Human trafficking experts gather at STC

April 11, 2010 10:09 PM
Ana Ley

McALLEN — The two Honduran girls made their way to a stash house wearing miniskirts and high heels on a rainy and cold January morning.

A team of federal investigators followed.

Authorities had gotten a tip that the girls were being forced to have sex for money at a home north of Palmview, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Anson Luna testified during a Jan. 20 hearing in the case.

In the months that followed, ICE agents would arrest four adults in connection with the alleged sex trafficking scheme carried out at Bar El Paraiso, on Bentsen Palm Drive just south of 5 Mile Line, north of Palmview.

The girls would later tell police that they were approached by a couple in their home country who promised them a job at a restaurant in the United States. But instead, they were forced to work in the bar and have sex with customers until they paid off their smuggling fees.

The incident highlighted the horrifying realities of the human sex trafficking trade. Almost one million people are trafficked across international borders a year, experts say. Thousands more are kidnapped or sold within their own countries.

To shed light on the problem, the Women’s Studies Committee of South Texas College hosted its fourth annual conference to discuss ways to raise awareness on the issue and highlight efforts to combat the exploitation of men, women and children.

Keynote speakers at the four-day conference last week included Siddharth Kara — an author and founding member of Harvard’s Advisory Collective on Human Rights — and Somaly Mam, a Cambodian activist.

Mam told the audience that she was sold into sexual slavery several times by a man who posed as her grandfather. She was forced to work in a brothel with other young girls.

“I was a victim myself,â€