Human Trafficking in Minnesota?

[TigerWoman]

From the Pioneer Press:
Posted on Fri, Mar. 03, 2006

Human trafficking plagues even Minnesota

RUBÉN ROSARIO

International human trafficking in the Twin Cities and Minnesota? No way.
Well, yes way, according to a federally funded "victim tracking'' report released this week by a St. Paul-based legal and crime prevention advocacy group.

In the past year, Civil Society has identified 24 immigrants brought to Minnesota for the purposes of sexual exploitation, forced labor, indentured servitude or "mail order'' sham marriages, which often turn abusive or violent. The group found the victims through outreach efforts and referrals from a host of health, legal and law enforcement entities. The immigrants are from Mexico, Canada, China, Laos, Cambodia and Korea as well as Somalia, Nigeria, Egypt, Sudan and Malawi.

Full Article


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I guess this is not an old problem, as slavery for labor, sex or marriage has been around for a long time but this involves immigrants from repressed societies, often people who just want to get into the U.S. then find out what they got themselves into. Then if they get "rescued" and sent back to their respective countries, they get thrown into the very hands of the original traffickers. I was surprised that those used for exploitation involve some from Canada as well. And that Minnesota is an entry point, probably more or less than any the other border states though. This is just another indicator of how human trafficking, probably one of the worst age-old crimes, is getting worse and of all places here, too. TW

 

[Makalakumu]

I guess this is not an old problem, as slavery for labor, sex or marriage has been around for a long time but this involves immigrants from repressed societies, often people who just want to get into the U.S. then find out what they got themselves into. Then if they get "rescued" and sent back to their respective countries, they get thrown into the very hands of the original traffickers. I was surprised that those used for exploitation involve some from Canada as well. And that Minnesota is an entry point, probably more or less than any the other border states though. This is just another indicator of how human trafficking, probably one of the worst age-old crimes, is getting worse and of all places here, too. TW

Human trafficking and slavery often go hand in hand. Its hard to think that in this day and age that people would still be enslaved, but, sadly, it still happens. Worse, it goes on right under our noses, just like a number of other things. If the people hiding in suburbia ever caught a glimpse of this stuff, it would go a long way toward ending it.

 

[MA-Caver]

This type of thing will continue to go on until several things happen and of course making them happen is another thing entirely.
1. A world wide ban on slavery period.
2. Tighter border checks of all incoming traffic/persons/shipment.
3. Stiff penalties for the offenders.

Since there is so much money to be made all around with slavery/black-marketing/human trafficking it's going to go on. Politicians who care more about staying in office in their home countries and less about the people who put them there will continue to take the bribes and kick-backs that this sadly lucrative business provides.

In this day and age of terrorism and how we need to keep an eye on them from coming into this country, it's easy to miss the slavers and their illict cargos. But then it's been going on since before 9-11 hasn't it?

Having a world wide ban on slavery and making it a capital offense in every nation in the world may stem the tide. The penalty should go both to the seller and buyers. As long as there are buyers for this merchandise there'll always be sellers. Greed has been proven often times stronger than the laws of men.