In+The+News


 * Human Trafficking in the News **

· [] This Columbus Dispatch article was published Janurary 6, 2011. At least one person was arrested for human trafficking fraud in Ohio nail salons. “Brittney Luu was arrested on charges of fraud, submitting false documents and tampering with documents.” Thuc Nhi Pham Nguyen is wanted for taking the cosmetology test many times under different names and for distributing licenses to illegal immigrants. Others have pending cases but have not yet been prosecuted.

· [] This January 6, 2011 article exposes two cops purportedly involved in human trafficking. Filipino women were seeking to reach Lebanon to work as “domestic helpers.” The Philippine government has a ban on travel to the Middle East. For this reason, the women were caught with fraudulent approval stamps on their passports. The two cops who are not to be names are charged with the crime of presenting the illegal immigrants with fake stamps.

· [] This New York Times Article was published November 27, 2010. It tells the story of a victim by the name of “Yumi Li” who survived being trafficked as a prostitute in the United States. Yumi was living in a Korean area of China where she lived as a college graduate an accountant. She lived comfortably, but yearned to travel. She was promised a high-paying job in the United States and was smuggled illegally to Manhattan, New York. Here she was beaten, abused, raped, and threatened in an underground sex slave industry. She remained obedient to pimps and leaders with the intention of keeping her family in China safe until her closest friend- who was also held captive- was almost killed by a customer. Yumi then decided to take action. She saved her friend and made her story public, working to expose those in criminal industry.

· [] This article was released December 17, 2010 and features a case of human trafficking in our very state of Ohio. In Columbus, Ohio a seemingly normal hardworking grandmother Maria Terechina was imprisoned for involvement in human trafficking. She is guilty of tricking Eastern European women into working at a Columbus hotel. They were unable to escape because she would confiscate their passports and demand them to pay their debts of living. Just previously in the year, six Pennsylvania men were found guilty of holding immigrants in a case related to Terechina.

· [] This December 31, 2010 article features a human trafficking case in Africa. A man named Abdul Sattar Miah was arrested for trafficking. The 64 Bangladeshi victims- all men- are to be returned home as soon as possible. He was found with all of the passports of his victims, which he claimed to be family members. Miah told authorities that he was looking to start a tourism business. Miah falsely promised his victims well-paying jobs. He has been arrested previously in 2006 for similar charges of illegally smuggling immigrants.