Yesterday there was a big story in the Star Tribune about a prostitution bust. The bust included eight brothels across Minnesota that were bringing in women from Mexico and Central America and forcing them into prostitution. And the scary part? One of the brothels was in my tiny suburb of less than 20,000 people. Human trafficking in my own backyard.
Today the Star Trib talked to neighbors who were shocked at the news, despite the odd things they saw:
“Every 10 minutes there’d be a car going in or out,” said Mangan. “It would start in the morning and go until all hours of the night. But it was very quiet. And the yard was always clean. It looked just like a regular house.”
So if you’re an international criminal wanting to exploit and enslave women all you need to do to keep the neighbors off your back is mow the lawn. If you see something suspicious you can report suspected human trafficking to the Polaris Project: 1-866-US-TIPLINE
(Unfortunately, this one was another chance to do some overlapping coverage with the Foursquare NextGen Summit ’07. Twice.)
Do we know if was enslavement or were they just illegal aliens trying to make a buck? The article also said they were possible “lured” which is just the same as “chose” but sells more papers. For more info check out http://www.prostitutionprocon.org. There is always more to a story than meets the eye.
Well, if you read the article it says they took the women’s passports and other documentation away and forced them into prostitution. So, yeah, that sounds like enslavement.
That’s really sad – last summer there was a bust right where I was living at the time. Apparently, some “nail salon” was really a sex slave operation.
I don’t think the public is aware of how common this problem is :(