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This Section Last
Updated on January 22, 2008
|
The
(ongoing)
San Diego, California
Child Mass
Sexual Slavery
Scandal |
About the
Child Rape Camps of San Diego County,
California - A
Crime Against Humanity inside the U.S.A.
The articles
here below describe one of the largest
known child and youth sex trafficking
cases in the United States to date.
In one of several related cases,
hundreds of Mexican girls between 7 and
18 were kidnapped or subjected to false
romantic entrapment by organized
criminal sex trafficking gangs.
Victims were then brought to San Diego
County, California. Over a 10 year
period these girls were raped by
hundreds of men per day in more than 2
dozen home based and agricultural camp
based brothels.
A
Latina medical doctor employed by a U.S. federal
agency provided condoms to the victims for
years, and was told by her supervisors not to
speak out and organize efforts to rescue the
victims. This doctor was ordered under
threat of legal action to keep quiet about the
mass victimization of children in "rape
camps."
When a joint FBI, INS and San Diego Sheriff's
raid was finally organized and executed, ten
years after local law enforcement first learned
about local trafficking, many of the
criminal traffickers and johns escaped.
The 50 johns and traffickers who were captured
were later released when the intimidated child
victims refused to accuse their enslavers.
Most of the victims were then deported to Mexico
without being provided with any victim services.
A
number of murdered immigrant teen girls have
been found in San Diego, possibly linked to
trafficking rings.
The San Diego child sex trafficking case
continues to evolve. In June, 2003 one of
the key trafficking ringleaders was convicted of
a charge that would bring him 18 months in jail.
The rural rape camps continue to exist and were
filmed by a local TV station (see below).
The San Diego Sex Trafficking Case deserves the
full attention of the criminal justice system,
social service providers and victim advocates.
Previous to the notoriety of this case,
anti-trafficking advocates noted that some
concerned members of Congress and other decision
makers would ask "if 50,000 enslaved persons are
trafficked into the U.S. each year, where are
they?"
That question still needs to be researched and
answered on a national basis. In the
present, the San Diego case provides the
"smoking gun" that documents the true horror of
the Latin America to U.S. trafficking crisis.
The San Diego case represents a large tip of the
national trafficking 'iceberg,' and this case
must be addressed with aggressive legal zeal.
The San Diego child sex trafficking case is a
true abomination in the eyes of the creator and
in the eyes of the entire the human race!
Failure to deal with this case effectively will
send a clear message to traffickers that
the U.S. does not care about the lives and
mass-rape of the hundreds of 7 to 18 year old
girls who have been, and are today, victimized
in this international criminal enterprise.
To accomplish an end to such trafficking,
cross-cultural compassion and an end to
anti-immigrant hostility in U.S. society will
have to take place. Otherwise, such
hostility and apathy will allow
traffickers to continue their criminal violence
against these victimized women and children with
impunity.
End criminal impunity now!
LibertadLatina.org
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Latest San Diego Related News
Mexico
En desventaja, niños mexicanos indocumentados
Mexico's Undocumented Migrant Children are at a Disadvantage
for Refugee Benefits
Thousands of Children Cross Alone
into the U.S. Each Year to Escape Child Sex Trafficking Networks
Many of the 80,000 Mexican children who cross from Mexico into the U.S. alone,
as undocumented immigrants, are fleeing abuse at home, or are escaping from
child prostitution rings. As such, they
would possibly qualify for permission to stay in the United States.
These children would be able to avail themselves of this opportunity if U.S.
Border Patrol officers would provide them with the appropriate interview form,
as federal law requires. Instead, they minors are typically deported in less
than 24 hours after their arrests.
This is the reality facing children at risk, as described by attorney
Christopher Nugent. For many years, Nugent, of the law firm Holland and Knight,
has represented Mexican and Central American children and adults with
immigration problems. His work has been pro bono.
The Border Patrol treats unaccompanied Central American children differently
from Mexican children arrested as undocumented migrants. They are held for 72
hours before a decision is made to deport them. They are taken to a juvenile
detention center where they are given access to lawyers. Nugent estimates that
approximately 20,000 Central American children each year cross into the United
States...
"There are many Mexican children who qualify to receive asylum… most minors are
between 13 and 17 years, but are also 10-year-olds who migrate alone" said
Nugent, who regretted the fact that these Mexican children are not given the
option to talk with lawyers or with the Mexican consulate.
...Thousands of Mexican and Central American
children flee northward into the U.S. each year to escape child prostitution...
Nugent explained how in Mexico there exists terrible child trafficking in the
area of Acapulco, Guerrero, and that many now call this region "the new Bangkok"
of child sex tourism. Nugent also emphasized that Tijuana [on the U.S. border
with San Diego County] has also become an zone controlled by powerful child
prostitution networks. Many children [in prostitution] from Tijuana are trying
to flee to San
Diego.
According to Nugent 70 percent of children who migrate and come to the
Office of
Refugees in the United States have suffered some sort of trauma from violence
or sexual exploitation...
[Expanded
Translation]
Georgina Olson
Excélsior
July 3, 2008
Added Jan. 22, 2008
California, USA
Respected anti-trafficking activist opposes
nomination of new police chief due to past failure
to act against child sex trafficking in migrant
labor camps
John Monti, member
of Save Our State, appeared before the City Council
of
San Diego on January 22, 2008 to oppose the
appointment of Captain
Boyd Long,
San Diego Police Department, as assistant
police chief of the department.
Monti said, “My
opposition is based on the complete denial of what
has been happening and has happened in
McGonigle Canyon.” Monti displayed
a red backpack in the council which was found in
McGongicle Canyon when
girls were brought to be prostituted at a well-known
“prostibulo,” outdoor prostitution area, in the part
of the canyon known as “Los
Diablos” by the migrants. The backpack contained
lubricant, contraceptives
and tissue paper and had belonged to an unknown
prostituted girl.
"To
deny that there is a problem is silence – it is a
silence that equals
death,” thundered Monti. Monti is alarmed that
knowledge of the human
trafficking and forced prostitution of women and
children is being
suppressed by law enforcement and open-borders
activists. “Those girls
are equally deserving of protection as anyone else
in our country – legal or
illegal. If we say there is no problem when there is
– we create victims and
more victims, because no one will know this is
going on. If it is to be stopped the public
must know so they can
identify victims when they see them.”
Jan. 21, 2008
LibertadLatina
note:
John Monti, a
bilingual middle school teacher with
close ties to the Latino community,
is one of the most effective
activists against child sex
trafficking as it occurs in San
Diego County, California.
San Diego is where
the infamous child rape camps,
discussed on this web site, are
located. John Monti's work
calls into question why, after 100's
of thousands of dollars in
anti-trafficking funds were given to
law enforcement in the region, child
and youth sex trafficking remains
largely uncontested.
- Chuck Goolsby
Jan. 22, 2008
LibertadLatina
See also:
An alternative
view of the child rape camps of
rural San Diego County is presented
by this article about migrants in
McGonagle Canyon and
anti-trafficking activism.
"What has gotten
[the] San Diego Minutemen] the most
mainstream mileage is its scary
claim that the migrants of McGonigle
run a child prostitution ring in one
corner of the canyon..."
- Casey Sánchez
Southern Poverty Law
Center
Aug.23, 2007
LibertadLatina
note:
We differ strongly
with Casey
Sánchez'
dismissive conclusion that child sex
trafficking is a non-existent
problem in McGonigle canyon.
The San Diego
child sex trafficking crisis is an
extension of the vast network of
child prostitution that sees 900 or
more children and youth, some as
young as age seven, forced into
prostitution in Tijuana, just blocks
from the the San Diego County line.
Added November 2, 2005
The Oprah Winfrey Show
November
2,
2005
The OPRAH Show presented a special
report on the sale of children into
sexual slavery globally and within
the U.S.
This report has been posted in Web
format Online at:
Human
Trafficking: The Preventable
Disaster.
Featuring:
Investigation by CNN's Christiane
Amanpour
Discussion with Puerto Rican Pop
Star and Trafficked Children's
Advocate Ricky Martin
Write letters
to Congress!
Thank you, Oprah Winfrey!
|
Dear Oprah Winfrey,
Thank you for doing an
excellent job during your
November 2, 2005 show.
Together with CNN Chief
Foreign Correspondent
Christiane Amanpour and
Puerto Rican pop star and
children's advocate Ricky
Martin, you did much to
raise awareness about the
issue of trafficking.
Among other issues
discussed, the sex
trafficking of children from
in Tijuana, Mexico, and
across the international
border into San Diego
County, California was also
discussed. The 'reed
fields' - the open-air
brothels in the San Luis Rey
dry riverbed that were once
the heart of the 'San Diego
Child Rape Camps' - were
shown and discussed during a
taped segment interviewing
San Diego Deputy Sheriff
Rick Castro.
Most importantly, Oprah, you
encouraged the American
public to write to each of
these congressional
representatives (one
congressperson and two
senators), to insist that
the U.S. government make
trafficking a higher
priority than it is now.
I am especially concerned
that, when grass-roots
activists such as the
members of the non-profit
group 'Los Cristeros' - who
have staked-out trafficking
operations, have their
information apparently
ignored, even when they
have brought clearly
credible reports of child
brothel operations to San
Diego County Sheriff's
Department and the local FBI
office for action. Why
were the child sex slaves
involved not rescued?
I don't understand.
Why, in late 2005, are
children still being
smuggled in from Mexico,
forced as slaves to provide
sex for thousands of men in
San Diego County,
California? Why?
Thanks to your efforts, the
United States is coming
closer to the day when these
child rape camps, and
similar criminal operations
around the United States,
will be shut down.
Keep up the great work,
Oprah! We support your
efforts 100%!
Sincerely,
- Chuck Goolsby
LibertadLatina
November 2, 2005 |
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Added May 23, 2005
California
Anti-Trafficking Group Los Cristeros
Post TV Network News Report Showing
Hidden Camera Footage of Child
Prostitution in Tijuana (Often
Catering to U.S. Tourists) and in
San Diego, California.
May 18, 2005
San
Diego Child Rape Camps Crisis:
Guillermo Romero Flores, 45, and
Guadalupe Ventura, 28, Were
Convicted in San Diego Federal Court in
Relation to a 2001 Raid of a Brothel
Operating in Reeds on the Banks of the
San Luis Rey River.
The Two Face a Maximum of 10 Years in
Prison at a Sentencing Hearing in
August.
April 5, 2005
New
Study Finds 5,000 Children are at Risk
of Being Forced into Prostitution in
Mexican Border City of Tijuana, Near San
Diego, California.
Child Sex Trafficking is Growing
Rapidly.
(This
Large Group of Children is At Risk of
Being Kidnapped into the Child Rape
Camps of San Diego, California.)
April 5, 2005
Three
Carreto Family Suspects Plead Guilty to
All 27 Counts in New York City
Trafficking Trial.
April 4, 2005
New
York - Carreto Gang Trial Begins: Homes
in Queens, New York Were Prisons for
Latin Sex Slaves.
Young
Prostitutes in Tijuana's Red Zone.
©
Warga
News
04/03/2005
New
York Daily News Article Describes the
Kidnapping and Enslavement of Girls From
Age 8 Who are 'Broken In' On Tijuana,
Mexico Streets Before Being Sent to
Brothels in New York City.
Brooklyn Federal Case Against the
Notorious Carreto Family Sex Slavery
Gang to Begin March 4, 2005.
04/03/2005
Mexican
Women Set to Testify Against Carreto
Family Traffickers in Brooklyn Court.
Added 03/31/ 2005
Grassroots
Advocacy Group Los Cristeros 'Again' Demand
Police Action (As Do We)
For Child Sex Slaves Kidnapped from Mexico and Held
in Del Mar (San Diego County, California) Outdoor
Brothel Sitting Near $600,000 Homes. Los
Cristeros Request F.B.I. Assistance to Rescue Minor
Girl Slaves from Known Brothels Long Ago Reported to
Local Sheriffs.
Added 02/23/ 2004
Mexican Authorities Arrest New_York
Slavery Ring. |
|
March 31, 2005
Grassroots
Advocacy Group Los Cristeros 'Again'
Demand Police Action (As Do We at
LibertadLatina)
For Child Sex Slaves Kidnapped from Mexico and
Held in Del Mar (in San Diego County,
California) Brothels Sitting Near $600,000
Homes.
Joaquin Santiago of Los Cristeros:
[About
efforts to get local law enforcement to
React to Brothels where children
kidnapped from Mexico are repeatedly
raped for profit].
Excerpt:
We had the date,
time, and place of this prostibulo, yet no one
arrived to help the girls. And, it is still in
operation. Moreover, the pimps had been
trafficking these girls on that same date and
time for some time. I'm sure there was
surveillance in place, but I guess if you are an
undocumented Mexican girl you are a low
priority. Call the
F.B.I.
and ask if the
Hostage Rescue
Team
is busy with anything more pressing than this,
because this is a "critical incident." Since
nothing came of [providing law enforcement with]
this information I feel it is in the interest of
exposing the problem to show where it is
happening so the girls can be given a chance to
get their freedom back and the afflicted
communities can remove this cancer.
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March 30, 2005
San
Diego California Child Rape Camps Crisis:
CNN Reports on the San
Diego, California Sex Slavery Crisis and the
Recently Formed Task Force Created to Combat
Trafficking.
March 30, 2005
San
Diego California Child Rape Camps Crisis:
Law Enforcement Task Force
to Prosecute Sex-Trade, Slavery Cases: "750,000
Women Have Been Trafficked Into the U.S. In the
Last Decade."
Added 03/12/ 2005
San
Diego, California Child Rape Camps-Town Hall
Meeting; Regional Police Dept.'s Awarded $448,000 in
2004 by U.S. DOJ to Fight Traffickers.
[San Diego County] Sheriff Bill Kolender and
other law enforcement officials are creating a regional task force to
prosecute those who buy or sell people for sexual exploitation or forced
labor.
The problem is poorly documented in San Diego County because many
officers are not adequately trained to spot it, authorities said
yesterday in announcing the formation of the Human Trafficking Task
Force.
There have been roughly a dozen cases of such trafficking prosecuted
since 2003, but hundreds of such crimes, Deputy Rick Castro said. He has
focused on such activity in North County since 1996.
"I personally let more than 100 victims go, from 1996 through 1998,
without recognizing what I had," Castro said... |
March 8, 2005 - International Women's Day
LibertadLatina.org
comments in our 2005,
4th
Anniversary and International Women's Day
Statement:
Defending 'Maria'
from Impunity
-
about the ongoing child rape crisis in San Diego
County.
|
March 8, 2005
LibertadLatina.org
Excerpt 1:
If the well known and unfortunate White
American child kidnap and murder victims
such as Polly Klass, Megan Kanca and
Carlie Brucia (may they rest in peace)
had been known to have been trapped in a
child rape camp in San Diego,
California, or in a residential brothel
in Queens, New York run by sex
traffickers, helicopters and hundreds of
police and volunteers would have quickly
rescued them. Yet in San Diego
County, California, 12 year old
kidnapped 'little brown Maria' is
trapped in a brothel. It is known
to activists and others that she will
not be rescued by law enforcement.
Why?
The San Diego rape camps have been known to federal and local law
enforcement for over ten years. Ten years after
learning about the camps, federal, state and local law enforcement
conducted a raid of the worst open-air child rape camps. The raid
resulted in no convictions of the 40 men apprehended. The 47
enslaved underage girl victims remained silent because they had been
threatened with harm to themselves, to their families and to their
children, who are sometimes held hostage by traffickers. U.S. federal,
state and local law enforcement today know exactly where the traffickers
are pimping underage girls who have been kidnapped from Mexico.
Yet we see no visible efforts to rescue victims.
Therefore, We the People must stand and act in their defense.
Only We the People can pressure our governments to shut down the
child rape camps of San Diego County and across the Americas and the
World. LibertadLatina
would like to see the public join together to hold
governments accountable for these child rape camps. We look
forward to seeing real results from the $2 million in federal grants
sent in 2004 to San Diego based advocacy agencies and law enforcement.
The victims are waiting!
San Diego is part of a growing ‘zone of impunity’ that is emerging in
the U.S.-Mexican border region. Centuries of anti-Indigenous and
anti-Latina sexual exploitation is now enabling ruthless
traffickers.
Excerpt 2:
Within the United States, anti-immigrant hostility,
Spanish/English language barriers, machismo, official indifference and a
lack of political will appear to be 'binding the hands' of those
concerned law enforcement officials who would like to shut down the rape
camps and sex slavery brothels that now exist across the United States.
Even in instances where officials know where sex slavery exists, the
'rules of engagement' and the politics of police work sometimes cause
police not to act to rescue victims. Activist organizations such
as
Polaris Project are starting to
educate local police departments about best practices in how to respond
effectively to human slavery cases. The U.S. Department of Justice
is now funding regional anti-trafficking task forces across the United
States. Non-profit agencies are being well funded to assist
victims. The United States, the United Nations and the
Organization of American States are now funding initiatives to fight
trafficking in Latin America.
Yet San Diego's child rape camps continue to exist.
Under-staffed local law enforcement is fighting a loosing battle with
Tijuana, Mexico based traffickers. Gangs continue to kidnap and
enslave young girls with impunity because they know that U.S. law
enforcement won't or can’t act to shut down the child rape camps and
save lives! Across Latin America institutional sexism (and
classism and racism), official corruption and the huge profits available
from sex trafficking allow these criminals to operate in safety.
Leadership from the grassroots will be critical to change
these realities. Governments will not act unless they are pushed
to do so. We the People must unite and demand effective
action now!
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Latest San Diego News - Added February
28, 2005
Convicted Sex Trafficker Luciano Salazar
Released From Prison on a Technicality
Anti-trafficking
activists have reported that the one and only
member of the infamous Salazar Brothers Child
Sex trafficking gang ever to be jailed - Luciano
Salazar-Juarez, was released early on a
technicality from a two year prison sentence in
January, 2005.
LibertadLatina.org
has not seen this
reported release mentioned in the press, but we
believe the report to be credible.
On June 19, 2003,
Luciano Salazar-Juarez pleaded guilty to
conspiracy, harboring aliens and transporting
undocumented immigrants. Salazar-Juarez arranged
for the smuggling of Guillermina Hernandez-Ramos
into the United States. He rented an apartment
for her and another immigrant woman for the
purpose of engaging in prostitution. Both
women drowned while attempting to drive through
a flooded road near a known farm labor
prostitution site. On October 8, 2003
Luciano Salazar-Juarez was sentenced to 2 years
in jail for his crimes.
Salazar-Juarez is
apparently living in Tijuana, Mexico, the
staging area for transporting trafficking
victims across the border into San Diego County,
California.
See the below
articles in regard to Luciano Salazar:
[The San Diego,
California community of] Vista named in
'sex slave' repor0 01-24-2004
VISTA ----
An article in Sunday's New York Times
Magazine that portrays this North County
city as a hub for crime rings that force
young girls into prostitution is
probably accurate, local and county
officials said this week.
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