A Thai trafficking victim yesterday stood in front of a jury in the US city of St. Paul, Minnesota, to testify against five suspected leaders of a sophisticated sex-trafficking operation who allegedly brought large numbers of Thai women to the US and forced them into prostitution.
Identified only by her nickname, “Amy” described long days of work that started at 8am and didn’t end until 10pm. Through an interpreter, she explained that she had sex with as many as 10 clients a day, reported local Minnesota newspaper the Star Tribune.
“I had to do everything that the women at their house couldn’t give them. I had to treat them as if they were my personal god, and I loved them the most within the time that was given. I had to make them feel that they were special,” she told the court emotionally.
According to court papers, women were flown into the US, then “assigned” apartments in cities across the country where they were entrapped and forced to entertain customers.
Amy told the jury that she was assigned to a one-bedroom apartment in Phoenix, Arizona, where she spent most of her days.
“I work in there, I eat in there, and I sleep in there,” she said.
Her services were advertised online on websites like Backpage.com, the second-largest classified ad listing website after Craigslist, where she was labeled “your Asian doll KIM” and instructed to lie about her age to appear younger than she really was.
Like the other women who fell prey, Amy came from a poor background and joined the ring voluntarily, having been promised a better life. This initial moment of willingness is the attorneys’ main defense of the five suspects.
“You did it on your own free will, correct?” Amy was asked by the defense attorney yesterday, according to the Minnesota news publication.
In agreeing to relocate to America, the victims had unknowingly entered into debt bondage “contracts” with the traffickers in Thailand. They immediately owed the organization anywhere from US$40,000 (THB1.3 million) to US$60,000 (about THB2 million) each in exchange for their fake visas and travel to the US.
However, the money they made from prostitution was taken by the ringleaders, and what was left was used to pay for food, rent, and personal items, making it impossible for them to repay their debt.
Furthermore, the women weren’t allowed any freedom, and had their families threatened if they made any attempt to escape.
Amy told the courtroom that she was initially excited to relocate to the United States.
“I thought America was a miracle country,” she said.
Star Tribune reported that the US government is now supporting her pursuit of the “T Nonimmigrant Status,” a visa reserved for victims of human trafficking.
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