Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. S authorities. Or they were confined to dingy brothels in the New York City area that advertised their services with "chica cards," business cards passed out on street corners to attract customers. They were paid very little, or nothing at all. Their ordeal was detailed in a criminal complaint charging 13 people with smuggling dozens into the United States and forcing them into prostitution.
Eight of the defendants were jailed without bail Wednesday after an appearance in federal court Manhattan; four were in custody elsewhere, and one was being sought.
The ring "lured their unsuspecting victims to the United States and then consigned them to a living hell," U. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. The investigation was among several aimed at "blockading the repugnant sex trafficking corridor" used to exploit victims from Tenancingo, Mexico, said James Hayes, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York.
Tenancingo, an impoverished town in Tlaxcala state, has long been a notorious haven for pimps who use a combination of threats, abuse and broken promises of marriage and jobs to put innocent victims, some only in their teens, on a path to sex slavery in Mexico City and in large cities in the United States.
Most victims eventually manage to escape, authorities say in court papers. But, they add, "without legal status in the United States, without family and friends for support, without employment opportunities and as a result of the trauma they suffered, victims sometimes return to prostitution. She also told authorities that her pimps, believing she was pregnant, forced to take drugs intended to induce a miscarriage, and that she was beaten when she once tried to withhold some of her earnings.
