Groups Target Human Trafficking in U.S.

[leftchick]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051029/ap_on_re_us/trafficking_in_america

LOS ANGELES - Florencia Molina's personal hellhole was a dressmaking shop on the outskirts of Los Angeles. She worked there up to 17 hours a day, seven days a week, and lived there, too, without the option of showering or washing her clothes.

Other victims of American-style human trafficking have had very different venues for ordeals just as bad or worse — brothels in San Francisco, bars in New Jersey, slave-labor farm camps in Florida, a small-town tree-cutting business owned by a New Hampshire couple.

Trafficking is a stubborn problem and a staggering one worldwide, affecting an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 victims a year. Federal officials say 14,500 to 17,500 of them are trafficked to the United States, where the myriad forms of modern-day slavery present an elusive target for those trying to eradicate it.

Victims have come from at least 50 countries in almost every part of the world and are trafficked to virtually every state — to clandestine factories, restaurants, farms, massage parlors, even private homes where women and girls are kept in servitude.

[William769]

1. Just a couple of months ago

They busted a brothel in Bonita Springs Florida that was using girls that were part of the slave trade.

THIS IS JUST WRONG & DISGUSTING!

[tatertop]

2. This is the war we should have waged

The war on terrorism is a lie
and nothing good will come of it.
The war on human trafficking would be a just and noble cause.

[WhiteTara]

3. "600,000 to 800,000 victims a year" ...if that

doesn't scare the hell out of you, nothing will. That is about 2200 hundred people each day, 100 per hour or 1 person every 45 seconds. I don't have my calculator with me, so my math might be wrong, but if not, that is horrifying.

[Child_Of_Isis]

4. women and girls

Puke style. Pick on those less strong. I always wonder why these macho types don't pick on men. Afraid of getting their ass beat? Watch out boys, both my daughter and I carry a gun. Wait until we (women) start blowing their heads off. Maybe they will learn then.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

5. About 10 years ago...

An experienced owner of a NJ "Gogo" bar(Titty bar without any real naughty bits exposed) told me thaat he would not hire Russian dancers.

You might be wondering why.

He said that all of them were brought here by ex-KGB and Russian army thugs on false pretenses and forced to dance. They were kept in dormatory-like conditions and allowed out only to dance. Their living conditions were bad and brutal. He also said that doing business with the thugs caused nasty things, like the thugs taking over your bar, little by little, until they threw you out of your own place. He said that several bar owners had been rather brutally beaten in the course of things. In fact, he knew so much about the situation(witnessed some things) that the manner in which these guys were beaten up was evocative of the Spetnaz fighting style.

He knew what he was talking about.

This is a bad situation and one that is run by very bad people. Yes, drugs are an issue in this as well.