Two men and a woman were charged Thursday with smuggling at least 20 young women from
Togo and forcing them to work at hair braiding salons in Newark and East Orange, NJ.
[1]The women told investigators that they worked without pay for up to 14 hours a day, six or seven days a week; and that if they complained or did not follow the rules, they would be beaten, and perhaps threatened to be sent back to Africa if they objected to working without pay.
[2]U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials asserted that the workers were brought to the United States through a lottery that lets people from some countries have visas to move to the U.S.
[3] The alleged victims posed as relatives of lottery winners so they could get into the country.
[4]The suspects are also Togolese nationals. Lassissi Afolabi, Akouavi Kpade Afolabi, and Dereck Hounakey, all face charges of
harboring illegal aliens, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
[5] Kpade Afolabi is also charged with smuggling illegal aliens for financial gains, which can be punished by 10 years in prison.
[6]Bringing in and harboring certain aliens is covered under
8 U.S.C. § 1324, wherein it states that any person who
, knowing that a person is an alien, brings to or attempts to bring to the United States in any manner whatsoever such person at a place other than a designated port of entry or place other than as designated by the Commissioner, regardless of whether such alien has received prior official authorization to come to, enter, or reside in the United States and regardless of any future official action which may be taken with respect to such alien;
[7] knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, transports, or moves or attempts to transport or move such alien within the United States by means of transportation or otherwise, in furtherance of such violation of law;
[8] knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, conceals, harbors, or shields from detection, or attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection, such alien in any place, including any building or any means of transportation;
[9] encourages or induces an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such coming to, entry, or residence is or will be in violation of law; or
[10] engages in any conspiracy to commit any of the preceding acts, or
[11] aids or abets the commission of any of the preceding acts,
[12]A person who violates subparagraph (A) shall, for each alien in respect to whom such a violation occurs
in the case of a violation of subparagraph (A)(i) or (v)(I) or in the case of a violation of subparagraph (A)(ii), (iii), or (iv) in which the offense was done for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain, be fined under title 18, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both;
[13] in the case of a violation of subparagraph (A)(ii), (iii), (iv), or (v)(II), be fined under title 18, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both;
[14] in the case of a violation of subparagraph (A)(i), (ii), (iii), (iv), or (v) during and in relation to which the person causes serious bodily injury (as defined in section
1365 of title 18) to, or places in jeopardy the life of, any person, be fined under title 18, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both;
[15] in the case of a violation of subparagraph (A)(i), (ii), (iii), (iv), or (v) resulting in the death of any person, be punished by death or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, fined under title 18, or both.
[16]
[1] AP Staff, 3 charged with smuggling Togolese women, making them work for no pay in U.S., Associated Press Newswire, September 7, 2007, available at LEXIS, News Library, Wire News Services.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] 8 U.S.C. § 1324(i)(2007).
[8] Id., at § 1324(ii).
[9] Id., at § 1324(iii).
[10] Id., at § 1324(iv).
[11] Id., at § 1324(v)(I).
[12] Id., at § 1324(v)(II).
[13] Id., at § 1324(b)(i).
[14] Id., at § 1324(b)(ii).
[15] Id., at § 1324(b)(iii).
[16] Id., at § 1324(b)(iv).Labels: Human Trafficking, Smuggling
