Sexual assault of migrants from Latin America to the United States

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Many people migrating from Latin America to the United States are victims of sexual assault and sex trafficking in Mexico. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] People who migrate through or from Mexico without legal permission must enter into dealings with smugglers and, often, criminal gangs. Perpetrators may be smugglers or gang members, but can also be government officials, bandits, or other migrants. Sexual assault is sometimes part of the "price" of smuggling, and some women have reported preparing for it in advance by taking contraception.

Contents

People without legal permission to migrate are much less likely to report being the victim of a crime or otherwise take actions which may jeopardize their ability to cross the border or remain in the United States. Although data is difficult to collect and analyze, Amnesty International reported in 2010 that the proportion of women and girls who are sexually assaulted over the course of their journey might be as high as 60%.

Background

People travel from or through Mexico to the United States for several reasons, including poverty, lack of opportunity, and unsafe conditions. [6] Many determined to improve their conditions, but who are unable to migrate with legal permission, find other means to cross the border, often at great risk to themselves. Despite the risks and abuses suffered along the way, many people make several attempts.

Amnesty International published a report in 2010 which found that "women and children -- particularly unaccompanied children -- are especially vulnerable. They face serious risks of trafficking and sexual assault by criminals, other migrants and corrupt public officials." [6]

Other women also migrate to reunite with family members, to search for better economic opportunities through employment, to escape from the domestic violence they are victims of, or the violent conditions and political instability in their homeland. Even though Human rights agreements have established the need for these women to be ensured with security and protection, especially protection from the possible sexual violence they might encounter, the systems that run the US-Mexico border continue to facilitate and enable the constant sexual assault. [7]

Crimes

Perpetrators of crimes against these migrants are often those involved with people smuggling, known as coyotaje. [8] [9] [10] They may also be bandits, members of criminal gangs, other migrants, or government employees in either Mexico or the U.S. [8] [10] [11] Sexual violence may be considered part of the "price" women must pay in order to be smuggled over the border. [6] [10] Sexual violence, or threatening to sexually assault someone, may also be one part of a larger criminal plan to extort money from the migrants or their families. [6]

Rape of migrants is so common that some women and girls plan for it, taking or bringing contraception, or they may be required to take it by smugglers. [6] [12] [10] [13] A PBS NewsHour story about sexual assault of female migrants interviewed a pharmacist in Altar in Sonora, who said that the town is one of the last stops for someone about to cross the border, and that in the pharmacy she frequently receives the same question: "What can I do in case I'm raped, and I don't want to get pregnant." [14] [13]

The parts of Mexico near the U.S. border, and the state of Chihuahua and city of Juárez in particular, are some of the most dangerous places for women in general in Mexico, according to a Reuters report on the "pandemic" of violence against women in Mexico. [12] News reports have stated that in some areas near the border, rapists began hanging their victims' garments from "rape trees" as trophies, [12] [9] [10] [15] [16] though Jennifer L. Johnson has argued the source for this to be an "essay circulating in the conservative blogosphere" rather than scholarly work. [17]

Militarized Border Rape

Sexual assault is sometimes perpetrated by Border Patrol and Immigration authorities, such as Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) officials, as well as Border Patrol agents at the U.S-Mexico border. This practice has been called "militarized border rape", and has been claimed to be disregarded because the US-Mexico border conflict is not officially defined to be a “war zone”. [7] These rapes are often planned, and can be of a systematic nature. [7] Immigration authorities who commit the rapes take advantage of their positions of power over undocumented women. [7] One victim of sexual assault by a Border Patrol agent stated, “We feared the worse (sic). We didn’t know where he was going to take us. Just the sight of him with a badge and a gun was enough to intimidate anyone.” [7] The few women who opt to report and prosecute after being sexually assaulted have to face institutions such as the INS, the U.S. government and the U.S. legal system. [7]

Sexual Assault of Children in Migrant Shelters

The number of children held in migrant shelters has reached almost 15,000. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the national network of more than 100 shelters are at 92% capacity. The largest of these migrant shelters in the country is in Tornillo, Texas with almost 2,800 children living in heated, sand-colored tents that are set up on a patch of desert a few hundred yards from the Rio Grande. [18] Many of the children in these migrant shelters are subjected to sexual abuse.

In the last four years alone, there has been over 6,000 complaints of sexual abuse towards children in migrant shelters. [19] From October 2014 to July 2018, the Office of Refugee Resettlement received over 4,500 complaints. The Department of Justice received an additional 1,300 complaints. Over a hundred of these were allegations of sexual abuse by shelter staff members. [19] According to federal documents released on February 26, 2019 by Florida Representative Ted Deutch, unattended migrant children have allegedly experienced sexual assault from the staff in Office of Refugee Resettlement. [20] Most allegations are directed towards other minors and 178 allegations were directed towards staff.

Drugs given to children in custody have played a major role towards the increase in sexual assault. Many of these children were medicated with psychotropics without their parents' consent. [21] According to the ongoing lawsuit over the Reno v. Flores settlement, one child cited in the lawsuit reported taking up to nine pills in the morning and another seven in the evening, without knowing what the medication was. [21] Most of the allegations center on Shiloh Residential Treatment Center, in Manvel, Texas. But lawyers in the Flores case, who have access to the medical records of their clients, say the problem is widespread. Children were often threatened and beaten if they refused to take the drugs administered by facility staff. According to court records, a child named Julio Z. said, "they told me that if I did not take the medicine I could not leave. That the only way I could get out of Shiloh was if I took the pills." [21]

Reno v. Flores Terms of Agreement Reno v. Flores Terms of Agreement.png
Reno v. Flores Terms of Agreement

On July 30, 2018, U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee ordered that immigrant children held at Shiloh Treatment Center could no longer be medicated with psychiatric drugs without the consent of a parent or court authorization [22] However records show that immigrant children are still being drugged even after court orders. According to lawyers representing children held at Shiloh Treatment Center, the government is failing to comply with the order. These children reported that the Court's order had little to no impact on the Office of Refugee Resettlement placing children at Shiloh or on the treatment faced there. [22]

Recently in March, 2019, a Guatemalan father identified as J.E.B, filed a lawsuit against two nonprofits housing migrant children. He alleges that his 10-year-old son, identified as F.C.B, had been forced to take psychotropic drugs and sexually assaulted while in custody. [23] According to CNN, "the lawsuit alleges that both facilities "acted with fraud, malice and gross neglect" and that staff at both facilities physically assaulted F.C.B." [23] The lawsuit also claims that F.C.B was sexually assaulted by another detained child during his custody at Shiloh. F.C.B was viewed as a liability and both the father and son were quickly deported. [23]

Estimates

Cases of abuses are rarely reported or prosecuted, and data about these crimes is difficult to acquire or assess. [6]

People who do not have legal permission to migrate from or through Mexico do not typically have effective access to the same criminal justice system as legal migrants. [8] [6] In addition to the stigma attached to sexual assaults for anyone, they are unlikely to be willing to take actions which they believe may result in being unable to cross the border or remain across the border. [6] [10] Because many of the offenses involve people in power or connected to organized crime, many women also fear retaliation for speaking up. [13]

The newspaper La Jornada surveyed women attempting to migrate while they were in Mexican border cities. 30% said coyotes forced them to have sex as payment. [24]

The United Nations estimated that among women crossing without husbands or families, as many as 70% were victims of some form of abuse. [10]

At the time of the Amnesty International report, the non-profit estimated "as many as six in 10 women and girl migrants experience sexual violence during the journey." [6] It cites a 2006 study of already-detained migrant women in which 23 of 90 reported experiencing violence, with 13 saying the perpetrator was a state official. [6] The researchers involved believed actual numbers were likely higher. [6]

According to a report by Splinter News , as many as 80% of women and girls coming to the United States from Central America are sexually assaulted. [8]

Michelle Brané of the Women's Refugee Commission told Tucson Weekly that "nonprofit groups and even the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement ... estimate that the vast majority of women and female children encounter some sort of sexual assault en route to the United States," and that "it's become the norm, and in many cases with female children, they just assume that there's been some sort of incident." [10]

Efforts to provide help or remedy the problems

Amnesty International called for state and non-government organizations to ensure proper medical and psychological services for people who have experienced sexual violence, to design processes that facilitate safe reporting of crimes, and to evaluate the ways in which they find and protect victims. [6]

In 2007 the Mexican government passed legislation intending to curb violence against women. According to Reuters, it also "established so-called gender violence alerts, a tool to mobilize national, state and local governments to catch perpetrators and reduce murders. Yet in practice the gender alert has never been activated." [12]

In an interview with NPR, the sheriff of Santa Cruz County, Arizona, correlated increased sexual assaults at the border with increased border security that pushes migrants into increasingly remote areas, and also points to the increased role of organized crime in smuggling. [13]

Violence Against Women Act of 1994

The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 was signed into law by President Clinton on September 13, 1994. The goal of this act, through Section 1154, was to allow battered immigrant women and their children, as well as parents of abused children, the right to “self-petition” for permanent legal residency status, which eliminated the need of the citizen spouse to file such petition. [25] For the next few years the VAWA of 1994 was one way in which the United States government aimed to protect immigrant women, but it was not until 2000 when improvements were made to this legislation. The Battered Immigrant Women Protection Act of 2000 (VAWA 2000) was introduced to further protect and provide a different type of immigrant relief for immigrant women who experienced violent crimes, sexual assault and trafficking. [26] This revision to the VAWA of 1994 included the addition of “U” and “T” visas, which were introduced by the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000. [26] The “U” visas aim to protect eligible noncitizen victims of violent crimes as long as they demonstrate willingness to “assist in the investigation or prosecution of criminal offense ”by providing them and their eligible family members work authorization permits." [26] The “T” visas aim to protect noncitizen victims of “severe” forms of human trafficking. As defined by the VAWA of 2000, severe forms of human trafficking include: “(1) sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by fraud, force, coercion, or in which the victim is younger than 18 years of age, or (2) the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude or slavery.” [26] These visas provide victims with deferred action, meaning it protects them from removal, and also provides them with a work permit, while those with “Bona fide T-visas can benefit from other resources such as cash assistance, food stamps, and job training. [26]

Mental Health

Many immigrant women who experience sexual assault at the US-Mexico border keep their experiences a secret due to the shame and stigmatization connected to experiencing rape. [7] These women fear the consequences of reporting the crime, thinking their family's safety could be jeopardized if they disclose who their attackers are due to the amount of power they potentially possess if connected to the U.S. immigration authorities. [7] Those few women who report their assault have to face scrutiny as their stories are often questioned and discredited by the authorities in charge of investigating such crimes. These are factors that can affect these women's mental health as they are retraumatized during the investigation. One victim was forced to file a lawsuit after being accused of lying and threatened by the Office of Inspector General. [7] Faced with the severe trauma of the assault, and the threats of yet another powerful entity against her, the victim attempted suicide. [7] Her mental well-being and capacity to face the re-traumatization of the events as the investigation was conducted, the OIG's attempts to protect the accused agent and discredit their story, prompted her to seek suicide as her only way out. [7] Mental health practitioners must understand how their immigration status keeps them in the shadows in order to protect those around them. It is also important to explore the multifaceted process in helping them due to the multiple systems and intersectionalities. It is key to consider the way power dynamics at these different levels can affect the helping process for immigrant women. [27] It is emphasized that for the helping process to be able to successful at empowering these women, it is vital to examine the intersections between gender, race, language and immigration; with the aid of adequate intervention with immigrant women. [27]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">People smuggling</span> Illegal transportation of people

People smuggling, under U.S. law, is "the facilitation, transportation, attempted transportation or illegal entry of a person or persons across an international border, in violation of one or more countries' laws, either clandestinely or through deception, such as the use of fraudulent documents".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violence Against Women Act</span> United States crime legislation

The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) is a United States federal law signed by President Bill Clinton on September 13, 1994. The Act provided $1.6 billion toward investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women, imposed automatic and mandatory restitution on those convicted, and allowed civil redress when prosecutors chose to not prosecute cases. The Act also established the Office on Violence Against Women within the U.S. Department of Justice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Office on Violence Against Women</span> US agency with mission to respond to and reduce violence against women

The United States Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) was created following the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994. The Act was renewed in 2005, 2013 and again in 2022. The Violence Against Women Act legislation requires the Office on Violence Against Women to work to respond to and reduce violence against women in many different areas, including on college campuses and in people's homes. VAWA requires Office on Violence Against Women to administer justice and strengthen services for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

Syria is a destination and transit country for women and children trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. A significant number of women and children in the large and expanding Iraqi refugee community in Syria are reportedly forced into commercial sexual exploitation by Iraqi gangs or, in some cases, their families. Similarly, women from Somalia and Eastern Europe are trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation. Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian women recruited for work in Syria as cabaret dancers are not permitted to leave their work premises without permission, and they have their passports withheld—indicators of involuntary servitude. Some of these women may also be forced into prostitution. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Syria may be a destination for sex tourism from other countries in the region. In addition, women from Indonesia, the Philippines, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone are recruited for work in Syria as domestic servants, but some face conditions of involuntary servitude, including long hours, non-payment of wages, withholding of passports, restrictions on movement, threats, and physical or sexual abuse. Syria may also be a transit point for Iraqi women and girls trafficked to Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), and Lebanon for forced prostitution. The Government of Syria does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so. Syria again failed to report any law enforcement efforts to punish trafficking offenses over the last year. In addition, the government did not offer protection services to victims of trafficking and may have arrested, prosecuted, or deported some victims for prostitution or immigration violations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in the United States</span> Human trafficking as it relates to the United States

In the United States, human trafficking tends to occur around international travel hubs with large immigrant populations, notably in California, Texas, and Georgia. Those trafficked include young children, teenagers, men, and women; victims can be domestic citizens or foreign nationals.

Afghanistan is one of the source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children who are subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Trafficking within Afghanistan is more prevalent than transnational trafficking, and the majority of victims are children. In 2005 the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) reported 150 child trafficking cases to other states. Afghan boys and girls are trafficked within the country and into Iran, Pakistan and India as well as Persian gulf Arab states, where they live as slaves and are forced to prostitution and forced labor in brick kilns, carpet-making factories, and domestic service. In some cases the boys and girls were used for organ trafficking. Forced begging is a growing problem in Afghanistan; Mafia groups organize professional begging rings. Afghan boys are subjected to forced prostitution and forced labor in the drug smuggling industry in Pakistan and Iran. Afghan women and girls are subjected to forced prostitution, arranged and forced marriages—including those in which husbands force their wives into prostitution—and involuntary domestic servitude in Pakistan and Iran, and possibly India. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) report that over the past year, increasing numbers of boys were trafficked internally. Some families knowingly sell their children for forced prostitution, including for bacha bazi - a practice combining sexual slavery and child prostitution, through which wealthy men use harems of young boys for social and sexual entertainment. Other families send their children with brokers to gain employment. Many of these children end up in forced labor, particularly in Pakistani carpet factories. NGOs indicate that families sometimes make cost-benefit analyses regarding how much debt they can incur based on their tradable family members.

Rates of crime in Guatemala are very high. An average of 101 murders per week were reported in 2018. The countries with the highest crime and violence rates in Central America are El Salvador and Honduras. In the 1990s Guatemala had four cities feature in Latin America's top ten cities by murder rate: Escuintla, Izabal (127), Santa Rosa Cuilapa (111) and Guatemala City (101). According to New Yorker magazine, in 2009, "fewer civilians were reported killed in the war zone of Iraq than were shot, stabbed, or beaten to death in Guatemala," and 97% of homicides "remain unsolved." Much of the violent nature of Guatemalan society stems back to a 36-year-long civil war However, not only has violence maintained its presence in the post-war context of the country following the Guatemalan Civil War, but it has extended to broader social and economic forms of violence.

Panama is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced prostitution. Although some Panamanian women and girls are found in forced prostitution in other countries in Latin America and in Europe, most Panamanian trafficking victims are exploited within the country. Although statistics were lacking, both NGOs and government officials anecdotally reported that commercial sexual exploitation of children was greater in rural areas and in the city of Colon than in Panama City. NGOs also report that some Panamanian children, mostly young girls, are subjected to involuntary domestic servitude. Weak controls along Panama's borders make the nation an easy transit point for irregular migrants, from Latin America, East Africa, and Asia, some of whom may fall victim to human trafficking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in Papua New Guinea</span>

Papua New Guinea is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced prostitution and forced labor. Women and children are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary domestic servitude; trafficked men are forced to provide labor in logging and mining camps. Children, especially young girls from tribal areas, are most vulnerable to being pushed into commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor by members of their immediate family or tribe. Families traditionally sell girls into forced marriages to settle their debts, leaving them vulnerable to involuntary domestic servitude, and tribal leaders trade the exploitative labor and service of girls and women for guns and political advantage. Young girls sold into marriage are often forced into domestic servitude for the husband’s extended family. In more urban areas, some children from poorer families are prostituted by their parents or sold to brothels. Migrant women and teenage girls from Malaysia, Thailand, China, and the Philippines are subjected to forced prostitution, and men from China are transported to the country for forced labor.

Greece is a transit, source and destination country for women and children who are subjected to human trafficking, specifically forced prostitution and conditions of forced labor for men, women, and children. Female sex trafficking victims originate primarily in Eastern Europe and former Soviet bloc countries. Traffickers use physical, emotional, and sexual abuse for coercion. Greece's European Union membership, coupled with a shared border with Turkey, means the country sees massive flows of illegal immigrants looking to enter the EU. Traffickers also use Greece not only as a destination but also as transit stop and also as a source country where even Greek women are prostituted on the way to Western Europe.

Human trafficking is the trade of humans, most commonly for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. Mexico is a large source, transit, and destination country for victims of human trafficking.

Morocco is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children who are subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Children are trafficked within the country from rural areas to urban centers to work as maids or laborers, or for commercial sexual exploitation. Moroccan men, women, and children are exploited for forced labor and prostitution in European and Middle Eastern countries. Young Moroccan girls from rural areas are recruited to work as child maids in cities, but often experience non-payment of wages, threats, and physical or sexual abuse, and sometimes face restrictions on movement. These practices indicate that these girls are subjected to involuntary servitude. Moroccan boys experience forced labor as apprentices in the artisan and construction industries and in mechanic shops. A few Moroccan men and boys are lured to Europe by fraudulent job offers, and are subsequently forced to sell drugs. In addition, men and women from sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Philippines enter Morocco voluntarily but illegally with the assistance of smugglers; once in Morocco, some of the women are coerced into prostitution or, less frequently, forced into domestic service. Nigerian gangs, who engage in a variety of criminal activities like human smuggling and drug trafficking, compete to control the trafficking of sub-Saharan Africans in Morocco.

The country of Colombia, South America, has a high prevalence of women and girls who are subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced prostitution. These women and girls work within Colombia, and are also sent to sex tourism destinations in other parts of Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, and North America, including the United States. The humanitarian crisis in Venezuela has worsened from 2010 to the present, with almost 1.5 million people fleeing from Venezuela to cities throughout Colombia in recent years. Immigrants in major Colombian cities such as Bogotá, Medellín, and Cali find work scarce, and some turn to prostitution as a last resort to feed their families. Within Colombia, some men are found in conditions of forced labor, but the forced prostitution of women and children from rural areas and urban areas remains a larger problem. Individual cases of forced marriage – a risk factor for trafficking – involuntary domestic servitude, and forced begging have been reported. Some children are subjected to forced labor in mines and quarries, in the agricultural sector or as domestic servants. Groups at high risk for internal trafficking include displaced persons, poor women in rural areas, and relatives of members of criminal organizations. Continued armed violence in Colombia has displaced many in rural communities, making them vulnerable to human trafficking. Guerillas and new illegal armed groups have been reported to forcibly recruit children to join their ranks; the government estimates thousands of children are exploited under such conditions. Members of gangs and organized criminal networks may force their relatives and acquaintances, and displaced persons – typically women and children – into conditions of forced prostitution and forced labor, including forced work in the illegal drug trade. Colombia is also a destination for foreign child sex tourists, particularly in coastal cities such as Cartagena and Barranquilla. Migrants from South America, Africa, and China transit Colombia en route to the United States and Europe; some may fall victim to traffickers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in Texas</span> Overview of the situation of human trafficking in the U.S. state of Texas

Human trafficking in Texas is the illegal trade of human beings as it occurs in the state of Texas. It is a modern-day form of slavery and usually involves commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor, both domestic and agricultural.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in California</span> Overview of the situation of human trafficking in the U.S. state of California

Human trafficking in California is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, and forced labor as it occurs in the state of California. Human trafficking, widely recognized as a modern-day form of slavery, includes

"the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power, or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 American immigration crisis</span> Surge in immigration along US southern border

The 2014 American immigration crisis was a surge in unaccompanied children and women from the Northern Triangle of Central America (NTCA) seeking entrance to the United States in 2014. According to U.S. law, an unaccompanied alien child refers to a person under 18 years of age, who has no lawful immigration status in the U.S., and who does not have a legal guardian to provide physical custody and care.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Safe Horizon</span> Nonprofit organization in the United States

Safe Horizon, formerly the Victim Services Agency, is the largest victim services nonprofit organization in the United States, providing social services for victims of abuse and violent crime. Operating at 57 locations throughout the five boroughs of New York City. Safe Horizon provides social services to over 250,000 victims of violent crime and abuse and their families per year. It has over 800 employees, and has programs for victims of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, and human trafficking, as well as homeless youth and the families of homicide victims. Safe Horizon's website has been accessible for the Spanish-speaking population since 2012. Safe Horizon has an annual budget of over $63 million.

Human Trafficking or "trafficking in persons" is the recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person for mainly the purposes of forced labor or prostitution. Other reasons for human trafficking are the removal of organs, forced marriage, and other exploitations. South America is one of the biggest source and destination locations in the world and has struggled with the issue for many years. The ILO estimates that of the 20.9 million victims of human trafficking in 2012, 1.8 million were from Latin America. There are many factors that cause human trafficking, like a high demand for domestic servants, sex laborers, and factory workers, the existence of already established trafficking networks that often take advantage of young women and children, corruption in the governments and local law enforcement agencies, a governmental disinterest in the issue and a lack of opportunity for women in South American regions where trafficking occurs. People exploited in human trafficking are often impoverished, members of indigenous peoples, unemployed, victims of abuse, illiterate, substance users, homeless, or involved in gang activity. Research by the United States Department of State has also found that LGBTQ+ and transgender people are vulnerable to human trafficking. By far, sex trafficking is the leading type of human trafficking, making up 79 percent of all human trafficking. This is then followed by forced labor at 18 percent. About 20 percent of trafficking victims are children. Primary destinations for trafficking and illegal immigration are the United States, Spain, Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Canada. Globalization, capitalism and societal attitudes facilitate and reduce the barriers to human trafficking.

Violence against women in the United States is the use of domestic abuse, murder, sex-trafficking, rape and assault against women in the United States. It has been recognized as a public health concern. Culture in the United States has led towards the trivialization of violence towards women, with media in the United States possibly contributing to making women-directed violence appear unimportant to the public.

Cybersex trafficking, live streaming sexual abuse, webcam sex tourism/abuse or ICTs -facilitated sexual exploitation is a cybercrime involving sex trafficking and the live streaming of coerced sexual acts and/or rape on webcam.

References

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  19. 1 2 Long, Colleen (February 26, 2019). "Nearly 6000 complaints of abuse at migrant children shelters made over four years". PBS NewsHour . PBS. Archived from the original on May 8, 2019. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  20. ↑ Caitlin Owens, Stef W. Kight, Harry Stevens (February 26, 2019). "Thousands of migrant youth allegedly suffered sexual abuse in U.S. custody". Axios. Archived from the original on February 26, 2019. Retrieved February 26, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. 1 2 3 Planas, Roque (June 20, 2018). "Migrant Children Drugged Without Consent At Government Centers, Court Documents Show". Politics. Huffington Post Media Group. Archived from the original on May 6, 2019. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
  22. 1 2 Morel, Laura (October 20, 2018). "Immigrant children still being drugged at shelter despite judge's order, lawyers say". RevealNews. The Center for Investigative Reporting. Archived from the original on May 9, 2019. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
  23. 1 2 3 Shoichet, Catherine; Sayers, Devon (October 20, 2018). "Lawsuit: 10-year-old was drugged, sexually assaulted in US custody". CNN . Cable News Network. Archived from the original on May 9, 2019. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
  24. ↑ Jimenez, Maria (October 1, 2009). "Humanitarian Crisis: Migrant Deaths at the U.S.-Mexico Border" (PDF). American Civil Liberties Union. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 27, 2017. Retrieved June 3, 2017.
  25. ↑ Goldman, M. (1999). The Violence Against Women Act: Meeting its goals in protecting battered immigrant women? Family & Conciliation Courts Review, 37(3), 375–392. doi:10.1111/j.174-1617.1999.tb01311.x
  26. 1 2 3 4 5 American Immigration Council. (2012). Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Provides Protections for Immigrant Women and Victims of Crime. Washington, DC. Retrieved from: https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/violence-against-women-act-vawa-provides-protections-immigrant-women-and-victims-crime Archived August 10, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
  27. 1 2 Silva-Martínez, E. (2016). “El silencio”: Conceptualizations of Latina immigrant survivors of intimate partner violence in the idwest of the United States. Violence Against Women, 22(5), 523–544. doi:10.1177/1077801215607357
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