Labor Trafficking of Chinese to the U.S. and Other countries

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/12/taiwan-arrests-more-than-40-people-in-human-trafficking-ring-that-sent-migrants-to-canada-australia/

Taiwan arrests more than 40 people in human trafficking ring that sent migrants to Canada, Australia

The Canadian Press  Jul 12, 2012 – 9:48 AM ET

Andy Clark / Reuters files

A family is escorted off the MV Sun Sea after they and an estimated 490 suspected Tamil refugees arrived on a cargo ship at Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt in Colwood, British Columbia on Vancouver Island in 2010. Authorities intercepted and boarded the ship after it entered Canadian waters after sailing from Sri Lanka. 

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Officials in Taiwan have arrested more than 40 people in a human trafficking ring that may have sent hundreds of Chinese nationals into Canada and Australia.
A report on the Taipei Times newspaper website says the lucrative operation was allegedly run by Chinese national Wang Cheng-wei, who was arrested in February.
Since Wang’s arrest, Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency reportedly cracked multiple cases of human smuggling by working with authorities in Canada and Australia.

According to Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency, the smugglers would buy Chinese passports for people from Fujian Province and add their photos to the documents.
The report says the smugglers conducted more than 50 successful operations, smuggling one to four Chinese per trip.
Canada has launched an ambitious international effort to prevent smugglers from reaching its shores.
In 2009, the MV Ocean Lady brought 76 Tamil migrants to British Columbia, and the MV Sun Sea brought 492 a year later.
The Harper government has offered financial assistance to help foreign countries like Thailand to crack down on human smuggling rings.
The government has also introduced a tough new immigration bill that targets the gangs.

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Most labor trafficking victims you will see in the restaurants in the U.S. are Fujanese. Though the report says that the Fujanese are smuggled into Canada and the Australia, based on the past cases, traffickers and smugglers often use Canada's weak immigration regulation to smuggle and traffic the victims into the U.S.

Fujanese are subject to migrant smuggling and trafficking in developing countries in Europe, North America, and Australia. Fujanese are historically and culturally discriminated within the Chinese providence among many ethnic groups in China.


Traffickers and smugglers use countries with weak immigration legislation to transport victims and migrant workers to the U.S.


More information on Fujuanese
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CFoQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu%2Fcgi%2Fviewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D1006%26context%3Dforcedlabor&ei=neP-T8irIoSC2wWOiP3YBA&usg=AFQjCNFVshutqTvBQZY44IKSJmj4bK-ftw&sig2=MsPPvJy_Hr3Fd5lYwktWWw

TEXAS: Authorities charge two people in connection with human trafficking at massage parlors

http://www.statesman.com/news/williamson/authorities-charge-two-people-in-connection-with-human-2414188.html

ROUND ROCK — Authorities said Monday that they have arrested an Elgin man and woman who are accused of forcing five Asian women into prostitution at two massage parlors Panda Paws in Cedar Park and Unique Massage in Round Rock.
Xiaofeng Wo, 47, and Greg Sanfratello, 46, were both charged with continuous trafficking of persons, a first degree felony according to the Cedar Park Police Department. Wo was also charged with aggravated promotion of prostitution.
The women who worked at the massage parlors were forced to live there or were shuttled to an apartment Wo had leased in the 300 block of Cypress Creek Road in Cedar Park, a warrant said. The apartment had no furniture, and the women slept on sheets on the floor, the warrant said.
The warrant shows that Wo is a Chinese citizen, but Capt. Jeff Hayes, a spokesman for the Cedar Park Police Department, said the immigration status of the five women was uncertain.
Wo and Sanfratello, who lived at the same Elgin address, were arrested last week and being held Monday in the Williamson County Jail, according to an arrest warrant. Wo's bail was set at $515,000 for the two charges. Sanfratello's bail was set at $500,000.
Wo owned the massage parlors, located in the 900 block of S. Bell Blvd. in Cedar Park and the 2000 block of Interstate 35 in Round Rock, a warrant said.
Police seized $15,964 in cash, a 2004 Mazda 6 and a 2011 Honda Accord, according to court documents.
The Cedar Park Police Department and the Round Rock Police Department began their investigation in June after a man submitted an anonymous complaint saying that he had gone into Unique Massage on April 11 to receive a foot massage and was asked whether he wanted a "happy ending," the warrant said.
The warrant said that "a ‘happy ending' is common terminology used in the sex industry."
An investigator also read postings about sexual services the two massage parlors offered on a website.
Police sent an undercover officer into Panda Paws on June 21 and another into Unique Massage on June 22 and both were touched in an inappropriate way, according to the warrant.
The women who worked at the massage parlors were taken to a "safe and secure location where they are receiving appropriate follow-up assistance," police said. 

Contact Claire Osborn at 
246-7400

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Some studies say that Chinese women in massage parlors are not forced into prostitution per se, but they are prostituting on their own by flying into the U.S. on their own will. A report like this shows the contrary evidence. It also confirms the anecdotes that Chinese massage parlors are connected to marriage fraud. I am not sure how Sanfratello was involved with Wo. They were just co-habitating. Some say that massage parlor owners and victims are use American citizens to obtain green card through marriage fraud. I don't know if this is the similar case. Police must look into what's behind the women's ownership; i.e. who was the investors, how she opened the massage parlor, etc.