FORMER CALIFORNIA COUPLE PLEADS GUILTY TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING CHARGES, August 20, USA

Robert Moossy
Director
Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit
Civil Rights, Criminal Section
U.S. Department of Justice

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CRT
MONDAY, AUGUST 20, 2007 (202) 514-2007
WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888

FORMER CALIFORNIA COUPLE PLEADS GUILTY TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING CHARGES

WASHINGTON - Elizabeth and James Jackson, of Culver City, Calif., pleaded guilty today in federal court in Los Angeles to felony charges related to forced labor and human trafficking. Elizabeth Jackson pleaded guilty to a single count of forced labor, and James Jackson pleaded guilty to a single count of alien harboring.

Elizabeth Jackson admitted to forcing a Filipino woman to work against her will in the Jacksons’ home for several months in 2001 and 2002 by creating a climate of fear through threats of abuse of the legal process. James Jackson admitted to harboring the same Filipino woman in the Jacksons’ Culver City home for several months in 2001 and 2002, even though he knew her work visa had expired.

Elizabeth Jackson faces a maximum sentence of 46 months in prison for her forced labor charge. James Jackson’s sentence will include 200 hours of community service, including providing immigration-related legal advice for indigents. Both of the Jacksons are scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 5, 2007.

“These defendants subjected their victim to what amounts to modern-day slavery,” said Wan J. Kim, Assistant Attorney for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. “The Justice Department will remain dedicated to rooting out this horrible crime and prosecuting those who would enslave others.”

“No person should ever be forced to live in a world of fear, isolation and servitude, particularly in a country that prides itself on its freedoms,” said Julie Myers, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “Today’s guilty pleas should send a message to those who traffic in human beings that ICE is committed to protecting those who cannot protect themselves.”

“Freedom is the most basic of human rights and no one has the right to harbor illegal aliens and force them into labor,” said Salvador Hernandez, Deputy Assistant Director for the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “The FBI takes human trafficking crimes very seriously and is committed to investigating those involved in the systematic abuse and degradation of this essential right.”

The Attorney General has made the prosecution of human trafficking crimes a top priority. In the last six fiscal years, the Civil Rights Division, in conjunction with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, has increased by six-fold the number of human trafficking cases filed in court.

The case was prosecuted by Special Litigation Counsel Andrew J. Kline from the Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit and Douglas Kern from the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. The case was investigated by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Department of Labor.

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9 indicted in L.A. on sex-trafficking charges, August 10, LA, USA

Human Trafficking and Guatemala: http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Guatemala.htm
Another article that was published on March 1, 2007: http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/mar/01/human_trafficking_horror_stories_shared_program/

9 indicted in L.A. on sex-trafficking charges

They are accused of luring young Guatemalans to U.S. with job promises but then forcing them into prostitution.

By Greg Krikorian
August 10, 2007

A federal grand jury in Los Angeles has indicted nine people, including six members of the same family, for allegedly running a sex trafficking ring that lured young women and girls from Guatemala with the promise of honest work but then forced them into prostitution.

The 50-count indictment, unsealed Thursday, represents the largest sex trafficking case prosecuted in Southern California by the federal government in at least a decade, the U.S. attorney's office said.

It replaces smuggling charges first filed in December and adds both additional defendants and various charges, including sex trafficking of children and violation of the Mann Act, which bans the interstate or foreign transport of minors for prostitution.

The investigation by various federal and local agencies began last October when authorities were contacted by two alleged victims of the prostitution ring and a male customer who helped them escape. The following month, authorities say, they rescued two other women from the scheme.

According to the indictment, the victims were recruited in Guatemala for what they believed were legitimate jobs as baby-sitters, waitresses and other positions, then smuggled across the border with the understanding that they would repay the people who had helped them get into the United States.

Once in the U.S., they were forced into prostitution to repay inflated smuggling debts.

The minors were ordered to lie and say they were older than 18 if questioned by customers or the police, the indictment alleges.

In one case, an underage girl was told to solicit customers from a car rather than walking in downtown Los Angeles near 8th and Alvarado streets with other prostitutes.

Throughout their ordeal, authorities charge, the young women and girls were kept in line with the threat that if they did not repay their debts or tried to escape, they or their families -- including children -- would be beaten or killed.

The defendants, all of whom are in the United States illegally, also took some victims to reputed "witch doctors" in Los Angeles, warning them that a curse would be placed on them and their families in Guatemala if they tried to escape.

"This case is particularly egregious because the victims, some of whom were as young as 13 years old, all came here believing they would have a better life and could make money that they could send back to their families," federal prosecutor Caroline Wittcoff said. "Then, when they got here, they were all forced into a nightmare of prostitution."

J. Stephen Tidwell, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles office, said the case was a "dreadful" crime that was solved as part of a large effort by federal and local law enforcement agencies -- including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Department of Labor and the Los Angeles Police Department -- to combat human trafficking.

"This was one of those cases in which you could not succeed if you did it piecemeal" with individual agencies, he said.

Named in the indictment are Gladys Vasquez Valenzuela; her sisters, Mirna Jeanneth Vasquez Valenzuela and Albertina Vasquez Valenzuela; Albertina's children, Maria de los Angeles Vicente and Luis Vicente Vasquez; and Maribel Rodriguez Vasquez, who is the niece of Gladys, Mirna and Albertina.

Also charged were Mirna's live-in boyfriend, Gabriel Mendez; Maria's live-in boyfriend, Pablo Bonifacio; and Luis' live-in girlfriend, Flor Morales Sanchez.

All nine live in Los Angeles, the FBI said.

The most serious charges that many of the defendants face carry mandatory minimum sentences of 10 to 15 years for each count, Wittcoff said.

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greg.krikorian@latimes.com

Pact on human trafficking with IOM signed, August, Thailand

More literature:

A Modern Form of Slavery: Trafficking in Burmese Women & Girls in Thailand

by Human Rights Watch Staff (Editor), Asia Watch and the Women's Rights Project, Asia Watch, Sidney Jones

Sex and Borders: Gender, National Identity, and Prostitution Policy in Thailand

by Leslie Ann Jeffrey

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=120710

Pact on human trafficking with IOM signed

(IOM/TNA) -- The Geneva-based International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Thailand's Ministry of Social Development on Monday signed a counter-human trafficking pact extending a decade of cooperation.

The Thai Ministry of Social Development and Human Security (MSDHS) endorsed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Cooperation in the Implementation of Projects Addressing Trafficking in
Persons and Assistance to at- Risk Groups.

Monday's MOU will facilitate and strengthen the establishment of a cooperation framework focusing on five areas:

-- cooperation in establishing care and assistance programmes for victims of trafficking, including: victim screening and identification procedures; building referral mechanisms and institutionalizing 'good practice' shelter management arrangements; and establishing operational standards and arrangements for the return of victims.

-- training and other capacity building support to Thai MSDHS staff, other relevant government officials, and others responsible for implementing national policies and programmes on human trafficking.

-- extending bilateral and multilateral cooperation between Thailand and other concerned countries on the issue of return and reintegration of victims.

-- help to develop bilateral and multilateral agreements, MOUs and standard operational procedures supporting bilateral cooperation on trafficking between Thailand and other countries in the best interest of the victims.

-- developing national awareness-raising and prevention strategies to reduce vulnerability to trafficking though cooperation with the ministry's provincial offices.