November 30, 2009 – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, made the following statement on the recent elections in Honduras. After a high 60 percent turnout, the Honduran people elected Porfirio Lobo as their new president, and the Obama administration announced the U.S. will recognize the elections as free, fair, and legitimate.

“Our loyal friends in Hondurans have proven that freedom and democracy can and will succeed when people are willing to fight for it. The Honduran people stood together and emphatically rejected attempts by Chavez, Noriega and the Castro brothers to prop up a dictator and subvert their constitution.”

“I’m very encouraged by our administration’s decision to stand with the Honduran people, recognize the elections, and commit to work with president-elect President Lobo. I hope we can quickly reestablish the strong relationship between our nations, and that the international community will recognize the choice of the Honduran people.”

“This year, the people of Honduras have taken a bold stand against tyranny, and friends of freedom throughout the world should applaud their courageous defense of the rule of law. During my trip to Honduras, I was impressed by their desire for liberty and commitment to constitutional democracy. The Honduran people have much to be proud of, and I’m proud to stand with them.”

Sen. Jim DeMint believes America is the land of hope and opportunity that welcomes legal immgrants with open arms. He wants to encourage legal immigrants to come to the U.S., respect our laws, embrace our values, and become American citizens. But for citizenship to have meaning, we must reject amnesty, secure our borders and create a legal immigration system that is a net plus for America.

Sen. DeMint was a leader in the fight against amnesty during the comprehensive immigration debate. He is also one of the original members of the “Border Security and Enforcement First Caucus” which focuses on enhancing both interior enforcement and security at our borders. To ensure we are moving forward, DeMint, along with 11 other senators, introduced various pieces of commonsense immigration legislation, including: a ban on drivers’ licenses for illegal aliens, making English our national language, and worksite enforcement.

As his part of the package, DeMint introduced the “Complete the Fence Act,” which requires the completion of 700 miles of completed reinforced metal fencing along the Southwest border by December 10, 2010. In 2006, Congress passed the Secure Fence Act, which required 700-plus miles of fencing along the southwest border. Unfortunately, the Secure Fence Act only required a deadline for the first 370 miles.

Today, due to years of neglect, our southern border is where the majority of cocaine is smuggled in, and where heroin, marijuana and crystal meth flood into the U.S. Human traffickers smuggle thousands of people across the border to be sold into modern day slavery and prostitution. And an open border is a national security threat that leaves America vulnerable to terrorists and weapons of mass destruction.

As Sen. DeMint has said: “Our nation’s borders are fundamental to our national security and our sovereignty, and we can’t delay any longer. If we want to have a legal immigration system that works, we must have a secure border so we know who is entering and leaving the United States.”

Each day, Flores prayed to Santa Muerte, or “Saint Death,” joined by the teenage girls whom he forced to have sex with as many as 20 men a day.

Flores, 45, was a notorious operator in a city that has become a center for sex trafficking along the East Coast.
Local and federal authorities are not sure how extensive the Charlotte sex rings have become. They say Flores’ ring brought in hundreds of young women each year to work as prostitutes.

Flores was convicted of trafficking in April. But authorities say other pimps in Charlotte continue to prey on young girls from poor countries.

“I don’t think we really realized how big this was,” says Delbert Richburg, assistant special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Investigations in Charlotte. “We’re probably just scratching the surface.”

The growth is so extensive that this month ICE stationed a team of agents in Charlotte to focus on human trafficking, smuggling and exploitation. Across the Carolinas, immigrant sex rings have been broken up in Monroe, Durham and Columbia.

Jennifer Stuart, a staff attorney for Legal Aid of North Carolina, says her office has seen a “sharp increase” in trafficking case referrals the last few months.

Federal agents say Flores, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, picked up vans full of eight to 10 young women each week outside the McDonald’s on West Sugar Creek Road near Interstate 85, where other traffickers had brought them. Others, he smuggled in directly from Latin America.

Two pairs of children’s sneakers, pink and green, now sit outside Flores’ old apartment off Sharon Amity Road near Eastland Mall. It was one of two apartments where, just a year ago, he hid his teenage victims.
Authorities say he brought customers there, but mostly took the girls to hotels and brothels set up around the city.

He favored teenagers because he could charge more. Clients paid $25 to $30 for 15 minutes with one of the girls. One teenage victim testified in court that, on many occasions, Flores would drive her to a house or an apartment where men would be waiting.

An undercover agent says the teenagers would be made to have sex with up to 100 men a week.

“I have daughters,” he says. “… Every time I think of that number, it’s something I can’t fathom.”
Trading in New York, D.C.

To keep a fresh cycle of women in Charlotte, Flores traded with traffickers, including relatives, in Washington, D.C., and New York.

In November 2007, court documents say, he “sold” at least two teenagers from Mexico to Yaneth Martinez, a D.C. madam, who advertised her services with cards offering “Hair Cuts for Men Only.”

Martinez worked the girls in the capital city and gave Flores a cut of the profits. A month later, she returned them to him.

Their business relationship worked like this for more than a year, federal authorities said. Then, Flores took a liking to Martinez’s teenage daughter.

He asked her if she’d work with him. She refused. Flores didn’t give up.

He later called the girl’s cell phone and asked her to meet him. He threatened to hurt her mother if she didn’t.

She agreed to meet him. She hoped he only wanted to talk, but Flores threw her in his car, authorities said.

“‘Sit there, don’t say anything. Don’t even try to look where we’re going,’” agents said he told her.

Martinez tipped off a women’s center in Washington that her daughter had been kidnapped. The center contacted authorities.

On Feb. 7, 2008, ICE agents stormed Flores’ apartment in Charlotte. He wasn’t there, but authorities arrested him a day later in Myrtle Beach. He had brought some of his victims to South Carolina because they had become “overused” in Charlotte, according to court records.

Martinez’s daughter spent about three weeks as Flores’ captive. Authorities say he raped her repeatedly. He forced her to have sex with dozens of men.

He stuffed her underwear in a small glass vase on his shrine. They prayed together to Santa Muerte.
If you run away, the saint will punish you, he told her.

Charlotte is particularly vulnerable to human trafficking. It’s the largest city between Atlanta and Washington, D.C., at the junction of two interstate highways.

In addition, the size of the city’s illegal immigrant community allows pimps like Flores to conceal their activities.
As with past waves of immigrants, many of the Latinos are men who left their families to find work. Many victims were lured here with promises of other jobs.

The women are often in the country illegally and dependent on their captors for food and shelter. They’re easy to coerce.

“You don’t have to have chains or bars to keep somebody under control,” said John Price, a special agent with the FBI in Charlotte. “You can do it psychologically and emotionally, and that’s typically what traffickers will use. It’s a lot cheaper. It’s a lot easier to threaten somebody. To beat them up.”

Thousands of victims

The FBI estimates that some 18,000 people are trafficked into the United States for sex or forced labor. About a fourth end up in the Southeast; thousands come to the Carolinas.

Most victims of the sex rings are from Latin America, others from Asia and Eastern Europe.

One girl forced into prostitution thought she was coming to North Carolina to be a nanny, says Stuart of Legal Aid, which gives free legal services to low-income people.

Another 14-year-old from Mexico, who thought she was to work at a restaurant, was forced to have sex with men in Greenville, S.C., Columbia and Charlotte.

Martinez’s daughter is like any other teenager, said her attorney Christopher Nugent of Washington. She enjoys her iPod and loves to shop. She often draws the dresses she’d like to wear.

In court, she asked if she could answer questions without looking at Flores.

His Charlotte attorney, Lucky Osho, said his client admits arranging women to have sex with men. But he said no one was kidnapped or forced to have sex against her will. Osho said Martinez’s daughter was working for Flores in return for some of his women working for Martinez.

“It was part of the business,” Osho told the Observer. “It was an exchange.”

Flores told authorities that Martinez ran the sex ring.

Martinez’s attorney, Lane Williamson, said his client did help Flores’ girls find work, but that she did not coerce them. Williamson said Martinez was herself a victim, forced into prostitution earlier in life.

“This is something she was in, from her standpoint, as a matter of necessity,” Williamson said. “The (women) were free to go and they did go on their own volition. That was not the case with Flores.”

ICE is bringing in more agents and another supervisor to work on its new trafficking team. Victims will not be targeted for arrest or deportation, Special Agent Richburg said. Instead they will be offered special visas in exchange for their help prosecuting traffickers.

In April, Flores pleaded guilty to sex trafficking involving a minor and was sentenced to 24 years, after which he will be deported. He is currently in a federal prison in South Carolina. In July, Martinez pleaded guilty to transporting individuals for prostitution and was sentenced to time served. She will be deported to Honduras.
Martinez’s daughter is doing much better, Nugent said. She’s living with a foster family. She is getting a special green card for abused or abandoned children.

She wants to go to college and be a lawyer.
Two other girls found with Flores at the time of his arrest were also placed with foster families through a Charlotte women’s center, authorities said.
The center arranged medical care and new clothes. ICE agents arranged work permits.
Before the permits arrived, the girls disappeared.

“El Mes de la Herencia Hispana nos brinda una oportunidad para reflexionar sobre el papel tan importante que desempeñan los hispanos en el país. Los hispanos tienen un largo historial de servicio y forman una parte importante de las fuerzas armadas de los Estados Unidos, de la economía y del gobierno en todos los niveles – local, estatal y nacional. El Presidente Obama ha reconocido la importancia de los hispanos en nuestro diálogo nacional y ha nombrado a más hispanos a altos cargos de gobierno que ningún otro presidente.

“Luego de votar en números sin precedente para elegir al Presidente Obama en noviembre pasado, hemos visto cambios sustanciosos y de importancia para los hispanos y para la nación en general, como la expansión del seguro de salud infantil, la paga equitativa, el haber alejado a la economía del peligro y el nombramiento de la Jueza Sonia Sotomayor a la Corte Suprema.

“Este mes también es un recordatorio de que queda mucho más por lograr. El Presidente Obama está trabajando duro para lograr una reforma de seguro de salud que le provea más seguridad y estabilidad a la gente que ya tiene seguro de salud – y que le provea seguro de salud a los que no tienen. Para los hispanos, es crucial que se logre una reforma de seguro de salud: Uno de cada tres hispanos de menos de 65 años de edad carece de seguro médico, y muchos más carecen de la cobertura apropiada.

“Según miramos hacia delante, yo sé que los hispanos desempeñarán un papel activo en la implementación del cambio importante y positivos por todo el país. Les doy las gracias por sus aportaciones significativas a los Estados Unidos y por mover hacia adelante el sueño americano.”

A clothing maker with a vast garment factory in downtown Los Angeles is firing about 1,800 immigrant employees in the coming days — more than a quarter of its workforce — after a federal investigation turned up irregularities in the identity documents the workers presented when they were hired.

The firings at the company, American Apparel, have become a showcase for the Obama administration’s effort to reduce illegal immigration by forcing employers to dismiss unauthorized workers rather than through workplace raids. The firings, however, have divided opinion in California over the fallout of the new approach, especially at a time of record joblessness in the state and with a major, well-regarded employer as a target.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a Democrat, called the dismissals “devastating,” and his office has insisted that the federal government should focus on employers that exploit their workers. American Apparel has been lauded by city officials and business leaders for paying well above the garment industry standard, offering health benefits and not long ago giving $18 million in stock to its workers.

But opponents of illegal immigration, including Representative Brian P. Bilbray, a Republican from San Diego who is chairman of a House caucus that opposes efforts to extend legal status to illegal immigrants, back the enforcement effort. They say American Apparel is typical of many companies that have “become addicted to illegal labor,” in Mr. Bilbray’s words.

“Of course it’s a good idea,” Mr. Bilbray said of the crackdown. “They seem to think that somehow the law doesn’t matter, that crossing the line from legal to illegal is not a big deal.”

In July, the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, known as ICE, opened audits of employment records similar to the one at American Apparel at 654 companies around the country. John T. Morton, who, as assistant secretary of homeland security, runs ICE, said the audits covered all types of employers with immigrant workers, including many like American Apparel that were not shadowy sweatshops or serial labor code violators.

The investigation at American Apparel was started 17 months ago, under President George W. Bush. Obama administration officials point out that they have not followed the Bush pattern of concluding such investigations with a mass round-up of workers. Those raids drew criticism for damaging businesses and dividing immigrant families.

Immigration officials said they would now focus on employers, primarily wielding the threat of civil complaints and fines, instead of raids and worker deportation.

“Now all manner of companies face the very real possibility that the government, using our basic civil powers, is going to come knocking on the door,” Mr. Morton said. The goal, he said, is to create “a truly national deterrent” to hiring unauthorized labor that would “change the practices of American employers as a class.”

The employees being fired from American Apparel could not resolve discrepancies discovered by investigators in documents they presented at hiring and federal social security or immigration records — probably because the documents were fake. Peter Schey, a lawyer for American Apparel, said that ICE had cited deficiencies in its record keeping, but the authorities had not accused the company of knowingly hiring unauthorized workers. A fine threatened by the agency was withdrawn, Mr. Schey said.

After months of discussions with ICE officials, the company moved on its own to terminate the workers because, Mr. Schey said, federal guidelines for such cases are “in a shambles.” The Bush administration proposed rules for employers to follow when workers’ documents do not match, but a federal court halted the effort and the Obama administration decided to abandon it.

With its bright-pink, seven-story sewing plant in the center of Los Angeles, American Apparel is one of the biggest manufacturing employers in the city, and makes a selling point of the “Made in U.S.A.” labels in its racy T-shirts and miniskirts. Dov Charney, the company’s chief executive, has campaigned, in T-shirt logos and eye-catching advertisements, to “legalize L.A.,” by granting legal status to illegal immigrants, a policy President Obama supports.

Since the audit began, Mr. Charney has treaded carefully, eager to show that his publicly traded company is obeying the law, and to reassure investors that the loss of so many workers will not damage the business, since production has slowed already with the recession.

But Mr. Charney is also questioning why the authorities made a target of his company. Over the summer he joined his workers in a street protest against the firings. Because the immigration investigation is still underway, Mr. Charney declined to be interviewed for this article but did respond in an e-mail message.

The firings “will not help the economy, will not make us safer,” he said. “No matter how we choose to define or label them,” he said, illegal immigrants “are hard-working, taxpaying workers.”

On a recent visit to American Apparel’s factory floors here, amid the whirring of sewing machines and the whooshing of cooling fans, a murmur of many languages rose: mostly Spanish, but also Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Portuguese. Masseurs were offering 20-minute massages for sewers in need of a break.

But there was also a mood of mourning, as work was interrupted with farewell parties. The majority of workers losing their jobs are women, most of whom are working to support families. Many departing workers have been with the company for a decade or more.

Executives said many workers had learned skills specific to a proprietary production system that allows American Apparel to make 250,000 garments a week in Los Angeles, while keeping prices competitive with imports from places like China.

Some workers who are leaving said the company had been a close-knit community for them. Jesús, 30, originally from Puebla, Mexico, said he was hired 10 years ago as a sewing machine operator, then worked and studied his way up to an office job as coordinating manager.

“I learned how to think here,” said Jesús, who asked that his last name not be used because of his illegal status. The company provides health and life insurance, he said, and he currently earns about $900 a week, with taxes deducted from his paycheck.

Like many others, Jesús said his next move was to hunt for work in Los Angeles. He will not return to Mexico, he said, because he is gay and fears discrimination.

“There they treat you and judge you without even knowing you,” Jesús said. But he said several job offers from mainstream garment makers had been withdrawn once he was asked for documents.

“Being realistic,” he said, “I guess I’m going to have to go to one of those sweatshop companies where I’m going to get paid under the table.”

ICE has made no arrests so far at the factory. But Mr. Morton of ICE said the agency would not rule out pursuing workers proven to be illegal immigrants.

Mr. Schey said company human resources managers had added new scrutiny to hiring procedures. But workers facing dismissal pointed to the line of job applicants outside the factory one recent day, who, like many of them, were almost all Spanish-speaking immigrants.

“I think the Americans think that garment sewing is demeaning work,” said Francisco, 38, a Guatemalan with nine years at the plant who is being forced to leave.

A top supervisor, he is training new hires to replace him.

From: Chicanisima

I was asked to look into this question for Contratiempo magazine, a local Spanish-language publication here in Chicago. I interviewed Hispanic community leaders and politicians for this story. You can link to my story here in Spanish or read it here in English.

One of the biggest champions of the 2016 Olympics in the Latino community has been the United Neighborhood Organization or UNO. Their CEO, Juan Rangel, is a member of the Olympic Outreach Committee. He sent out a mass email from UNO recently touting the following financial benefits of the Olympics in Chicago.

Supporters of the 2016 bid say that the Olympics would be a $22.5 billion economic stimulus for the city and state that would create the equivalent of 315,000 jobs for one year.

They say there would be an additional $1 billion from a variety of sources, including sales and amusement taxes that would help support education, law enforcement and other city services.

And they say there would be a substantial increase in federal funds for roads and mass transit, and the Olympics would bring an additional 3 million international tourists to Chicago each year.

But would any of that trickle down to Chicago’s Latino community?

“It would be a tremendous boost to the Latino community as it would be to the city of Chicago,” Rangel said.

But Martin Macias Jr., who is part of the No Games Chicago committee, said those financial benefits are inflated.
He cited a recent Crain’s Chicago business story where an economist called those numbers into question. Atlanta projected the 1996 games would create a boost of only $7 billion and the Chicago jobs estimate is four times greater than what Atlanta predicted.

Critics have also said that the Daley Administration is underestimating the total cost of financing the games at $4.8 billion.

“The city has a lot of people convinced it’ll be an economic boost,” Macias said. “But if you look at the history of the Olympics every city has gone over budget.”

Macias doesn’t see a direct financial benefit for Latino neighborhoods in Chicago.

“I don’t see any benefit unless we decide to build a great resort or hotel in the middle of Little Village,” Macias said.

Macias also questioned why UNO has held pro-Olympics rallies involving Latino parents and their children at their charter schools.

“It’s clear they just want to use Latinos (in support of their Olympic bid),” Macias said.

UNO has created a sort of Olympic challenge among the students at its charter schools to excel in academics, sports and the arts.

Rangel said people who criticize the involvement of schools and students in supporting the Olympic bid are “cynical.”

“To think there may be something wrong with cheering for your hometown is crazy,” Rangel said. “(You wouldn’t) say that to a Sox or a Cubs fan.”

Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd Ward) said he is in favor of the Olympics in Chicago.

“I’m in favor of the Olympics because of the economic stimulus and engine it will create,” he said.

But he said he is concerned about the cost going over budget and how the games will be insured.

“We need to make sure the taxpayers are not left on the hook,” Munoz said.

Los Angeles, Atlanta and Beijing made a profit on the Olympics. But the 1976 games in Montreal took 30 years to pay off, according to Money Week.

Munoz said that Latinos will benefit in the hiring and noted the community benefits agreement that Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th Ward) has forged.

“There’s a net benefit for the entire city and obviously Latinos will benefit too,” Munoz said.

In April, the City Council passed an agreement with community groups that 40% of contracts related to the Olympics, such as construction or providing supplies and services, would go to businesses owned by women, minorities or people with disabilities. It also calls for 30% of the Olympic Village, proposed at the site of the former Michael Reese Hospital, would be converted into affordable housing when the games are over.

But it’s not clear how much of that will go to Latinos.

Rangel, who also is a co-chair of the Chicago 2016 procurement committee, said they would work to guarantee Latino business benefit from the Olympics.

‘We can use the Olympics as an economic engine to jumpstart some of the businesses in our neighborhoods,” Rangel said.

But there are no venues planned in a Latino majority neighborhood.

This is why Raul Raymundo, executive director of the Resurrection Project, doesn’t see a huge impact for the Latino community.

He said that if the city had stuck with the original plan to building the swimming complex in Douglas Park that would have benefitted the Latino community.

But plans for the swimming complex were moved to Washington Park, and now the plan would be to build a velodrome, or a bike racing track, in Douglas Park.

“An acquatic center in Douglas Park would have benefitted the African-American and Latino community more,” Raymundo said.

Raymundo said he doesn’t see a long-term benefit for Latinos if the Olympics are held in Chicago.

“There are very few tangible benefits that can be left behind for the Latino community,” he said.

Ald. George Cardenas (12th Ward) agreed.

“I think it’s going to be a non-issue for a lot of us. A lot of the activity is not in our region or in our wards,” Cardenas said.

Chicago is competing with Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo to host the 2016 Olympics. The winner will be announced by the International Olympic Committee on October 2