Illegal Immigrant "Drop Houses" Are Often Sites Of Sexual Assualts

Jessica — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:00:00 EDT

Earlier this week, a group of mostly Central American illegal immigrants living in a "drop house" discovered by officials in South Los Angeles told authorities about the sexual assault that had been perpetrated by their smugglers. Drop houses are locations where smugglers hide hide newly-arrived immigrants and collect their sizable fees for helping bring the aliens into the country. The drop house where women were reportedly assaulted was a single-family dwelling which housed 60 immigrants, according to the Los Angeles Times, and was filled with "piles of trash and rotting food." One of the women living there has been impregnated by a smuggler, and all the denizens of the house on South Normandie "reported being held against their will and paying $5,000 to $7,000 in smuggling fees to be led across the border in Arizona. One person reported paying $12,000."

According to an AP article from 2004, "drop houses" are often "the setting for the worst abuses against immigrants, who usually aren't free to leave and sometimes are held until extortion payments are made." Right now the minors found at the house — three toddlers and six teenagers — are being held with their mothers at a private shelter. There is no word about what will happen to these women and the others who were found at the drop house. It's likely that they will be kept at detention centers or local jails for the time being, as The National Immigrant Justice Center reports that 30,000 immigrants per day are detained in this fashion.

Smugglers Sexually Assaulted Immigrants, Officials Say [Los Angeles Times]
Immigrants Face Hardships in Drop Houses [AP via Translator's Cafe]
In the Voice of Immigrant Women : They Wanted to Take Away My Baby [Vivir Latino]

Immigration Official Makes Colombian Woman Do Oral For Green Card

Jessica — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:00:00 EDT

Get a load of this guy. His name is Isaac Baichu, and he's an immigration official who told a 21-year-old Colombian woman last December that he would not get her a green card unless she gave him a blowjob. Oh, and some sex. She just had to do it with him "one or two times," he told her. "That's all. You get your green card. You won't have to see me anymore." Well the Colombian miss, whose name is not being released by authorities because she is the victim of a sex crime, was savvy: she recorded the Baichu's blackmailing her on her cell phone. The New York Times has the recording on their website, and you can hear Baichu's pleading voice for yourself; it gives one a nauseous, vaguely anxious feeling, not unlike sitting on a turbulent plane. In the original tape, there is a minute-long silence, and according to the Times, that's when the woman " yielded to his demand [for oral sex] out of fear that he would use his authority against her."

Baichu's not the only creep to exploit the precarious situation many immigrant women find themselves in. The Times mentions one Eddie Romualdo Miranda, "who was charged with demanding sexual favors from a 29-year-old Vietnamese woman in exchange for approving her citizenship application." They also reference Kelvin R. Owens, "who was convicted in 2005 of sexually assaulting a 45-year-old woman during her citizenship interview in the federal building." There are several more documented examples of immigration officials who abused their power, and the Times wonders how many more cases are swept under the rug. Baichu is pleading not guilty to felony and misdemeanor sexual coercion charges, and if convicted he faces up to seven years in jail.

This story comes on the heels of proposed changes to the Violence Against Women Act. As I noted in an earlier post, the current VAWA allows physically abused illegal aliens to apply for lawful immigrant status. The potential new law would force these women to return to their country of origin before applying for legal residency in the U.S.

The Colombian woman who was blackmailed seemed to have a non-abusive American husband whom she loved. After her run-in with Baichu, she told the Times her husband "was so mad at me, he left my house. I don't know if he's going to come back." Oh, and she's still awaiting her green card so she can visit Colombia without having to stay there for good.

An Agent, A Green Card, And A Demand For Sex [New York Times]

Earlier: Crimes Against Womanity

Jezebel: lady liberty

Illegal Immigrant "Drop Houses" Are Often Sites Of Sexual Assualts

Immigration Official Makes Colombian Woman Do Oral For Green Card