A group of Guatemalan women have begun testifying in federal court.
Lacking education and facing very bleak economic prospects at home, they were driven to leave Guatemala, paying coyotes $10,000 to help them enter Mexico and the United States respectively. Once there, they discovered their coyotes had cut a deal with a pair of Guatemalan sisters (Mirna and Gladys Valenzuela) in their late 30s who, acting as their madams, sold these women into prostitution around MacArthur Park. Never able to keep their salary and pay their coyotes back should they have come here without having given the smugglers cash in Guatemala, they became indentured servants with no possibility of release.
A driver responsible for transporting these women from place to place cooperated with the FBI, enabling them to hone in on this one situation.
Those on the stand have explained they were not aware they would be forced into this position. Trial has been going on since early January, and this is but a small group of five or so.
I am in the process of inquiring into the frequency of situations like these.
The imposition of sex slavery onto illegal immigrants is neither a new phenomenon, nor is it one unique to this country or this ethnic enclave.
But...this type of thing is one of the darker slivers within the immigration section of the "demographic change" pie chart, and how big a sliver it indeed is would be a topic I'd like to pursue.
I am still looking into what stage of trial this specific case is. Depending on that, I could speak to the victims and defendants in addition to the lawyers and government officials. This story is tragic any way you cut it.
But it could work within the News21 schema if it embodies but one example of a larger problem of this nature.
If it is, I would be interested in its pursuit. These women are in Los Angeles, and I would prefer, from a storytelling perspective, to follow a lead that I could spend a great deal of time with in person.
The woman testifying has only provided her first name to journalists (Sandra), but again, access is also contingent on the stage of trial (in addition to other things). I had read about and been horrified by this story a month ago, but I heard about it in a bit more detail when I ran into Scott Glover, and he let me know he could, perhaps, help me get in touch with the relevant people.
Because this story regards crime, it would probably involve a top-down approach. The attornies involved with the case:
-U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Morrow
-Assistant U.S. Attny Cheryl Murphy
-Attny Jeff Price
-Defense Attny Dana Cephas
-Assistant U.S. Attny Curtis Kin
-Mirna and Gladys Valenzula (also illegal immigrants)
-Mirna's boyfriend Gabriel Mendez
-Sandra and the five others testifying
Were it to work, this could be the kind of story told through writing but also with a fast still camera and recorded voice overs (sort of a photo doc + radio embedded into a long online story).
Lacking education and facing very bleak economic prospects at home, they were driven to leave Guatemala, paying coyotes $10,000 to help them enter Mexico and the United States respectively. Once there, they discovered their coyotes had cut a deal with a pair of Guatemalan sisters (Mirna and Gladys Valenzuela) in their late 30s who, acting as their madams, sold these women into prostitution around MacArthur Park. Never able to keep their salary and pay their coyotes back should they have come here without having given the smugglers cash in Guatemala, they became indentured servants with no possibility of release.
A driver responsible for transporting these women from place to place cooperated with the FBI, enabling them to hone in on this one situation.
Those on the stand have explained they were not aware they would be forced into this position. Trial has been going on since early January, and this is but a small group of five or so.
I am in the process of inquiring into the frequency of situations like these.
The imposition of sex slavery onto illegal immigrants is neither a new phenomenon, nor is it one unique to this country or this ethnic enclave.
But...this type of thing is one of the darker slivers within the immigration section of the "demographic change" pie chart, and how big a sliver it indeed is would be a topic I'd like to pursue.
I am still looking into what stage of trial this specific case is. Depending on that, I could speak to the victims and defendants in addition to the lawyers and government officials. This story is tragic any way you cut it.
But it could work within the News21 schema if it embodies but one example of a larger problem of this nature.
If it is, I would be interested in its pursuit. These women are in Los Angeles, and I would prefer, from a storytelling perspective, to follow a lead that I could spend a great deal of time with in person.
The woman testifying has only provided her first name to journalists (Sandra), but again, access is also contingent on the stage of trial (in addition to other things). I had read about and been horrified by this story a month ago, but I heard about it in a bit more detail when I ran into Scott Glover, and he let me know he could, perhaps, help me get in touch with the relevant people.
Because this story regards crime, it would probably involve a top-down approach. The attornies involved with the case:
-U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Morrow
-Assistant U.S. Attny Cheryl Murphy
-Attny Jeff Price
-Defense Attny Dana Cephas
-Assistant U.S. Attny Curtis Kin
-Mirna and Gladys Valenzula (also illegal immigrants)
-Mirna's boyfriend Gabriel Mendez
-Sandra and the five others testifying
Were it to work, this could be the kind of story told through writing but also with a fast still camera and recorded voice overs (sort of a photo doc + radio embedded into a long online story).
A group of Guatemalan women have begun testifying in federal court.
Lacking education and facing very bleak economic prospects at home, they were driven to leave Guatemala, paying coyotes $10,000 to help them enter Mexico and the United States respectively. Once there, they discovered their coyotes had cut a deal with a pair of Guatemalan sisters (Mirna and Gladys Valenzuela) in their late 30s who, acting as their madams, sold these women into prostitution around MacArthur Park. Never able to keep their salary and pay their coyotes back should they have come here without having given the smugglers cash in Guatemala, they became indentured servants with no possibility of release.
A driver responsible for transporting these women from place to place cooperated with the FBI, enabling them to hone in on this one situation.
Those on the stand have explained they were not aware they would be forced into this position. Trial has been going on since early January, and this is but a small group of five or so.
I am in the process of inquiring into the frequency of situations like these.
The imposition of sex slavery onto illegal immigrants is neither a new phenomenon, nor is it one unique to this country or this ethnic enclave.
But...this type of thing is one of the darker slivers within the immigration section of the "demographic change" pie chart, and how big a sliver it indeed is would be a topic I'd like to pursue.
I am still looking into what stage of trial this specific case is. Depending on that, I could speak to the victims and defendants in addition to the lawyers and government officials. This story is tragic any way you cut it.
But it could work within the News21 schema if it embodies but one example of a larger problem of this nature.
If it is, I would be interested in its pursuit. These women are in Los Angeles, and I would prefer, from a storytelling perspective, to follow a lead that I could spend a great deal of time with in person.
The woman testifying has only provided her first name to journalists (Sandra), but again, access is also contingent on the stage of trial (in addition to other things). I had read about and been horrified by this story a month ago, but I heard about it in a bit more detail when I ran into Scott Glover, and he let me know he could, perhaps, help me get in touch with the relevant people.
Because this story regards crime, it would probably involve a top-down approach. The attornies involved with the case:
-U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Morrow
-Assistant U.S. Attny Cheryl Murphy
-Attny Jeff Price
-Defense Attny Dana Cephas
-Assistant U.S. Attny Curtis Kin
-Mirna and Gladys Valenzula (also illegal immigrants)
-Mirna's boyfriend Gabriel Mendez
-Sandra and the five others testifying
Were it to work, this could be the kind of story told through writing but also with a fast still camera and recorded voice overs (sort of a photo doc + radio embedded into a long online story).
Lacking education and facing very bleak economic prospects at home, they were driven to leave Guatemala, paying coyotes $10,000 to help them enter Mexico and the United States respectively. Once there, they discovered their coyotes had cut a deal with a pair of Guatemalan sisters (Mirna and Gladys Valenzuela) in their late 30s who, acting as their madams, sold these women into prostitution around MacArthur Park. Never able to keep their salary and pay their coyotes back should they have come here without having given the smugglers cash in Guatemala, they became indentured servants with no possibility of release.
A driver responsible for transporting these women from place to place cooperated with the FBI, enabling them to hone in on this one situation.
Those on the stand have explained they were not aware they would be forced into this position. Trial has been going on since early January, and this is but a small group of five or so.
I am in the process of inquiring into the frequency of situations like these.
The imposition of sex slavery onto illegal immigrants is neither a new phenomenon, nor is it one unique to this country or this ethnic enclave.
But...this type of thing is one of the darker slivers within the immigration section of the "demographic change" pie chart, and how big a sliver it indeed is would be a topic I'd like to pursue.
I am still looking into what stage of trial this specific case is. Depending on that, I could speak to the victims and defendants in addition to the lawyers and government officials. This story is tragic any way you cut it.
But it could work within the News21 schema if it embodies but one example of a larger problem of this nature.
If it is, I would be interested in its pursuit. These women are in Los Angeles, and I would prefer, from a storytelling perspective, to follow a lead that I could spend a great deal of time with in person.
The woman testifying has only provided her first name to journalists (Sandra), but again, access is also contingent on the stage of trial (in addition to other things). I had read about and been horrified by this story a month ago, but I heard about it in a bit more detail when I ran into Scott Glover, and he let me know he could, perhaps, help me get in touch with the relevant people.
Because this story regards crime, it would probably involve a top-down approach. The attornies involved with the case:
-U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Morrow
-Assistant U.S. Attny Cheryl Murphy
-Attny Jeff Price
-Defense Attny Dana Cephas
-Assistant U.S. Attny Curtis Kin
-Mirna and Gladys Valenzula (also illegal immigrants)
-Mirna's boyfriend Gabriel Mendez
-Sandra and the five others testifying
Were it to work, this could be the kind of story told through writing but also with a fast still camera and recorded voice overs (sort of a photo doc + radio embedded into a long online story).
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