Indentured Servitude in Americas Southwest | Socyberty

by Jamie Myles in Issues, October 17, 2010

This practice has been going on in America since around 1943 when The Bracero program was initiated. this program allowed Mexicans to legally work in the United States with the proper authorizations.

Hispanic songs in the 1950s were full of lyrics about drinking and dancing with beautiful ladies at local bars. These Beautiful ladies are called bar girls, ficheras, b-girls or sometimes even hostesses. The truth is that they were indentured servants working off their debts to “Coyote’s”who sneak them into the country illegally. This is nothing more then indentured servitude where the women pay their debt to (human) traffickers with their wages. Even now this is a popular practice that is used to increase revenue in the many small bar’s owned by the criminal element. The “bar girl” practice is not unique to Hispanics. Asian criminals also make young attractive women work in this capacity to pay debts to Human traffickers. The nationality of the criminals is diverse therefore it can happen in any neighborhood. In El Monte, California, Police routinely check to make sure bars aren’t using women to encourage people to buy more alcohol. In this community it is very common to find that men looking for female companionship can still find it offered in the neighborhood Latino bars.

This form of servitude is illegal and often involves prostitution. The woman are generally paid very little so they may have to spend years in this type slavery to pay off the “coyote’s”. Young men are sometimes forced to dress as females and engage in prostitution to pay off their debts to the human traffickers as well. Illegal immigration is not a harmless activity. Many crimes are the result of our porous borders.

Indentured Servitude in Americas Southwest | Socyberty

Source: Socyberty