12 Indicted In Modern Slavery
Posted by Michelle Moquin on January 31st, 2013
Good morning.
I feel like the subject of the war on women is a never ending topic. I peruse the net in HOPEs of something positive that is happening to stop the violence. And then, I came across this tweet on Maddow’s Blog that us very poignant.
It’s a good question, yes? I am always stunned when someone votes for something that is not in support of women. And I can’t imagine being married to, or even being involved with, one of those men who votes no to protect women. Wha’at? There wouldn’t be a happy day in my household. But then, I wouldn’t even give a man the time of day to share with me if he was such a man, let alone share my bed with him.
And that’s also a shout out to women who are sharing their lives with men who support those men in office I am speaking of. Perhaps you don’t know your man is like that. Then get to know – ask questions. Perhaps he isn’t aware that who he is voting for is not in support of women. Then inform him. Get involved in his political choices – enlighten him if he ignorant before he punches that ticket in the voting booth. Because that is the place where it makes a difference for all of us women.
Men will never care as much as women about our plight…Men will never experience the plight of women because what happens to us will never happen to them, so we must educate them and constantly be in their faces about the atrocities, so we can bring about change…big change…and end the violence.
This is a story about modern slavery, in our own country. It was one positive outcome that I found with very disturbing circumstances. We need less of these horrific circumstances occurring, and more being done about them.
SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) -
In a federal investigation that spanned four states, 12 people were indicted on charges of trafficking of women and girls for prostitution from countries including Mexico and Nicaragua.
According to an indictment announced Thursday, 11 women were forced into prostitution as part of the ring that was run in Savannah, other parts of Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina.
The federal probe called Operation Dark Night was led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and involved several federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
Joaquin Mendez-Hernandez, aka El Flaco, transported people across borders for prostitution and conspired with at least three others to entice women from Mexico, Nicaragua and elsewhere to travel to the U.S. under false pretenses, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia. When the women got to the U.S., they were threatened and forced into prostitution.
Mendez-Hernandez told a Mexican woman that she would be sent back to her home country unless she had 25 clients a day, according to the indictment.
“In what essentially amounts to slavery in the year 2013, the conduct described in the indictment against these defendants is reprehensible. Human trafficking is a cancer facing our society. This indictment confirms that the United States Attorney’s Office, HSI and other federal and state law enforcement agencies are taking an aggressive stand to stop the victimization of women involved in sex trafficking,” said U.S. Attorney Edward Tarver in a statement.
The FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Customs and Border Protection and its Air and Marine Operations; IRS-Criminal Investigations; Savannah-Chatham Metro Police; Chatham County Sheriff’s Office; Garden City Police Dept. and the Chatham County Counter Narcotics Team were part of Operation Dark Night.
Anyone who suspects instances of human trafficking is encouraged to call the HSI tipline at 1.866.DHS.2.ICE or the Human Trafficking Hotline at 1.888.373.7888. Anonymous calls are welcome.
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Peace & Love.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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January 31st, 2013 at 5:11 pm
Great tweet.
Men don’t think about it much bc they don’t have to, and bc we don’t live in the world as it ought to be yet…
I would also like to share this story with no names…
I’ll add my disclaimer first: yes, we SHOULD be able to walk down the street naked and not be touched unless we invite it, we also should be able to invite a man into our home/apt without him assuming things are on and even if they are for a minute (make out session) and a woman then says no, it should mean no, yes-we should, we should…
We also shouldn’t leave ourselves open to the idea that no always means no especially when that man who is visiting is 3x’s your body weight and is suddenly aggressive and scary. You must be self protective, bc no, even a strong woman like myself could be overpowered (oh but he’d be looking like a barroom brawl had taken place on his face first).
…so here’s the story, a friend texted me that she was having a drink with a hot harley driving, tatooed man who recently opened a biz in the area, to her he was hot in a bad boy way, to me I know that look and it can be enticing and bad boys aren’t always bad but this dude’s eyes said ‘thug’ through and through (to me) so I suggested that the drink takes place somewhere other than her place (she invited him to her place, possibly she was looking for a friends with benefit arrangement, not for me to judge and not the point), she went ahead with the plan and when push came to shove and she’d verbalized no several times, he got aggressive and she got date raped.
Sad but true and I’m sure it isn’t the first time he’s done that. She felt like shit and this is not unusual either. She wasn’t wrong in wanting it her way, though I’m asking all of you to always, please, be self protective. I’d rather you be well than be right in saying you should be able to do that. (sigh, yes, you should but clearly rape culture and no means yes/maybe culture is also giving bad men the go ahead and who’s going to argue with a burly dude?) – like I said, he would’ve left with bruised balls even if I got beaten and raped anyway, but my friend is petite and was scared.
It’s still a violation to the woman, my friend (any of your friends, too) and you can’t take that back, and those awful feelings tend to linger…
…and that’s my two to the good men, please share that no means no, not yes/maybe or ‘I like it when your rough like that’, unless a woman explicitly asks for ‘rough’ (and that’s more likely to happen well after a first session), then NO is NO.
Thank you to the good dudes here, and women of MM blog, please watch yourselves bc this kind of scenario could happen to you, a friend, anyone…men are physically stronger (most of the time). I hope this one gets what’s coming to him…somehow…
Luv, Zen Lill
February 1st, 2013 at 8:46 am
I had so many comments on this article but I could not get in. I am so tired of seeing only Zen Lill in when others can’t make it.
February 1st, 2013 at 9:11 am
I tried to get in Michelle, because I wanted to say to Zen Lill, her story is truly one that can be repeated several times a hour every day of the year.
My sister was raped 7 years ago by a brute too. She confessed when he became a news item concerning a rape charge that he beat in court.
I made friends with him and lured him to hunt with me and some friends in the back woods of Louisiana. I’m sure you won’t mind me not telling you exactly where when I tell you he is still missing to others.
I haven’t told my sister about it because she isn’t the vengeful types. We have trained dogs that rape him occasionally. In three more years we will put him out of his misery. So far he has confessed to 31 rapes. He has a fantastic memory of his “conquests.”
We have the time and the tools to keep them coming.
February 1st, 2013 at 9:14 am
Michelle, in the south, it is so easy for the men here to feel entitled to do what they want with women and anyone non white.