by Elesha Pimentel, Senior Contributing Writer
For the 17th year in a row, Irvine, California has been named one of the safest cities in the United States. When people think of the safest city, they imagine California beach trees and happy families. What they miss are the countless women and girls being herded into prostitution right under their noses. In 2017, four people were arrested for running an international sex trafficking ring based in Irvine, California, the safest place in the U.S. (CBS Los Angeles). According to CBS Los Angeles, the leaders of this sex trafficking ring took away the women’s passports and forced them to work over 14 hours or more a day until they made $800. As horrific as this sounds, these types of evil organizations are more widespread than they seem. International sex trafficking rings have crept their slimy tentacles across the U.S. and throughout many different parts of the world.
The women who are forced into the sex trafficking rings are recruited from impoverished parts of foreign countries, including China, Thailand, Mexico and South Korea. They’re fed promises of easier lives and better working conditions. Many of these women enter into the sex trafficking rings believing they’re on their way to a better job or even a chance at a better education. They’re unaware of the true sinister circumstances until they arrive (University of Southern California). Other women know that they will work as sex workers; however, they are fed a false idea of what their work will be like. One survivor of an international sex ring in Australia said that she was told the work would be easy and that she could work whenever she wanted to (60 Minutes Australia). Even worse, some young women enter into these sex trafficking rings under the guise of love (2KUTV). Traffickers would find local girls with rough home lives and poor upbringings. Then, they would trick these young girls into thinking that they are in love and that they could lead them away to a better life.
The traffickers take the women away from their homes to countries including the U.S., Australia, Britain, France, and many others. Some women and girls are smuggled across the border illegally (2KUTV). Other women are brought on legitimate visas like tourist or student visas. 60 Minutes Australia reports about officials being paid off by traffickers to bring the women into these countries through visa scams.
The working conditions the women endured were villainous. One survivor spoke of how she was forced to work from 8am to 1am the next day (60 Minutes Australia). Many women were given a quota they needed to hit every day to pay off food and rent to the sex traffickers. If they didn’t make the quota, they were punished (University of Southern California). Another survivor talked about how she was shuttled off through motels in many different cities across many different states. She told reporters she felt as if she were a pizza being ordered off the menu. Men would make requests for different types of girls, and the newer girls were often requested the most (KUTV). These women and girls were also not given a place to stay and many of them had to live in the motel rooms or even illicit massage parlors that they worked in (60 Minutes Australia).
Even though these women are taken to countries where help is available, they are unable to reach it. For instance, most of these women come into these countries unable to speak any English. Therefore, they are unable to figure out where to go for help. Because some of these women are smuggled in illegally, traffickers gaslight them into thinking that the police would do horrible things to them or deport them if they sought help. Women who come on visas have their passports taken away as soon as they arrive so they can’t leave (CBS News). Traffickers also threaten to hurt the victims or their families back home if they don’t cooperate. One survivor spoke of how her traffickers threatened to kill her family and bring her little sister to work in her place if she tried to leave (KUTV). Other traffickers use debt bondage to keep women trapped in the sex trafficking rings. University of Southern California went over how women were forced to give the sex trafficking ring money they made for things such as food, hotel rooms, and ads they were placed in. This led them down a steep hill where they were always in debt to the traffickers and could never leave.
The money the traffickers took from these women was used to fund their sex trafficking rings overseas. For instance, money would be used to pay off recruiters in foreign countries, government officials who created visa scams, transportation fees, and ads for services. Large scale sex trafficking rings funded money into call centers where buyers would call in and then have the closest sex worker sent to them (University of Southern California). Other large scale sex trafficking rings would fund money into automated text message lines that would provide a list of services and prices for buyers and then send them a corresponding address when they called a certain number (60 Minutes Australia). In order to use this money, traffickers would launder it into legitimate businesses such as purchasing and selling real estate. (University of Southern California).
Although international sex trafficking rings try their best to remain discreet, there are still many warning signs one could look out for. The University of Southern California lists a few things to be on the lookout for to help shut down these sex trafficking rings. One warning sign of sex trafficking taking place is different men coming and going from a specific property (especially a rental property) at all times of the day and night. In massage parlors, suspicions should be raised if the women working at the massage parlor speak little to no English, the services are not listed in print but are decided upon verbally, the establishment is locked up during the day but open very late, and if there are signs of people living inside. Lastly, the biggest warning sign would lay in the women themselves. If they appear frightened, timid, or malnourished, there may be darker forces at work. If you see any of these warning signs, it’s best to report them to 911 as soon as possible.
References and further reading
2KUTV: Survivor shares story of escaping, bringing down international human trafficking ring
CBS News: Global Sex Trafficking Ring Busted in One of America’s ‘Happiest’, ‘Safest’ Cities
Vice: International Sex Trafficker Extradited to the US for Family-Run Prostitution Ring
60 Minutes Australia: Exposing an international human trafficking ring hidden in plain sight