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Women and girls being sold as slaves to the US!!!

The New York Times reports that up to 50,000 women and children are brought to the US from Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Asia EACH YEAR and are forced to work as prostitutes, abused laborers or servants. This information came from a CIA report called: International Trafficking in Women to the United States: A Contemporary Manifestation of Slavery.

How does this happen?
Foreign women answer ads to become an au pair, sales clerk, waitress or the like in the US but once they arrive in the US they become prisoners and are forced into prostitution or into working as slaves.

The New York Times quoted one government official as saying that girls from Asia and Africa are sold to traffickers by their parents for ?less than the price of a toaster.?

Janet Reno (Attorney General of the US) said two years ago, ?We are not interested in containing modern-day slavery; we want to eradicate it.?

But even though there were over 100,000 victims coming to the US in the last two years, only about 250 cases were prosecuted.

Why?
Because there are few current federal or state laws that address this issue and the one federal law that does prohibit ?sale into involuntary servitude? only carries a maximum sentence of 10 years!  There ARE two bills pending in the House and in the Senate that would mandate longer sentences, provide assistance for those who have been abducted and ?increase resources and training for law-enforcement officers.?  Tell your parents that slavery is very REAL in the US and to contact their senator and representatives about these bills!

Ms. Magazine does an awesome job of exposing sexist advertising and of letting us know what's happening to women everywhere! Check them out!

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