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01 August 2024 – 23:36
Chula Vista (USA), Aug 1 (EFE).- The increase in human trafficking on the border between Mexico and California, the busiest in the hemisphere, is worrying authorities in the region, who warn that this scourge of multimillion-dollar profits is leaving more and more victims, including migrants and refugees.
This crime has been gaining ground on both sides of the border, said California and Mexican authorities on Thursday, as well as non-governmental organizations, who met in the city of Chula Vista (California) to strengthen collaboration in their fight against this scourge.
In San Diego County alone, human trafficking for sexual exploitation generates $810 million a year, according to data from the Attorney General’s Office.
“On average, the victims are 16 years old, but we have rescued 12-year-olds who are exploited and forced to have relations with strangers for money,” said Dave Owen, an investigator for the San Diego District Attorney’s Office, to EFE.
He added that San Diego in particular is a high-demand site because of its border location. More than 360 victims of human trafficking are rescued in that county each year.
But authorities estimate that many other victims “remain exploited and have yet to be accounted for,” Owen said.
An example of the scale of the problem was the sting operation that led to the arrest of 14 people and the rescue of 10 victims last week during the latest edition of Comic-Con International, an event that draws more than 100,000 comic book and pop culture fans to San Diego each year.
Migrants in the crosshairs of traffickers
The scourge has hit migrants and refugees hard, said Chula Vista Police Chief Roxana Kennedy, who said traffickers are taking advantage of the new arrivals’ “vulnerability” and desire for a better life in the U.S.
The chief knows the problem well, because her city sits just seven miles north of the busiest border crossing in the world, a border that “is not just a line on a map, it is also a major attraction for human traffickers” for exploitation, she said.
Kennedy explained that the victims they have found in the area “are of all races and all ages,” and what they have in common is that they are “victims of profit and control.”
For her part, the Mexican consul in San Diego, Alicia Kerber Palma, urged joint actions on both sides of the border and asked for public cooperation. “If you see something, say something,” the diplomat emphasized.
The binational meeting was convened by the International Hearts Network, a non-profit organization that has been working for more than 20 years to stop human trafficking and exploitation in the binational region.
The president of the network, Alma Tucker, told EFE that being such a dynamic region with so much tourism, it is an ideal terrain for exploiters. “At mass events, such as concerts, sporting events, these criminals often sneak in to convince girls, teenagers, women, who are often forced to do so,” she added.
He said they have identified that “social media is where criminals spend hours, days looking for vulnerable people,” especially minors.
The meeting, ‘Two regions, one border, on binational human trafficking’, served to enable members of organizations on both sides of the border to gain in-depth knowledge of the signs that can be used to identify whether a minor or a person is a victim of trafficking and exploitation. EFE
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