human trafficking

In Los Angeles, 85 percent of the youth picked up by law enforcement in sex trafficking raids have a history with child protective services, according to a new report that provides details on how the county serves exploited youth in the wake of new California laws.

Ricardo Rodriguez is a 26-year-old San Diego resident and former foster youth who balances a job in tech with volunteer work and entrepreneurial pursuits. Thanks to his relentless drive and support from key sources, his life has turned out far different from previous expectations.

Yordi, 20, is wan after a harrowing escape from horrors in his home country, Honduras. It is mid-July. He sits in a corporate ICE detention facility in rural Folkston, Georgia, staring into a computer screen that connects him to his 29-year-old brother Suamhirs Piraino-Guzman, thousands of miles away in Seattle.

In the age of “zero tolerance,” even the family members of America’s most dedicated citizens aren’t protected. Take the case of a 28-year-old American citizen from Honduras named Suamhirs Piraino-Guzman and his little brother Yordi.

Much of the advocacy and public health response to commercial sex and exploitation is focused on the victims, the majority of whom are female. But there is another way to address the issue, and that is to reduce demand by intervening with the pursuers of paid sex, a group almost entirely made up of men.

New Mexico’s Judge John J. Romero, Jr. has accepted an appointment on the National Advisory Committee on the Sex Trafficking of Children and Youth in the United States. In this role, outlined in the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act of 2014, Romero will advise the Attorney General, the Secretary of the U.S.

The great filmmaker Costa Gavras, known for making “political films” such as “Z” and “The Confession,” once said: “The issues in politics are not complex, even though politicians tell us so in order to convince us of the politicians’ importance … and to keep us from criticizing them.”

In foster care most of her life, 17-year-old Amber* finally found a little stability at R.I.S.E. House. After cycling through 35 foster and group homes, she developed relationships at R.I.S.E. and was poised to graduate from high school.

Last week, Los Angeles County’s Board of Supervisors voted in favor of refurbishing the “soft room,” a space that the Sheriff’s Department uses to interview and offer services to victims of human trafficking.