Gangs in the U.S. have generally been known for drug
trafficking, the exchange of weapons, and violent crimes that result in
shootings and deaths. However, according to the FBI’s 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment, they have shifted from
activities which are more dangerous and risky to less visible ones such as
human trafficking, alien smuggling, and prostitution. At the time of the
report, 35 states and U.S. territories have reported gangs in their jurisdictions
who are complicit in these activities. These crimes involve a lower risk of
detection and are also more profitable because humans are considered a more
expensive commodity. After all, the criminal exchange of humans has become the
second most profitable industry globally after the drug trade. If the
traffickers are out of sight, the trafficked are the ones who will get into
trouble with the police because they are positioned vulnerably on the front
lines.
Some gangs have combined the trafficking of drugs and
humans, where girls and women will transport drugs and at the same time, engage
in commercial sex. Gangs in the U.S. are both locally based but also have
transnational ties, enabling the movement of trafficked victims across state
and international lines. Gang members act as pimps who first lure young girls
into their care, then will control them through physical and psychological
abuse. Gang-related human trafficking, many cases of which are sex trafficking,
is evidence of the escalating prevalence of the domestic sex trade in both U.S.
cities and suburbs.
Gang members have used social networking websites to recruit
girls. They prey on girls by complimenting them on their looks, asking to get
to know them better, and extending offers for opportunities to make monetary
profit with their good looks. If these girls, who are mostly young teenagers,
agree to meet their solicitors, they will be asked to provide a cell phone
number where they can be contacted for an in-person meeting. The girls are quickly
taught the ropes of commercial sex, sometimes by older girls who have had more
experience in this work.
Sometimes, girls are recruited through “skip parties”, where
young girls succumb to the enticing option of going to a party instead of
sitting in a classroom during school hours. The masterminds behind these
parties, knowing that girls like to travel in groups, conveniently encourage
them to invite friends to the skip parties. Girls are then passed on from
member to member, until she is “seasoned” for the streets and deemed ready to
work.
The FBI has identified Asian gangs, Somali gangs, Bloods,
Crips, Gangster Disciples, MS-13, Sureños, Vice Lords, and Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs
to have engaged in human trafficking. 27-year old Justin Strom, leader of the
Underground Gangster Crips in Fairfax, Virginia was convicted in September of
this year for recruiting high school girls online, then trafficking them for
commercial sex. MS-13, the first gang that the U.S. has named as a
transnational criminal organization in October, has been notoriously known for
its violent crimes, numerous murders, beatings, and infamous attacks with
machetes. The presence of MS-13 is most heavily felt in LA County and the
Washington, DC area. One of its mottos is “Mata, roba, viola, controla”, which
translates to “Kill, steal, rape, control”. To ensure payment from the girls’
customers and that the girls were not hurt, MS-13 members would carry weapons
while accompanying the girls to work.
Young boys are no exception to being victims of trafficking. They
are considered low cost, low risk, and expendable to gang members who traffic
them for labor purposes. While girls are more likely to be subject to sex
trafficking, boys at age 7 are recruited to transport drugs, steer customers
toward designated drug exchange locations, and as lookouts when law enforcement
investigates suspicious drug-related activities. These boys are offered
protection, food, and shelter when they cooperate, but are deprived of them
when they do not. They will be socialized to gang norms, desensitized to
violence, may grow up to belong to the gangs themselves, and will likely be incarcerated.
The nation’s first ever state-based wiretap investigation
targeting human trafficking involved a case in Chicago that lasted one and a
half years in 2011. Operation “Little Girl Lost” resulted in charging nine
individuals with ties to street gangs who trafficking children and young women,
some as young as twelve years old. The nine were charged with Involuntary
Sexual Servitude of a Minor and Trafficking in Persons for Forced labor,
punishable up to 30 years. Throughout the investigation, police found dozens of
young women and girls who had suffered extensive emotional and physical abuse
and were then provided social services that could give them safety from their
traffickers. IOFA played an important role in this case as a partner with the
State Attorney’s efforts to refer victims to recovery and after-care services,
and at present continues to be an important presence in the city as a
co-collaborator on the Cook County Human Trafficking Task Force.
With the involvement of gangs, human trafficking is becoming
an increasingly organized and networked crime. Although some tactics that gang
members use to coerce girls into working for sex are similar to non-gang
affiliated traffickers, it behoove anyone whose work involves interventions to
reduce and prevent gang violence to address human trafficking. Three San Diego
professors have received a $399,999 federal grant to explore the intersection
of gang activity and human trafficking in their region. Although this issue is
relatively new in comparison to other gang-related activity, it will continue
to be a fast-growing business if there is not a concerted effort to target
these specific victims. We cannot let the drugs, weapons, and shootings
overshadow human trafficking, for this is a vile human rights violation.
Sources:
Esther Liew
IOFA Asian American Trafficking Outreach Project program development intern
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