U study documents juvenile sex trafficking in Minneapolis | Star Tribune

U study documents juvenile sex trafficking in Minneapolis | Star Tribune:

“I was surprised by how organized and strategic the use of violence in these trafficking operations really is,” said Lauren Martin, director of research at the university’s Urban Research Outreach/Engagement Center, one of the study’s authors. “It’s strategic and has a purpose in developing girls as a product for sale. … It degrades the girls’ sense of themselves and creates an objectification where girls devalue themselves.”

Read article:
http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/274559791.html?page=1&c=y

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Native American Youths: Combating Human Trafficking: Federal, State, and Local Perspectives

SOURCE:

Minnesota Indian Women’s
Resource Center
2300 15th Avenue South (612) 728-2000
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55404 FAX (612) 728-2039
Contact: Suzanne Koepplinger, Executive Director
skoepplinger@miwrc.org or 612-728-2008
 
Testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs at hearing titled “Combating Human Trafficking: Federal, State, and Local Perspectives”.
September 23, 2013
 
Dear Chairman Carper, Ranking Member Coburn, and Committee Members:
 
On behalf of the women and children we serve at the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center in Minneapolis, I thank you for this opportunity to bring to your attention a grave and egregious human rights violation being perpetrated against vulnerable Native Americans in our country. Sex trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of children is of growing concern in our community. In 2009, the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center published the first research on the scope of sex trafficking of any demographic group. Our Shattered Hearts: the commercial sexual exploitation of American Indian women and children in Minnesota report found highly disturbing indicators that American Indian females were being targeted by sex traffickers for commercial sexual exploitation (CSE). For example, of women and girls screening into three direct service programs during the study, 40 % of incoming clients reported involvement in some type of commercial sexual exploitation and 27 % reported activities defined as sex trafficking under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). Our current direct service program for trafficked and high risk Native girls is screening all youth entering the program for sexual exploitation risk factors and involvement. Using standardized assessment tools we found that 71 % of girls entering the program had experienced long term homelessness, had a family member diagnosed with mental illness, and had experienced harassment and/or physical or sexual violence. Eighty six percent had a history of child protection systems involvement, and the same percentage (86%) of these girls reported some exposure to the sex trade. At a six month follow up screening, 71% of the girls were safely housed and 100% had begun receiving mental health care. All girls in this program also reported that they now knew where to get help and how to avoid high risk situations and people who were a bad influence on them. Three girls from the current cohort graduated from high school this year, the first in any of their extended families to do so. This program is the only one of its kind to provide these culturally strength based services to this population, has a wait list, and is receiving more referrals from law enforcement agencies every week.
 
We continue to receive reports from girls in our programs, from Greater Minnesota tribal sexual assault advocates, and local law enforcement that Native girls are being targeted for recruitment by traffickers to the oil fields of North Dakota and being sold in the “man camps”. One alleged incident involved a 14 year old Native girl who was reportedly sold to 40 men in one night. A 15 year old girl in our program reported that her brother’s best friend had been making frequent attempts to take her to North Dakota where, he said, she could “make lots of money” for them.
 
The Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition’s 2011 report Garden of Truth: the Prostitution and Trafficking of Native Women in Minnesota interviewed 105 Native women with prostitution arrest records. They found that a majority of the women had been sexually abused as children, had been raped, and were currently or previously homeless. Anchorage Police and FBI statistics show that Alaska Native women represent 33 % of all prostituted and trafficked women in the city, yet Alaska Natives make up less than 8% of the total population. Most Native females are sold in urban areas, but it is unknown how many of these women initially came from reservation communities or are city residents. We have no data on the scope of exploitation of boys or GLBTQ or “Two Spirit” youth, but recognize them as also vulnerable. National statistics tell us that over 70 % of American Indian people in this country reside in urban areas, not on their home reservations. Solutions must include tribal and urban populations for maximum benefit.
 
We believe the data we have on hand to reflect only a small portion of the true picture of those who have been trafficked into prostitution, for a number of reasons. The widespread normalization of sexual violence in American Indian communities has numbed many youth to the point where they minimize and rationalize what is happening to them just as domestic violence victims do. Many are engaged in survival sex simply to have a place to sleep at night. Others are gang raped in by Native Mob or other local street gangs and are living in fear of the consequences if they do not comply. Native Mob is only one of the gangs we have seen involved in the trafficking of Native girls due to their unique vulnerability. Methods of recruitment can involve what we call “guerrilla pimping”, which is simply gang rape with brutal beatings, or “finesse pimping” , which is often much more difficult to detect and interrupt. This is a grooming process, and has a manipulative pattern similar to domestic violence perpetration, where the initial relationship is loving but becomes increasingly more controlling, with the end result being girls caught in a web of violence and abuse with little hope to escape. Drugs are often used to ensure compliance. Most of these girls have multiple risk factors such as homelessness, early sexual abuse, and/or addiction or mental illness of parents/caregivers. Willingness to report or cooperate with law enforcement is rare due to the lack of secure housing and deep, complex trauma these children suffer from. As they are reluctant to report to law enforcement, they are not counted in the national data sets as trafficking victims. The current requirement to have a law enforcement certification of victimization in order to be counted as a trafficking victim has limited our understanding of the scope of the problem nationally. We believe that 80 – 90% of trafficked youth are under the radar and not being reported for this reason.
 
The damage to the victims is severe in human and economic terms. Our 2012 research report Early Intervention to Avoid Sex Trading and Trafficking of Minnesota’s Female Youth: A Benefit-Cost Analysis, found the quantifiable damage to a juvenile female recruited into sexual slavery includes high rates of physical damage including traumatic brain injury, damage to reproductive systems, and injuries from violent assaults. Mental health issues such as PTSD, dis-associative disorders, complex anxiety disorders are common. We cannot quantify the damage to a child’s spirit, or self-esteem, or to her family. Yet this analysis shows a definitive return on investment to the taxpayer of $34 for every $1 spent on early intervention and prevention services. We know what works, and have the evidence that it not only saves lives, but saves taxpayer dollars. It is now a matter of prioritization.
 
Since the publication of our Shattered Hearts report, the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center has engaged our local community and tribal partners in solutions. The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe is working to collect more data and create systemic responses to sex trafficking. I have conducted training in indigenous communities across the country, including the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the Ft. Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. In each instance, there is a need for more awareness of the tactics being used by perpetrators, and requests for technical assistance in identifying and responding to this crime. There is a gap in the need for coordinated responses and the resources available. In North Dakota, for example, tribal sexual assault advocates report numerous young women who had reportedly been victimized by sex traffickers but were too frightened by threats of consequences to their loved ones to report these crimes to law enforcement. The Bakken Oil Fields are indeed a boon to the economy of the region, and have also created an explosive market for sex traffickers who find vulnerable victims among Native American and other marginalized groups. This presents the opportunity for the businesses that are profiting from the oil industry to step into their leadership role. There is a great need for more law enforcement, more awareness and education, and more victim services in this region. I hope that the industry will seize this opportunity to invest in the wellness of the entire community in which they now work and live.
 
The Minnesota Human Trafficking Task Force has created a strong multi-disciplinary response to human trafficking. In 2011 the State passed the Safe Harbor for Youth Act, which aligns state statute with the Federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act in recognizing any juvenile sold into prostitution as a victim of a crime. In 2012 we presented a state-wide housing and services response called No Wrong Door for Services to the legislature. This is a comprehensive approach – developed by teams of prosecutors, police officers, county child protection workers, social workers, faith community, public health professionals, educators, and front line advocates – to create an effective system of housing and services that would work in partnership with law enforcement and county child welfare teams to effectively identify victims of CSE and route them into appropriate healing services rather than the juvenile justice system. We were successful in securing initial funding to begin implementing the No Wrong Door Model, but are seeking additional resources to fully fund the comprehensive approach that includes more accurate data collection systems to help us better understand the scope of the problem. We are collectively designing more effective approaches to reduce the demand for sexually exploited persons, for without the demand there would be no supply.
 
I want to again thank the Committee Members for their leadership in recognizing the importance of a comprehensive approach to ending the sexual slavery of vulnerable people. No person should be viewed as a commodity. One study tells us that a pimp can earn between $150,000 - $200,000 for each single child sold repeatedly for sex. Sex trafficking is a highly lucrative criminal enterprise that is robbing our communities of the youth, who are our future. It is reliant upon a market demand that must be stopped. We need more resources across sectors, but particularly within law enforcement, victim services, and child protection departments – to begin to interrupt this human rights violation and ensure that all children can grow up without being sentenced to a lifetime of trauma and violence.
 
Thank you.

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Minneapolis Lao-American fights human trafficking in Laos | MinnPost

Minneapolis Lao-American fights human trafficking in Laos | MinnPost

                                                                  Courtesy of Thouni Seneyaone

Thouni Seneyaone: “My grandma wanted me to get education in the states and use 

my education and talent to assist the needy.”

"Seneyakone, 28, is packing for a one-way trip in September to relive the simpler life of her homeland and to fulfill Tonglor’s dreams of empowering disadvantaged people in Laos, standing by the victims of sex trafficking and convincing them that life has more in store for them."

Read more:

http://www.minnpost.com/community-sketchbook/2013/08/minneapolis-lao-american-fights-human-trafficking-laos

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Duluth tackles issue of human trafficking - KTTC Rochester, Austin, Mason City News, Weather and Sports

Image via WikipediaAssociated Press - November 28, 2010 11:04 AM ET 

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) - A community task force in Duluth has been started to address human trafficking and soon the city council will take up the issue.

Task force coordinator Shunu Shrestha says the frequency of human trafficking is difficult to gauge, but where prostitution is occurring, coercion and trafficking are usually present.

This month 29 people were indicted in a sex trafficking ring in which Somali gangs in Minneapolis and St. Paul allegedly forced girls under age 14 into prostitution.

Councilor Sharla Gardner is working on a resolution that would voice support for the task force, the Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault and the American Indian Community Housing Organization.

The Duluth News Tribune reports Gardner also scheduled a committee of the whole meeting Dec. 6 to discuss the issue.

Information from: Duluth News Tribune, http://www.duluthsuperior.com

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Duluth tackles issue of human trafficking - KTTC Rochester, Austin, Mason City News, Weather and Sports

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Somalis in Twin Cities Shaken by Sex-Trafficking Charges - NYTimes.com

Jennifer Ackerman for The New York Times

Members of Minneapolis’s Somali community left an Eid prayer at Masjid Dar Al-Hijrah on Tuesday. While many Somalis have thrived in the United States, criminal allegations have jolted the immigrant population.

By ERIK ECKHOLM

Published: November 23, 2010

MINNEAPOLIS — When the girl now identified as Jane Doe 2 came under their control in 2006, at age 12, the Somali Outlaws and the Somali Mafia gangs set a firm rule: Their members could have sex with her for nothing; others had to pay with money or drugs.

Jenn Ackerman for The New York Times

Abdulkadir Sheriff, a former gang member who works at the Da’wah Islamic center, said his recovery from a stabbing was a sign “that I’ve got a second chance.”

Repeatedly over the next three years, in apartments, motel rooms and shopping center bathrooms in Minnesota and Tennessee, the girl performed sexual acts for gang members and paying customers in succession, according to a federal indictment that charged 29 Somalis and Somali-Americans with drawing young girls into prostitution over the last decade, using abuse and threats to keep them in line, and other crimes. The suspects, now aged 19 to 38, sported nicknames like Hollywood, Cash Money and Forehead, prosecutors said.

The allegations of organized trafficking, unsealed this month, were a deep shock for the tens of thousands of Somalis in the Minneapolis area, who fled civil war and famine to build new lives in the United States and now wonder how some of their youths could have strayed so far. Last week, in quiet murmurings over tea and in an emergency public meeting, parents and elders expressed bewilderment and sometimes outrage — anger with the authorities for not acting sooner to stop the criminals, and with themselves for not saving their young.

The indictment was the latest in a series of jolting revelations starting around 2007, when a spate of deadly shootings in the Twin Cities made it impossible to ignore the emergence of Somali gangs. Then came the discovery that more than 20 men had returned to Somalia to fight for Islamic extremists, bringing what many Somalis feel has been harsh and unfair scrutiny from law enforcement and the news media.

“And now it’s this sex ring,” said Zuhur Ahmed, 25, who discusses Somali issues on her weekly program on KFAI community radio in Minneapolis. “Everybody is wondering what’s going to be the next thing.”

Cawo Abdi, a Somali sociologist at the University of Minnesota, said that past surges in concern about troubled youths had not been followed up with money and programs to help them. “This is viewed as such a huge scandal and outrage,” she said of the new charges, “that it has to lead to some kind of action.”

Many Somali immigrants are adapting well to the United States, as demonstrated on a major Islamic holiday last week when, in what has become an annual ritual, thousands streamed from morning prayers to enjoy the giant indoor amusement park at the Mall of America. Girls in traditional head scarves and boys in their best white shirts lined up for wild rides like the Splat-O-Sphere and the Log Chute. Yet poverty remains common, and their wrenching history creates some special obstacles for Somali families.

“The migrant youth are more at risk than other kids,” said Dahir Jibreel, a former teacher who is the executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center, a small nonprofit group that hopes to develop community programs.

Typically, the parents grew up in Somalia while their children have grown up in America, and they inhabit different cultural worlds. The parents, some of whom have not mastered English, expect obedience and modesty and closely follow politics back in East Africa; the children are focused not on the homeland but on the money, clothes and excitement dangled by American culture.

Compounding the challenges, some young Somalis arrived in the United States after traumatic years in refugee camps, and without their parents. A significant minority have dropped out of school, only to spend time lurking in the streets around Riverside Plaza, a low-income high-rise complex in the neighborhood some call Little Mogadishu, or around one of the city’s Somali shopping centers.

The indictment that set off the current soul-searching accuses the members of three interlinked gangs — the Somali Outlaws, the Somali Mafia and the Lady Outlaws — of involvement with the sex trafficking as well as thefts and large-scale credit card fraud.

One girl, identified as Jane Doe 1, was not yet 14 in 2005 when gang members first drove her to Tennessee and Ohio to trade sex for money and drugs, according to the indictment. Another girl, Jane Doe 3, was 15 in 2008 when she argued with her mother and fled to a gang member known as Boss Lady, only 18 herself, who put her up while managing her prostitution.

Some Somali leaders, including relatives of some of those charged, insisted that federal agencies were exaggerating both the crimes and the reach of any gangs.

The authorities have identified “a couple of hundred” Somalis who are members or associates of several different gangs, said Jeanine Brudenell, a community liaison with the Minneapolis police. The groups tend to be loosely structured, and while they are known for robberies and occasional marijuana dealing, they are not large-scale hard-drug syndicates like some American gangs.

Mr. Jibreel, the former teacher, said he had heard other examples of teenage girls who ended up as sex slaves. He said he had recently helped one girl who ran off at 12 and turned to prostitution and drugs under the aegis of gangs. She had a baby at 16 who was taken away by child protective services and continued her underworld life — under threat of death if she tried to leave it — until she recently gave birth to a second child whom she is determined to keep.

Jenn Ackerman for The New York Times

Studying the Koran.

Jenn Ackerman for The New York Times

Somali women at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., the site of a gathering last week on a major Islamic holiday.

Jennifer Ackerman for The New York Times

“I see these indictments as a wake-up call for parents,” said Hassan Mohamud, a lawyer and imam of the Da’wah Islamic center in St. Paul.

Jenn Ackerman for The New York Times

Kassim Busuri, 23, right, helping Sara Mohamud, 8, and others with homework in a tutoring program at the Da’wah center.

In a community that shies away from public discussion of sex and crime, some religious leaders and social workers have tried in the past to warn about the perils facing Somali youths.

“I see these indictments as a wake-up call for parents,” said Hassan Mohamud, a lawyer and imam of the Da’wah Islamic center in St. Paul.

Imam Mohamud visits Somalis in prison, trying to lure them to the fold, and his mosque offers after-school Koran classes to scores of young people, but he added that the community needed money for things like soccer coaches as well as stronger religious training.

One former gang leader he helped is Abdulkadir Sheriff, 31, whose tale, though many details cannot be independently confirmed, seems to encapsulate the strains and temptations of many Somali youths.

Mr. Sheriff said he fled Somalia for Kenya after seeing two sisters raped and murdered. He ended up in Minneapolis in 1996 with a sister and her husband, at the age of 17. They moved into the forbidding towers of Riverside Plaza, and he was kicked out of high school within a month after getting into fights. (To this day, he cannot read or write.)

Mr. Sheriff said he helped form Somali gangs for protection and self-esteem. “The only way to survive is to be somebody,” he said. He admitted carrying guns and selling drugs, spent a year in prison for car theft and beat a murder rap, but he insists that he was not involved in prostitution.

In 2007, as Mr. Sheriff emerged from a bar near the apartment towers, a rival stabbed him in the neck and left him for dead. His recovery, he said, “was a sign from God,” and his conversion was cemented by a visit from Imam Mohamud. Now Mr. Sheriff, who speaks with a raspy voice because of damage to his vocal cords, works as security chief at the Da’wah center and leads an Islamic 12-step program to help others stop drinking.

When he sees his surgical scars in the mirror, Mr. Sheriff said, “This reminds me that I’ve got a second chance.”

“There won’t be another one,” he said.

Source: The New York Times

Somalis in Twin Cities Shaken by Sex-Trafficking Charges - NYTimes.com

Feds Break Up Human Trafficking Ring in Minnesota, Tennessee

Nearly 30 Somali immigrants named in indictment

Updated: Monday, 08 Nov 2010, 9:44 PM CST
Published : Monday, 08 Nov 2010, 9:06 AM CST

by Tom Lyden / FOX 9 News

MINNEAPOLIS - In a series of arrests carried out Monday morning in the Twin Cities and Nashville, Tennessee, federal and local authorities broke up a human trafficking ring that provided underage prostitutes.

A federal indictment unsealed Monday morning in Nashville details the sex trafficking operations of 29 Somali men and women tied to the Somali Outlaws, Somali Mafia and Lady Outlaws gangs, which are all connected and based in Minneapolis. Of the 29 indicted, 12 were arrested Monday morning in the Twin Cities, eight in Nashville and six were already in jail in various locations. Three remain at-large and wanted.

Word of the activities of the ring first became public in September, when investigators sought the phone records of a 15-year-old girl who was a prostitute for the ring.

According to the indictment, one of the intentions of the three groups is to “identify, recruit and obtain” girls under 14 and girls under 18 for prostitution. The sex ring operated between 2000 and 2010 in Minneapolis, Nashville, and Columbus, Ohio.

“Trafficking children for sex is intolerable and the Department of Justice will aggressively enforce trafficking and other laws to eliminate these types of deplorable acts,” said U.S. Attorney Jerry Martin. “As shown here today, law enforcement agencies at every level will come together to bring the full force of justice to bear on individuals who choose to profit by victimizing innocent children.”

The indictment details the trafficking and sexual assault of four girls – two under the age of 18 and two aged 13 and under at the time of their recruitment. The girls were allegedly taken between Minneapolis and Nashville, where they were sold for sex and forced to have sex with gang members. One of the victims was also taken to an apartment in Seattle and to Columbus with other girls.

One of the victims detailed in the indictment was picked up from her high school several times and raped in a bathroom at Northtown Mall in Blaine, Minn. and inside an abandoned garage.

During a trip to Nashville, one of the gang members allegedly shot a cell phone video of a victim engaging in sex acts with someone else in the car. He then sent that video to other people.

Most of the prostitution transactions took place in apartments, homes and hotel room in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities metro or Nashville.

The sex trafficking offenses carry a penalty of 15 years to life in prison.

“Human traffickers abuse innocent people, undermine our public safety, and often use their illicit proceeds to fund sophisticated criminal organizations,” said ICE Director John Morton. “ICE is committed to bringing these criminals to justice and rescuing their victims from a life in the shadows. We will continue to fight the battle to end human trafficking both here in the United States and around the globe.”

Those charged in the indictment are identified as:

• Abdifitah Jama Adan, aka “Shorty” aka “Faleebo” aka “Kuzzo,” 28;
• Abdullahi Sade Afyare aka “Forehead,”19;
• Ahmad Abnulnasir Ahmad aka “Fabulous,”23;
• Yahya Jamal Ahmed, 23;
• Abdikarim Osman Ali, aka “Homer” aka “Big Abdi,” 22;
• Musse Ahmed Ali aka “Fat Boy,” 23;
• Hassan Ahmed Dahir aka “Mohamed Ali Hussein,” 21;
• Fadumo Mohamed Farah aka “Naana Naana” aka “Gangster Boo” aka “Barnie,” 25;
• Idris Ibrahim Fahra aka “Chi Town,” 22;
• Yasin Ahmed Farah, 19;
• Abdullahi Hashi aka “Kamal,” 24;
• Fatah Haji Hashi aka “Jerry” aka “Jr,” 23;
• Abdirahman Abdirazak Hersi aka “Biggie,” 20;
• Muhiyadin Hassan Hussein aka “CD,” 22;
• Dahir Nor Ibrahim aka “Dahir Lucky,” 38;
• Abdifatah Bashir Jama aka “Cash Money” aka “Ohio,” 23;
• Andrew Kayachith aka “AK,” 20;
• Abdigadir Ahmed Khalif aka “Awali,” 24;
• Bashir Yasin Mohamud aka “Br,” 26;
• Mustafa Ahmed Mohamed, 22;
• Fuad Faisal Nur aka “Hanjule,” 24;
• Abdifatah Sharif Omar aka “British” aka “Pinky,” 25;
• Liban Sharif Omar aka “Sunderra,” 21;
• Mohamed Sharif Omar aka “Moe D” aka “Mojo,” 26;
• Hamdi Ali Osman aka “Big Hamdi” aka “Boss Lady,” 22;
• Haji Osman Salad aka “Hollywood,” 20;
• Bibi Ahmed Said, 19;
• Ahmed Aweys Sheik aka “Rear Hammer” aka “Abdul,” 24; and
• Yassin Abdirahman Yusuf aka “Junior” aka “Black Cat Junior,” 21.

Feds Break Up Human Trafficking Ring in Minnesota, Tennessee
Source: MyFox Houston