HomeNewsBriefUS Busts Mexico-New Jersey Prostitution Ring
BRIEF

US Busts Mexico-New Jersey Prostitution Ring

GENDER AND CRIME / 2 MAY 2013 BY MARGUERITE CAWLEY EN

United States authorities have arrested 13 people accused of involvement in a network that forced Mexican women into sexual slavery in New York and New Jersey, underlining how the US remains a major trafficking destination for victims from Mexico and the region.

Federal agents arrested the suspects and rescued the women upon raiding four brothels in Yonkers, Queens, Poughkeepsie, and Newburgh. According to prosecutors, the network exploited dozens of women, who were brought mainly from Tenancingo, in Tlaxcala state, near Mexico City.

The women were allegedly enticed to the US with promises of a better life, but upon arrival were subjected to threats and sexual abuse and forced into prostitution. Some were brought to farms in New Jersey where they were forced to have sexual relations with as many as 25 farmworkers each day, while others worked in brothels in poor areas of New York City.

InSight Crime Analysis

Tenancingo is a major sex trafficking center, with approximately 1,000 of its 10,000 residents involved in the trade, according to BBC. The town's traffickers lure women from various parts of Mexico on romantic pretenses or with promises of a better life. Many women are initially trafficked to Mexico City and from there to the US, with Queens, New York one common destination.

While human smuggling and migrant kidnapping have traditionally been Mexico's major problem in this area, human trafficking has also become a serious issue. In 2012, a Mexican congresswoman claimed that 800,000 Mexican adults and 20,000 children are trafficked each year for sexual exploitation, while a prominent human rights group identified 15 states in Mexico as human trafficking centers in 2011.

A 2012 Congressional Research Service report stated that the US is one of five primary destination countries for Latin American sex trafficking victims, with Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Japan as the other four.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

BELTRAN LEYVA ORG / 7 JAN 2022

Murders have spiked in Mexico's northern state of Sonora, thanks to the volatile mix of a veteran drug trafficker's alleged…

ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME / 21 NOV 2022

Wildlife traffickers in Mexico are taking advantage of the social media marketplace, placing some of Mexico’s endangered species in peril.

GUATEMALA / 23 SEP 2021

The Jalisco Cartel New Generation, which has rapidly expanded to become Mexico's greatest criminal threat, may now be spreading its…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…