiding the table leg used, she was sentenced to 25 years to life. She was ultimately paroled in 2003, but spent another year in custody fighting deportation.

[Twoller]

The real money in human trafficking is in voluntary illegal immigrants. This is just one more evasion of the basic problem of purging this country of illegal immigrants.

If this little political front gains any momentum, isn't it pretty clear that every illegal immigrant who has conspired to occupy this or any country is going to claim to be a victim of involuntary human trafficking? Especially if they are in debt to some cockroach who they paid to get here.

Victimhood from illegal immigration is to be ignored. The basic problem of confronting illegal immigrants, no matter what their circumstances, is to be advanced. This is like witness amnesty where illegals who are victims of crimes get amnesty as long as they are needed for purposes of prosecution. It is a scam in the making.

[Kathy63]

The real money in human trafficking is in voluntary illegal immigrants. This is just one more evasion of the basic problem of purging this country of illegal immigrants.

If this little political front gains any momentum, isn't it pretty clear that every illegal immigrant who has conspired to occupy this or any country is going to claim to be a victim of involuntary human trafficking? Especially if they are in debt to some cockroach who they paid to get here.

Victimhood from illegal immigration is to be ignored. The basic problem of confronting illegal immigrants, no matter what their circumstances, is to be advanced. This is like witness amnesty where illegals who are victims of crimes get amnesty as long as they are needed for purposes of prosecution. It is a scam in the making.

You are absolutely right and this needs to be said again.

[ilbegone]

We agree that illegals need to be sent home.

Perhaps the concept of what is just is where we differ in our beliefs.

To illustrate my point:

I am a believer in capital punishment. No such thing as life imprisonment, which I believe is actually more inhumane than execution and leads to control problems in prison as well as affecting greater society.


When there is an execution for a capital crime, and regardless of how heinous the crime is should we:

1) conduct the execution in the swiftest manner possible? Get the thoroughly unpleasant task over with.

2) Keep the prisoner alive as long as possible during the execution while subjecting him to the greatest agony possible? After all, he brought it on himself with his criminal activity.


Having posed that thought, If our immigration laws were enforced we would have much less slavery and other victimization to deal with.

However, another thing to consider.

This is an organization which is intended for personal, public participation. However, the three of us don't go to rallies, yet we place much of the commentary on this board.

What sort of a public internet face do we put on the people who faithfully go to rallies but don't post much or not at all? What effect do we have on people who read our words? Do we help the cause, or do we hinder it by offending people who don't know what the organization is about? Do we give the opposition ammunition to use against the organization?

Think about it, please.

[admin]

However, another thing to consider.

This is an organization which is intended for personal, public participation. However, the three of us don't go to rallies, yet we place much of the commentary on this board.

What sort of a public internet face do we put on the people who faithfully go to rallies but don't post much or not at all? What effect do we have on people who read our words? Do we help the cause, or do we hinder it by offending people who don't know what the organization is about? Do we give the opposition ammunition to use against the organization?

Think about it, please.


We are a non-profit. As such, we are a support group. We would be very inconsistent with that if we limited our forum and organization to those who only help us . We also need feedback from the constituency to guide us. this is the difference between a PAC or other type of organization that demands action from everyone to service their cause. Our job is to inspire people to action, not belittle them into it. Of course nobody likes a continuous monday morning quarterbacker who does nothing else, but mostly those types get repudiated or dismissed by the participating body here anyway.

[Jeanfromfillmore]

We agree that illegals need to be sent home.

Perhaps the concept of what is just is where we differ in our beliefs.

To illustrate my point:

I am a believer in capital punishment. No such thing as life imprisonment, which I believe is actually more inhumane than execution and leads to control problems in prison as well as affecting greater society.


When there is an execution for a capital crime, and regardless of how heinous the crime is should we:

1) conduct the execution in the swiftest manner possible? Get the thoroughly unpleasant task over with.

2) Keep the prisoner alive as long as possible during the execution while subjecting him to the greatest agony possible? After all, he brought it on himself with his criminal activity.


Having posed that thought, If our immigration laws were enforced we would have much less slavery and other victimization to deal with.

However, another thing to consider.

This is an organization which is intended for personal, public participation. However, the three of us don't go to rallies, yet we place much of the commentary on this board.

What sort of a public internet face do we put on the people who faithfully go to rallies but don't post much or not at all? What effect do we have on people who read our words? Do we help the cause, or do we hinder it by offending people who don't know what the organization is about? Do we give the opposition ammunition to use against the organization?

Think about it, please.

Something to think about.