MS-13 AND DOMESTIC JUVENILE SEX TRAFFICKING:
CAUSES, CORRELATES, AND SOLUTIONS
K. Elysse Stolpe*
ABSTRACT
Since 2008, the brutal Central American gang MS-13 has
perpetrated numerous juvenile sex trafficking schemes throughout the
Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Investigation and prosecution of
these cases is challenging due to MS-13’s reputation for violence and
the unique vulnerabilities of their victims, who are generally runaway
girls as young as twelve years old. By facilitating interagency
collaboration, improving law enforcement training, and integrating
victim services non-governmental organizations (NGOs), federally
funded human trafficking task forces are the most promising mechanism
for combatting MS-13 juvenile sex trafficking, and human trafficking in
general.
CONTENTS
Abstract ................................................................................................. 341 I. MS-13 and Juvenile Sex Trafficking in Northern Virginia ............... 344 A. History of MS-13 ......................................................................... 344 B. MS-13 Spreads to Washington, D.C. and Virginia ...................... 347 C. MS-13 and Juvenile Sex Trafficking in Virginia ......................... 348 D. Juvenile Sex Trafficking Risk Factors and Vulnerabilities ......... 349 i. General Domestic Juvenile Sex Trafficking Risk Factors......... 349 ii. Gang-Based Sex Trafficking Risk Factors ............................... 351 E. How MS-13 Engages in Domestic Juvenile Sex Trafficking ....... 353 i. MS-13 Preys on Vulnerable Victims ......................................... 353 ii. MS-13’s Reputation and Violence Facilitate Juvenile
Sex Trafficking ............................................................................. 354 II. Strategies for Combatting MS-13 Domestic Juvenile Sex
Trafficking ............................................................................................ 357 A. Federal Statutory Response to Domestic Juvenile Trafficking .... 358 B. Problems with and Limitations of the Federal Response to
Human Trafficking............................................................................ 361 *
J.D. Candidate, 2014, University of Virginia School of Law. I would like to
express my gratitude to Dr. John Monahan, for encouraging me to publish this
article and for providing invaluable guidance throughout the research and
writing process. Thank you to Jacob Hasler and Maggie Sullivan of the Virginia
Journal of Social Policy and the Law for their keen edits. Finally, I owe a debt
of gratitude to the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for
the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria, Virginia, especially for the
opportunity to work as an intern during the summer of 2012. The prosecutors in
this office are dedicated to combatting juvenile sex trafficking in Northern
Virginia, and their tenacity inspired me to write this Note.
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C. Comprehensive Human Trafficking Joint Task Forces Will
Improve Investigation and Prosecution of MS-13 Juvenile Sex
Trafficking Cases .............................................................................. 364 i. Improving Training of Law Enforcement Agents, Prosecutors,
and Service Providers to Facilitate Trafficking Victim
Identification ................................................................................. 367 ii. Securing Victim Cooperation ................................................... 368 III. Conclusion: Prevention of Juvenile Sex Trafficking Is the
Ultimate Goal ........................................................................................ 371 On June 1, 2012, in the stately Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA)
Federal Courthouse in Alexandria, twenty-four-year-old MS-13 gang
member Rances Ulices Amaya, known by the gang moniker “Murder,”
received a fifty-year prison sentence for perpetrating a vicious juvenile
sex trafficking scheme throughout the Washington, D.C. area.1 In
contrast to Amaya’s demeanor at trial, where he flashed gang signs and
the solitary middle finger in open court,2 Amaya hung his head at
sentencing, as Assistant United States Attorney Zach Terwilliger read
aloud Amaya’s litany of committed atrocities.3 Despite a halfhearted
apology for his actions, Amaya’s taciturnity could not deflect the air of
horror in the courtroom.4 The gallery full of reporters, victims, and
curious bystanders sat in silence and struggled to comprehend how such
a young man could destroy the lives of so many innocent girls through
rape, prostitution, and blatant disregard for anything other than his own
self-interest. Aside from being incomprehensible, the very nature and
number of MS-13 juvenile sex trafficking cases renders investigation
and prosecution of perpetrators exceedingly challenging, even compared
to trafficking cases involving other gangs. The spate of successful
prosecutions over the last few years in the EDVA, however, provides a
1
See Press Release, U.S. Attorney’s Office E. Dist. of Va., Leader of MS-13
Gang Sentenced to 50 Years in Prison for Sex Trafficking Multiple Teens (Jun.
1, 2012), available at http://www.fbi.gov/washingtondc/press-releases/2012/
leader-of-ms-13-gang-sentenced-to-50-years-in-prison-for-sex-traffickingmultiple-teens.
2
Position of the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v.
Amaya, No. 1:11CR556 (E.D. Va. Jun. 1, 2012), 2012 WL 1962302.
3
In addition to his juvenile sex trafficking scheme, Amaya had been previously
convicted of multiple assaults, theft, gang participation, indecent exposure, and
weapons offenses. In 2005, he and other MS-13 gang members used machetes
to attack innocent attendees at a sweet-sixteen birthday party. Position of the
United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v. Amaya, supra note
2.
4
I witnessed Amaya’s sentencing during my summer 2012 tenure as a Criminal
Division intern in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of
Virginia in Alexandria, Virginia.
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MS-13 and Domestic Juvenile Sex Trafficking
343
glimmer of hope for prevention, investigation, and prosecution of these
cases in Virginia and in other jurisdictions.5
In this Note, I argue that federal and local prosecutors, law
enforcement, and victim services non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) must use joint task forces to collaborate within and across
jurisdictions to combat domestic juvenile sex trafficking by MS-13. I
begin with an overview of the history and trafficking tactics of MS-13 to
contextualize the challenges prosecutors and law enforcement agents
face in investigating and prosecuting these cases. Specifically, I will
discuss the risk factors and typology of girls who succumb to MS-13 and
gang trafficking tactics in general, as well as the methodology by which
MS-13 and other gangs go about recruiting and prostituting vulnerable
girls. Understanding the risk factors and MS-13’s recruitment tactics will
not only help prevent future instances of trafficking by MS-13 and other
gangs, it will also instruct victim services providers on the most effective
rehabilitation tactics for these key prosecution witnesses.
Next, I will discuss the legal and investigative tools used to pursue
MS-13 traffickers. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000
(TVPA) is the primary vehicle for combating human trafficking in the
United States.6 However, until recently, prosecutors and investigators
used the TVPA to target primarily international human traffickers, not
fully utilizing the TVPA to combat domestic human trafficking
perpetrated by groups such as MS-13. Prosecutors in the Eastern District
of Virginia have recently set a precedent for using the TVPA to combat
domestic trafficking by securing a number of high-profile convictions of
MS-13 gang members for juvenile sex trafficking.7 Their success is due,
in large part, to the work of the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking
Task Force, an interjurisdictional task force which was created under the
TVPA’s federal grant system. Human trafficking task forces, like the one
created in northern Virginia, facilitate effective investigation and
prosecution of trafficking cases through improved investigator training,
increased interagency collaboration, and greater coordination of services.
These specialized task forces are also equipped to address the unique
vulnerabilities of gang trafficking victims and are integral to combatting
juvenile sex trafficking schemes perpetrated by MS-13 and other gangs.
5
See MS-13 Gang Leader Gets 50 Years for Teen Sex Trafficking, FAIRFAX
NEWS, June 3, 2012, http://fairfaxnews.com/2012/06/ms-13-gang-leader-gets50-years-for-teen-sex-trafficking/; Press Release, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the
E. Dist. of Va., MS-13 Gang Member Sentenced to Life in Prison for Sex
Trafficking a Child (Oct. 28, 2011), available at http://www.justice.gov/usao/va
e/news/2011/10/20111028santamarianr.html.
6
See infra Part II.A.
7
See, e.g., U.S. DEP’T OF STATE, TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT 361 (2012);
see also supra note 5.
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I. MS-13 AND JUVENILE SEX TRAFFICKING IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA
A. HISTORY OF MS-13
MS-13 originated in Los Angeles, California, in the 1980s, when
more than a million refugees from El Salvador fled to the United States
to escape the ongoing civil war in their home country.8 The mostly
illegal refugees met hostility from existing Latino gangs in Los Angeles
and responded by creating their own El Salvadorian immigrant street
gang for protection.9 The founding members of MS-13 were former
members of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMNL), the
central rebel paramilitary group during the civil war.10 Thus, these
members were trained guerilla fighters with highly developed
organizational and weaponry skills. MS-13’s paramilitary background
helped the gang not only to gain turf in Los Angeles, but also to develop
a reputation as one of the most violent gangs in the city.11
MS-13’s motto is “Mata, Viola, Controla,” or, “Kill, Rape,
Control.”12 The name “MS-13” is derived from a combination of
Salvadorian slang terms and homage to the Mexican Mafia. “MS” stands
for “Mara Salvatrucha,” which roughly translates as “watch out for the
Salvadorian gang.”13 The number “13”14 indicates an affiliation with the
Mexican Mafia prison gang,15 the preeminent umbrella organization for
Central American gangs.16 Throughout the 1990s, MS-13 gained a
foothold in Los Angeles, despite the gang’s bitter rivalry with the
8
VIRGINIA FUSION CTR., DEP’T OF STATE POLICE, COMMONWEALTH OF
VIRGINIA, MARA SALVATRUCHA (MS-13) INTELLIGENCE REPORT 3 (2008),
available at http://publicintelligence.net/ules-virginia-fusion-center-marasalvatrucha-13-report/.
9
Kelly Padgett Lineberger, Note, The United States–El Salvador Extradition
Treaty: A Dated Obstacle in the Transnational War Against Mara Salvatrucha
(MS-13), 44 VAND. J. TRANSNAT’L L.187, 190-91 (2011).
10
VIRGINIA FUSION CTR., supra note 8, at 3-4.
11
Id.
12
United States v. Ayala, 601 F.3d 256, 261 (4th Cir. 2010); JESSICA M.
VAUGHAN & JON D. FEERE, CTR.. FOR IMMIGRATION STUDIES, TAKING BACK
THE STREETS: ICE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT TARGET IMMIGRANT
GANGS 4 (2008), available at http://www.cis.org/sites/cis.org/files/articles/2008
/back1208.pdf.
13
“Mara” is slang for “mob/gang,” and “trucha” means “watch out.” VIRGINIA
FUSION CTR., supra note 8, at 3.
14
“M” is the thirteenth letter in the alphabet.
15
MS-13 NAT’L GANG TASK FORCE, CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE DIV., FED.
BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, MARA SALVATRUCHA (MS-13): AN
INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE 5 (Aug. 26, 2005).
16
Id. MS-13 established this alliance by acting as the muscle for the Mexican
Mafia’s drug operations in Los Angeles. VIRGINIA FUSION CTR., supra note 8, at
4.
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MS-13 and Domestic Juvenile Sex Trafficking
345
Mexican 18th Street gang.17 Their battles against the 18th Street gang
bolstered MS-13’s reputation for flagrant violence, as MS-13 members
frequently claimed the lives of innocent bystanders and gang members
alike.18 Unabashed use of machetes to kill and maim foes quickly
became MS-13’s trademark, evoking the gang’s historic affiliation with
guerrilla warfare tactics.19 Various symbols signify MS-13 gang
members and territory: the “devils’ horns” hand symbol, which can be
inverted as an “M”; the colors blue and white; and tattoos displaying
“MS” or “MS-13.”20
MS-13 is among the fastest-growing gangs in the United States, and
its reach extends beyond U.S. borders.21 Throughout the 1990s, MS-13
members who had illegally entered the United States were deported back
to El Salvador,22 where they flourished in the aftermath of the civil war.
These gang members had no criminal record in El Salvador and were
therefore released from police custody upon their return, freeing them to
recruit adolescents and former soldiers to join the ranks of MS-13.23
Salvadorian police began routinely arresting gang members for drug
trafficking, stealing cars, mugging pedestrians, and murdering victims by
decapitation and dismemberment.24
Today, MS-13 has expanded far beyond its Los Angeles origin, with
an estimated 20,000 members in the United States alone.25 MS-13’s
structure contains a Central American sphere (El Salvador, Guatemala),
a “Senior” sphere (Los Angeles and the U.S. west coast) and a “Junior”
sphere (Washington metropolitan area and the U.S. east coast). Each
sphere is divided into “cliques,” and the organization of cliques within
spheres changes across time.26 In the United States, there is no central
command or control structure; though, the more senior cliques in Los
17
VIRGINIA FUSION CTR., supra note 8, at 4.
Lineberger, supra note 9, at 191.
19
See Mara Salvatrucha 13 (MS-13), GANGS.ORG, http://gangs.umd.edu/Gangs/
MS13.aspx (last visited Nov. 2, 2013); VIRGINIA FUSION CENTER, supra note 8,
at 8; Cara Buckley, A Fearsome Gang and Its Wannabes, N.Y. TIMES,
Aug. 19, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/weekinreview/19buckley.h
tml; Street Gang MS-13 Infamous for Vicious Machete Killings Is First To Be
Declared an International Criminal Group, DAILY MAIL (London), Oct. 13,
2012,
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2217413/Street-gang-MS-13infamous-vicious-machete-killings-declared-international-criminal-group.html.
20
VIRGINIA FUSION CTR., supra note 8, at 7.
21
NAT’L GANG INTELLIGENCE CTR., NATIONAL GANG THREAT ASSESSMENT 12,
14 (2011), available at http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/2011national-gang-threat-assessment.
22
Lineberger, supra note 9, at 191.
23
Id. at 193.
24
Id. at 194.
25
VIRGINIA FUSION CTR., supra note 8, at 10.
26
Id. at 4.
18
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[Vol. 21:2
Angeles have greater power to direct the alliances and rivalries of the
other cliques.27 In contrast, the El Salvador clique structure is more
hierarchical and centralized.28
Gang leaders in El Salvador communicate with United States
cliques, and vice versa, indicating a potential move toward greater
centralization of the gang’s overall structure.29 MS-13 members
incarcerated in Salvadorian prisons have been known to bribe prison
guards to smuggle cell phones into the prison so MS-13 leaders can
communicate with gang members in the United States and “call shots”
(direct criminal activity).30 MS-13 members in the United States send
funds to gang members in El Salvador and to MS-13 members
incarcerated in American prisons.31 Recently, the U.S. Treasury
designated MS-13 a “transnational criminal organization” in an effort to
foil the gang’s ability to funnel money from the United States back to
gang leaders in El Salvador.32
New recruits must commit themselves to MS-13’s mission of
violence, even before becoming full-fledged members of the gang.
Initiation typically culminates with a “beat-in” or “jump-in,” in which
three to five existing gang members will viciously beat the prospective
gang member for thirteen seconds.33 After initiation, MS-13 members
must commit violent acts to defend territory and spread fear, preventing
citizens from reporting gang activities to police.34 Members continue to
earn status by their willingness and ability to commit violent acts.35
Cliques also use violence to maintain internal order, and gang members
who cooperate with police face the penalty of death.36 Cliques have two
27
Id. at 4-6.
Id.
29
Id.
30
Lineberger, supra note 9, at 198; Ruben Castaneda, MS-13 Case Adds
Salvadorian Inmates, WASH. POST,
June 6, 2007, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060501308.html.
31
NAT’L GANG INTELLIGENCE CTR., supra note 21, at 30.
32
Alicia A. Caldwell, Violent Street Gang: US Targets Finances of MS-13,
ASSOCIATED PRESS, Oct. 11, 2012, http://bigstory.ap.org/article/us-targetsviolent-central-american-street-gang. By designating MS-13 a transnational
criminal organization, the Treasury Department may seize MS-13’s criminal
profits by subjecting the gang to sanctions by the Department’s Office of
Foreign Assets Control. Id.
33
MS-13 NAT’L GANG TASK FORCE, supra note 15, at 12; see Mara Salvatrucha
13 (MS-13), supra note 19; MS-13, INSIGHT CRIME: ORGANIZED CRIME IN THE
AMERICAS, http://www.insightcrime.org/groups-el-salvador/mara-salvatruchams-13 (last visited Sept. 3, 2013).
34
United States v. Ayala, 601 F.3d 256, 261 (4th Cir. 2010).
35
Id.
36
Id.
28
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MS-13 and Domestic Juvenile Sex Trafficking
347
leaders, a “first word” responsible for running meetings, and a “second
word” who steps up in the first word’s absence.37 Particularly influential
leaders are known as “shot callers” and are responsible for directing acts
of violence.38 Gang meetings address violent activities and ongoing
police investigation, and gang members pay dues used to buy weapons,
make loans, and support members in jail.39 Clique leaders communicate,
coordinate, and provide weapons and hiding places to each other in order
to evade police.40
B. MS-13 SPREADS TO WASHINGTON, D.C. AND VIRGINIA
MS-13 operates in at least forty-two states and the District of
Columbia.41 Since as early as 2005, the Washington, D.C. metropolitan
area, particularly Northern Virginia, has become a bastion of MS-13
activity.42 The infiltration of Latino street gangs began in the early
1990s, when MS-13 sought to incorporate all Latin street gangs in the
Washington, D.C. metropolitan area under the umbrella of MS-13, either
by agreement or force.43 Since then, MS-13 has spread from Baltimore,
Maryland to Richmond, Virginia, with at least twenty known cliques in
Northern Virginia.44 MS-13 activity has been noted as far west as
Augusta County, Virginia.45 Prosecutors and law enforcement agents in
Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Northern Virginia began fighting the
spread of MS-13 by charging gang members with violations of the
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). For
example, in 2011, eleven MS-13 members were indicted on racketeering
charges for a spate of murders, stabbings, assaults, robberies, and drug
distribution occurring over a two-year period in the Washington, D.C.
area.46
37
Id.
Position of the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v.
Amaya, supra note 2.
39
Ayala, 601 F.3d at 261.
40
Id.
41
U.S. GOV’T ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE, GAO-10-395, COMBATING GANGS 6
(2010), available at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10395.pdf.
42
See MS-13, and Counting: Gang Activity in Northern Virginia: Hearing
Before the H. Comm. on Gov’t Reform, 109th Cong. 1-2 (2006) (statement of
Rep. Tom Davis, Chairman, Comm. on H. Gov’t Reform); Ayala, 601 F.3d at
261; Ruben Castaneda, MS-13’s Primary Goal Is Killing, Prosecutor Says at
Start of Trial, WASH. POST, Sept. 27, 2006, http://www.washingtonpost.com/w
p-dyn/content/article/2006/09/26/AR2006092601387.html.
43
VIRGINIA FUSION CTR., supra note 8, at 11.
44
Id.
45
Id.
46
Press Release, Immigration & Customs Enforcement, 11 Alleged MS-13
Members Indicted on Racketeering and Other Charges in Series of Violent
Crimes (Feb. 9, 2011), available at http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1102/110
38
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Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law
[Vol. 21:2
Perhaps surprisingly, MS-13 has not engaged in drug trafficking
nearly to the extent of other gangs, and their involvement is generally
limited to facilitating distribution of drugs for other organizations. This
limited involvement is likely due to the small size of the Central
American drug market and the lack of maritime ability to transport drugs
from Central America.47 Until recently, MS-13 had been unable to find
an economic activity sufficient to create a financial cornerstone for their
organization. That all changed around 2008, when D.C., Maryland, and
Virginia MS-13 cliques found a niche industry suited to their brand of
violence and greed: juvenile sex trafficking.
C. MS-13 AND JUVENILE SEX TRAFFICKING IN VIRGINIA
In the last five years, MS-13 and other gangs, such as the Bloods,
Hells Angels, and the Crips,48 have expanded beyond more traditional
crimes, such as drug trafficking, and have begun prostituting juveniles in
an effort to diversify their income.49 Gangs view juvenile sex trafficking
as a reliable source of income due to the steady financial rewards and
perceived low risk of apprehension and punishment.50 Gangs target
vulnerable, runaway girls as young as twelve years old by recruiting
them into prostitution, and sometimes also exploit existing female gang
members.51
In 2011, law enforcement agencies in Northern Virginia noticed a
trend among MS-1352 cliques and Crips sets53 as they uncovered multiple
209 washingtondc.htm.
47
U.S. GOV’T ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE, supra note 41, at 43.
48
See NAT’L GANG INTELLIGENCE CTR., supra note 21, at 25.
49
NAT’L GANG INTELLIGENCE CTR. & FED. BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION CRIMES
AGAINST CHILDREN UNIT, GANG CRIMINAL ACTIVITY EXPANDING INTO
JUVENILE PROSTITUTION: INTELLIGENCE REPORT 2 (2012), available at
http://www.goccp.maryland.gov/victim/documents/human-trafficking/researchpolicy/Gang-Criminal-Activity-Expanding-Into-Juvenile-Prostitution.pdf.
50
Id.
51
Id.
52
See Carrie Johnson, Gangs Enter New Territory with Sex Trafficking, NPR
(Nov. 14, 2011), http://wap.npr.org/story/142300731; NAT’L GANG
INTELLIGENCE CTR. & FED. BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION CRIMES AGAINST
CHILDREN UNIT, supra note 49, at 3, 5.
53
Position of the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v.
Sylvia, No. 1:12-cr-128 (E.D. Va. Aug. 10, 2012), 2012 WL 3563027; Position
of the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v. Dove, No.
1:12-cr-184 (E.D. Va. Aug. 3, 2012), 2012 WL 3279359; Position of the United
States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v. Strom, No. 1:12-cr-159
(E.D. Va. Sep. 7, 2012), 2012 WL 4067832; see also Feds: Fairfax Gang
Pimped Teen Prostitutes, NBC4 WASH. (Mar. 29, 2012), http://www.nbcwashin
gton.com/news/local/Feds-Fairfax-Gang-Pimped-Teen-Prostitutes144899675.html; Press Release, Fed. Bureau of Investigation, Leader of Crips
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MS-13 and Domestic Juvenile Sex Trafficking
349
instances of juvenile sex trafficking in the area. While some of these
trafficking schemes had gone unnoticed since as early as 2008,
investigation and prosecution of these cases quickly became a priority in
the Eastern District of Virginia U.S. Attorney’s Office (EDVA).54 In
these schemes, MS-13 cliques enticed at-risk females into prostitution,
then used the gang’s reputation for violence to prevent the girls from
fleeing their servitude.55 The gang saw sex trafficking as a way to make
a quick profit, given the low start-up costs (condoms, alcohol, and
transportation), ready supply of victims, and significant demand in both
the online and street markets.56
D. JUVENILE SEX TRAFFICKING RISK FACTORS AND VULNERABILITIES
In this section, I will outline the risk factors associated with girls
who become victims of juvenile sex trafficking and discuss the methods
by which gangs have preyed upon particular vulnerabilities in order to
successfully enter the juvenile sex trafficking market. I will also provide
an overview of the process by which Northern Virginia MS-13 cliques
have recruited and prostituted girls, using examples from actual MS-13
cases prosecuted by the EDVA between 2010 and 2013.
i. General Domestic Juvenile Sex Trafficking Risk Factors
Statistics show that upwards of 325,000 juveniles are at risk of being
sexually exploited each year.57 Traffickers adept at force, fraud, and
coercion easily form a strong bond with vulnerable young girls by
promising marriage, love, support, and financial resources.58 Young girls
Gang Pleads Guilty in Virginia to Prostituting Eight Juveniles,
(Jun. 26, 2012), available at http://www.fbi.gov/washingtondc/press-releases/20
12/leader-of-crips-gang-pleads-guilty-in-virginia-to-prostituting-eight-juveniles.
54
The Priorities of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Va., U.S. DEP’T
OF JUSTICE, http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae/priorities.html (last visited May 1,
2013).
55
NAT’L GANG INTELLIGENCE CTR., supra note 21, at 25; NAT’L GANG
INTELLIGENCE CTR. & FED. BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION CRIMES AGAINST
CHILDREN UNIT, supra note 49, at 3, 5.
56
Position of the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v.
Ramos, No. 1:12-cr-474 (E.D. Va. Feb. 1, 2013), 2013 WL 497547.
57
NAT’L GANG INTELLIGENCE CTR. & FED. BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION CRIMES
AGAINST CHILDREN UNIT, supra note 49, at 4.
58
HUMAN SMUGGLING & TRAFFICKING CTR., DEP’T OF STATE, DOMESTIC
HUMAN TRAFFICKING: AN INTERNAL ISSUE 5 (Dec. 2008), available at
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/113612.pdf; see, e.g., Position of
the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v. Dove, supra note
53; Position of the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v.
Strom, supra note 53 (describing Northern Virginia Underground Gangster
Crips recruitment tactics: gang members recruited juveniles and adults online
through social media such as Facebook and in person at train stations, bus stops,
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Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law
[Vol. 21:2
entrenched in the world of sex trafficking share a variety of
characteristics contributing to their vulnerability to victimization. These
characteristics generally stem from family and home life dysfunction but
also include characteristics such as drug and alcohol use.59
Homeless youth often turn to so-called “survival sex”60 and
prostitution in order to support themselves.61 Additionally, female
juvenile prostitution may be correlated with drug use predating the
prostitution,62 which renders girls vulnerable to exploitation by
traffickers offering easy access to these substances.63 Juvenile prostitutes
who use drugs have less-stable living environments, more disorganized
families, and little contact with parents, compared with their non-drugusing counterparts.64
Most trafficked juveniles also lack parental supervision, and they are
often victims of neglect or sexual abuse.65 Sexually precocious
juveniles66 and survivors of sexual abuse67 are statistically more likely to
turn to prostitution, which may be explained by a lack of reluctance to
local high schools and juvenile detention centers; recruits were told they were
pretty and asked whether they wanted to make a lot of money).
59
Kara Marie Brawn & Dominique Roe-Sepowitz, Female Juvenile Prostitutes:
Exploring the Relationship to Substance Use, 30 CHILD. & YOUTH SERVS. REV.
1395, 1400 (2008).
60
“Survival sex” refers to the “exchange of sex for food, money, shelter, drugs,
and other needs and wants” by homeless youth. N. Eugene Walls & Stephanie
Bell, Correlates of Engaging in Survival Sex Among Homeless Youth and Young
Adults, 48 J. SEX RES. 423, 424 (2011). In contrast, prostitution generally refers
to the exchange of sex for money in a more commercial or professional context.
Id. at 423. Though most girls trafficked by MS-13 are engaging in what Walls
and Bell refer to as “survival sex,” I use the term “prostitution” for clarity and
consistency with literature and court documents.
61
See Dominique E. Roe-Sepowitz, Juvenile Entry into Prostitution: The Role
of Emotional Abuse, 18 VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN 562, 572-75 (2012); Walls
& Bell, supra note 60, at 432-33.
62
Brawn & Roe-Sepowitz, supra note 59, at 1400.
63
Id.
64
Id.
65
Francine Lavoie et al., Buying and Selling Sex in Quebec Adolescents: A
Study and Protective Factors, 39 ARCHIVES SEXUAL BEHAV. 1147, 1157 (2010).
66
See Helen W. Wilson & Cathy Spatz Widom, The Role of Youth Problem
Behaviors in the Path from Child Abuse and Neglect to Prostitution: A
Prospective Examination, 20 J. RES. ON ADOLESCENCE 210, 229 (2010); Erin
Gibbs Van Brunschot & Augustine Brannigan, Childhood Maltreatment and
Subsequent Conduct Disorders: The Case of Female Street Prostitution, 25
INT’L J.L. & PSYCHIATRY 219, 227 (2002) (finding those who had sex at age
thirteen or younger were over four times as likely to engage in prostitution);
Augustine Brannigan & Erin Gibbs Van Brunschot, Youthful Prostitution and
Child Sexual Trauma, 20 INT’L J.L. & PSYCHIATRY 337, 349 (1997).
67
Brawn & Roe-Sepowitz, supra note 59, at 1400.
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MS-13 and Domestic Juvenile Sex Trafficking
351
engaging in survival sex due to desensitization. Negative home life is a
significant predictor for involvement in prostitution,68 possibly due to a
lack of social support structure. Additionally, childhood emotional abuse
may reduce coping skills and self-confidence, and trafficked girls may
perceive prostitution as the only mechanism to cope with the high-risk
situations they encounter after fleeing abusive situations.69 As a result of
neglect and abuse at home, many domestic juvenile trafficking victims
begin their street lives as desperate runaways who turn to pimps or
traffickers for shelter and food.70
ii. Gang-Based Sex Trafficking Risk Factors
Gangs target girls who have run away from home or foster care,
have been previously sexually abused, or who come from dysfunctional
families because they are likely to be needy, vulnerable, and easy to
control. Perhaps having experienced sexual or emotional abuse in the
past,71 these girls are generally seeking love, acceptance, and a sense of
belonging.72 Most prostituted juveniles find themselves entrapped in a
gang after being seduced and recruited, then forced into prostitution in
order to contribute financially to the gang.73 Sociologist Michel Dorais
and criminologist Patrice Corriveau noted four general profiles of
prostituted girls in their research on street gangs and prostitution.74 They
conceptualized the profiles in terms of what the girls were seeking
through involvement with street gangs and how the gangs influenced
them.75 They found that each girl they interviewed acted predominantly
68
Van Brunschot & Brannigan, supra note 66, at 227 (finding that those with a
negative home life are over three times as likely to be involved in prostitution).
69
Roe-Sepowitz, supra note 61, at 574.
70
See CONG. RES. SERV., R41878, SEX TRAFFICKING OF CHILDREN IN THE
UNITED STATES: OVERVIEW AND ISSUES FOR CONGRESS 2-3, 6-7 (2011)
available at http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41878.pdf.
71
Roe-Sepowitz, supra note 61, at 574.
72
Joan A. Reid, Exploratory Review of Route-Specific, Gendered, and AgeGraded Dynamics of Exploitation: Applying Life Course Theory to
Victimization in Sex Trafficking in North America, 17 AGGRESSION & VIOLENT
BEHAV. 257, 267 (2012).
73
See, e.g., Position of the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United
States v. Sylvia, supra note 53 (describing bait-and-switch tactics where victims
are initially coerced by being told they would only be involved in dancing,
stripping or escorting and would receive a small fraction of proceeds before
being coerced into full-fledged prostitution); Position of the United States with
Respect to Sentencing, United States v. Dove, supra note 53.
74
MICHEL DORAIS & PATRICE CORRIVEAU, GANGS AND GIRLS:
UNDERSTANDING JUVENILE PROSTITUTION 46 (Peter Feldstein trans., McGillQueen’s University Press 2009) (2006).
75
Id. Note that most often the role of female gang members is that of sex object,
but there are a few non-sexualized gang positions available to girls, such as that
of recruiter. Id. at 33. Gangs know that using another girl to recruit new
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for love, for money, for thrill, or against her will.76 Girls termed
“submissives” become involved in gangs and subsequently prostitution
because they seek love and support.77 They comprise the most common
form of juvenile prostitutes and tend to experience low self-esteem, be
naïve or susceptible to influence, and have unhappy family
backgrounds.78 “Independents” retain maximum autonomy by
associating with gangs for “contacts” in order to foster business, but they
disavow close gang ties.79 “Daredevils” desire to make money from
prostitution, think they know what to expect from life as a prostitute in a
gang, and are willing to take the risk. These girls tend to be older and
consider themselves to have more agency in their role as prostitute.80
“Sex slaves” are those girls prostituted against their will and whose
movements are strictly controlled.81 Sex slaves may be sold or traded
between traffickers for the purpose of prostitution.82
Gangs usually recruit by some version of the “Romeo” method,83
using misrepresentation, blackmail, and coercion by engaging in
relationships with young girls and acting like their “boyfriend.”84 The
prostitutes will provide greater access to vulnerable youth, as young girls are
more apt to trust another female. See id. at 44-45. For example, a Northern
Virginia “set” of the Underground Gangster Crips has incorporated experienced
female participants (known as “Head Bitch in Charge”) into their juvenile
trafficking schemes, using them to recruit members and introduce trafficked
girls to the gang’s rules and procedures. Position of the United States with
Respect to Sentencing, United States v. Sylvia, supra note 53; Position of the
United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v. Dove, supra note 53.
Some MS-13 cliques in the eastern United States fear that girls are more likely
to cooperate with law enforcement and so have prohibited girls from joining the
gang altogether. MS-13 NAT’L GANG TASK FORCE, supra note 15, at 7. If a
clique does permit female membership, girls will be required to endure either
the same “jump in” as the male recruits or a “sex in” where she is required to
have sex with multiple gang members in succession. Id.
76
DORAIS & CORRIVEAU, supra note 74, at 46.
77
Id. at 47, 56-57.
78
Id. at 47.
79
Id. at 54-55.
80
Id. at 51-53.
81
Id. at 49-50.
82
DORAIS & CORRIVEAU, supra note 74, at 49-50.
83
Laura J. Lederer, Sold for Sex: The Link Between Street Gangs and
Trafficking in Persons, 4 PROTECTION PROJECT J. HUM. RTS. & CIV. SOC’Y 1, 56 (2011).
84
DORAIS & CORRIVEAU, supra note 74, at 35-36; HUMAN SMUGGLING &
TRAFFICKING CTR., supra note 58, at 4. The ease with which gangs recruit
young girls through feigned love and benevolence is not surprising, considering
human traffickers in general “admit they get further with honey than vinegar,”
with regard to recruitment. See Wendy L. Patrick, Human Trafficking:
Psychology of Recruitment, PSYCHOL. TODAY (Jan. 13, 2014), http://www.psyc
hologytoday.com/blog/why-bad-looks-good/201401/human-trafficking-
2014]
MS-13 and Domestic Juvenile Sex Trafficking
353
“boyfriend”/future pimp will “love bomb” a girl by showering her with
affection in order to manipulate her into believing she is his girlfriend.85
Gang members may spend money buying these girls gifts, or simply
supplying them with drugs and shelter in order to encourage dependence
and a feeling of indebtedness.86 Regardless of addiction, gangs will find
a girl’s particular vulnerability and may use a “good cop, bad cop”
strategy to manipulate her emotions and gain greater control over her.87
Eventually, she is made to feel obligated for all she has been “given,”
and the gang begins to demand repayment for their “generosity.”88 At
this point, the gang suggests prostitution as a means to make money and
repay the girl’s debt. The girl is generally not allowed access to the
money she earns from prostitution; though, she may be paid a small
percentage as appeasement.89 To prepare the girl for prostitution and to
lower her inhibitions, the gang may rape her or supply drugs to make her
more complicit.90
E. HOW MS-13 ENGAGES IN DOMESTIC JUVENILE SEX TRAFFICKING
i. MS-13 Preys on Vulnerable Victims
Cases prosecuted by the EDVA U.S. Attorney’s Office in
Alexandria report that gangs most often recruit juvenile victims from
homeless shelters, middle schools and high schools.91 These juveniles
generally need friends, support, and a place to stay.92 Young girls are not
only preferred by MS-13’s customers, but are also easier to control and
manipulate93 due to their limited life experiences and vulnerable social
psychology-recruitment (“[T]he relationships between human traffickers and
their victims often masquerade as consensual relationships of love and
affection.”).
85
DORAIS & CORRIVEAU, supra note 74, at 35-36.
86
Id. at 39; JANICE G. RAYMOND & DONNA M. HUGHES, COALITION AGAINST
TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN, SEX TRAFFICKING OF WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES:
INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC TRENDS 10 (2001), http://www.uri.edu/artsci/
wms/hughes/sex_traff_us.pdf.
87
DORAIS & CORRIVEAU, supra note 74, at 41.
88
Id. at 42.
89
Id. at 43.
90
See id. at 29-32, 39, 42, 50-51.
91
Position of the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v.
Amaya, supra note 2, at 4. In Virginia, gangs have used “skip parties” held at
private homes during school hours to recruit high school and middle school girls
who skip school to attend the parties. Lederer, supra note 83, at 6.
92
Position of the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v.
Amaya, supra note 2, at 4; see Position of the United States with Respect to
Sentencing, United States v. Penado, No. 1:12CR399 (E.D. Va. Dec. 11, 2012),
2012 WL 6565868.
93
MS-13 Gang Leader Gets 50 Years for Teen Sex Trafficking, supra note 5.
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and economic status.94 In 2009, a twelve-year-old runaway girl at a
Halloween party in Maryland approached MS-13 member Jose Ciro
Juarez-Santamaria, a twenty-four-year-old illegal alien from El
Salvador.95 The girl asked for his help finding a place to live, and
Santamaria agreed to give her a place to stay, but subsequently forced
the victim to prostitute herself throughout the Washington, D.C. area the
next day.96 Jonathan Adonay Fuentes trafficked a fifteen-year-old girl
who sought refuge with MS-13 gang members after running away from
home in late 2009.97 After three weeks with the gang, MS-13 forced her
into prostitution by threatening to harm her boyfriend if she did not agree
to prostitute herself for the gang.98
MS-13 frequently enlists female gang members and female gang
associates to recruit young girls,99 though females often play a variety of
roles in the gangs.100 Female gang members may find it easier than male
gang members to efficiently and quickly gain the victim’s trust before
exploiting her.101 For example, in 2009, another fifteen-year-old runaway
girl met Yadira del Carmen Guerrero Andrade, a female MS-13
associate who worked as a prostitute at a Maryland nightclub.102 The girl
was pregnant and looking for a place to live. Yadira found her a room,
then recruited the girl to work as a prostitute for Yadira’s boyfriend, MS13 leader Julio Cesar Revolorio Ramos. Knowing the girl was pregnant,
Ramos forced her to work as a prostitute to pay rent.103
ii. MS-13’s Reputation and Violence Facilitate Juvenile Sex Trafficking
MS-13’s violence facilitates their trafficking schemes by preventing
victim resistance and discouraging customers from reporting the gang’s
94
Position of the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v.
Ramos, supra note 56.
95
Press Release, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the E. Dist. of Va., supra note 5.
96
Id.
97
Affidavit in Support of Criminal Complaint, United States v. Fuentes, No.
12CR00483 (E.D. Va. Sept. 28, 2012), 2012 WL 5998114.
98
Id.
99
Press Release, Immigration & Customs Enforcement, Maryland Woman
Pleads Guilty to Recruiting Teen in Sex Trafficking Ring (Feb. 13,
2013), available at
http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1302/130213alexandria.htm.
100
See MS-13 NAT’L GANG TASK FORCE, supra note 15, at 12. For an example
of the roles played by female members of another gang, see Lederer, supra note
83, at 7.
101
DORAIS & CORRIVEAU, supra note 74, at 44-45.
102
Criminal Complaint, United States v. Carmen, No. 1:12-MJ-797 (E.D. Va.
Dec. 18, 2012), 2012 WL 6626843.
103
Id.
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MS-13 and Domestic Juvenile Sex Trafficking
355
activities to law enforcement.104 After recruitment, victims quickly find
themselves overwhelmed by the brutality of MS-13. Gang members use
violence to keep victims in line,105 ensure victims repay debts owed to
the gang,106 and to force victims to service enough clients to turn a hefty
profit for the trafficker and gang.107 Even if the girl knew she would be
working as a prostitute when recruited (like the girl recruited by Yadira
and Ramos), she likely never expected to suffer such levels of
exploitation.
One of the most brutal traffickers was Rances Ulices Amaya, aka
“Murder” and “Blue,” a shot caller for a Northern Virginia MS-13
clique.108 Throughout his scheme, Amaya provided girls with drugs and
alcohol, raped at least two of them, and ordered each juvenile victim to
prostitute herself up to ten times a day.109 Clients paid for sex with
minors as young as fourteen in cars, hotels, apartments, and MS-13owned houses and businesses.110 “Amaya charged between thirty and
one hundred twenty dollars for about twenty minutes of sex with
victims”111 and would retain the majority of the proceeds for himself.112
Traffickers frequented convenience stores and construction sites to
solicit illegal aliens as customers because they believed illegal aliens
were unlikely to call the police.113
Amaya also raped victims before using them as prostitutes in order
to “test” them and let them “know what it felt like” to perform oral sex
against their will.114 A victim prostituted by Ramos had sex with
approximately twenty-five customers in a single day, despite begging to
104
Position of the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v.
Amaya, supra note 2.
105
Id.
106
For example, Yadira initially offered a room to the pregnant girl, but when
rent was later demanded, Yadira recruited the girl to work as a prostitute for
Ramos because she “had no other way to make money.” Criminal Complaint,
United States v. Carmen, supra note 102. Fear of gang reprisal, and Ramos’s
mercurial temper, likely contributed to the girl’s acquiescence to the scheme.
See id. (“Ramos became angry when she wanted to stop working as a
prostitute . . . .”).
107
See Position of the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States
v. Amaya, supra note 2.
108
See id.
109
Id.
110
Id.
111
MS-13 Gang Leader Gets 50 Years for Teen Sex Trafficking, supra note 5.
112
Position of the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v.
Amaya, supra note 2.
113
MS-13 Gang Leader Gets 50 Years for Teen Sex Trafficking, supra note 5.
114
Position of the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v.
Amaya, supra note 2.
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[Vol. 21:2
stop after the sixteenth customer.115 After long days of prostitution,
Amaya permitted his fellow gang members to rape the girls at night, free
of charge, using the free sex with juveniles to bolster his standing in the
gang.116 Often, the gang rapes were in rapid succession, known as
“running a train” or “trencito,” and were sometimes used to punish
victims for disobedience.117 Amaya and other MS-13 traffickers supplied
the girls with alcohol and drugs such as marijuana, crystal meth, and
ecstasy, to keep them compliant, and gave them the morning-after pill to
keep them from becoming pregnant.118 He informed victims of “the
rules,” which were as follows:
the customer must wear a condom; the victims should
never reveal their true names or ages; the victims should
moan loudly so the customer would ejaculate quickly
and the particular victim could then service the next
customer; customers should pay more for the victim to
remove her shirt or for any unusual sex acts that
customers wanted; and customers were limited to
around twenty to thirty minutes.119
As the “intimidator” or “muscle” for the business, Amaya used his
position, reputation, and a machete to ensure that his victims did not flee
and that his customers paid and kept quiet about MS-13’s activities.120
He told “the victims that he ‘owned’ them and that he would hurt their
loved ones if they stepped out of line or did not obey his orders.”121
Other MS-13 traffickers went as far as branding their victims’ bodies
with an “M” and an “S” using knives and razors, lest any girl question
who controlled her life.122 Amaya struck the victims in the face if they
attempted to assert some independence while being prostituted,123 and
115
Position of the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v.
Ramos, supra note 56.
116
Position of the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v.
Amaya, supra note 2.
117
Trial Brief of the United States, United States v. Amaya, No. 1:11-CR-556AJT (E.D. Va. Feb. 14, 2012), 2012 WL 597928.
118
Id.; Criminal Complaint, United States v. Penado, No. 1:12-MJ-453 (E.D.
Va. July 18, 2012), 2012 WL 3133941; Position of the United States with
Respect to Sentencing, United States v. Amaya, supra note 2; Affidavit in
Support of Criminal Complaint, United States v. Fuentes, supra note 97.
119
Trial Brief of the United States, United States v. Amaya, supra note 117.
120
Position of the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v.
Amaya, supra note 2; see also Trial Brief of the United States, United States v.
Amaya, supra note 117.
121
Id.
122
NAT’L GANG INTELLIGENCE CTR. & FED. BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN UNIT, supra note 49, at 5.
123
Position of the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v.
Amaya, supra note 2.
2014]
MS-13 and Domestic Juvenile Sex Trafficking
357
fellow gang member, Pineda-Penado, threatened a victim, “If you fuck
with me, you know what’s gonna happen.”124
Some victims were promptly discarded and abandoned by the gang
after being trafficked,125 whereas others escaped their fate only by
fleeing and hiding from their captors.126 To ensure customers regularly
had new girls for sex, MS-13 gang members typically only prostituted a
particular girl for a week or six days and then moved on to recruiting and
prostituting a different girl for the following week.127 The gang leaders
used portions of the proceeds from the prostitution schemes to support
incarcerated MS-13 members and to purchase drugs and weapons.128
Other proceeds were sent to co-conspirators in Mexico and MS-13 gang
members who charged the co-conspirators “rent” to operate in a given
geographic area.129 The victims, in contrast, escaped if they were lucky
or were unceremoniously abandoned by the gang without money or
dignity.
II. STRATEGIES FOR COMBATTING MS-13 DOMESTIC
JUVENILE SEX TRAFFICKING
Prosecutors and law enforcement agents confront the weighty task of
combatting MS-13’s domestic juvenile trafficking schemes. While lack
of witness cooperation and investigative inconsistency are significant
challenges in many juvenile sex trafficking cases, MS-13’s infamous
brutality combined with their selection of young, vulnerable victims
renders investigation and prosecution of these trafficking schemes
exceedingly difficult.130 Many victims and witnesses are reluctant to
cooperate with investigators and prosecutors because they are so
frightened of the ramifications they may suffer at the hands of MS-13 for
consorting with law enforcement.131 Further, many local law
enforcement agents lack the training and knowledge necessary to
identify and combat MS-13 trafficking, should it exist in their
jurisdiction.
124
Criminal Complaint, United States v. Penado, supra note 118.
Position of the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v.
Ramos, supra note 56.
126
Criminal Complaint, United States v. Penado, supra note 118 (discussing a
victim who fled from her MS-13 captor before seeking refuge in the Alexandria
Juvenile Detention Center, where she stayed for two months).
127
Position of the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v.
Ramos, supra note 56.
128
Trial Brief of the United States, United States v. Amaya, supra note 117.
129
Position of the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v.
Ramos, supra note 56.
130
See infra Part II.B.
131
See infra Part II.B.
125
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The battle against domestic juvenile sex trafficking has in some
ways been overlooked by the federal government until recently,132
despite the fact that eighty-two percent of confirmed sex trafficking
incidents between 2008 and 2010 involved United States citizens, and
forty percent of incidents investigated involved allegations of child
prostitution.133 The domestic juvenile sex trafficking problem came
under greater political and social scrutiny, however, when the Eastern
District of Virginia United States Attorney’s Office (EDVA)
spearheaded the movement towards using federal human trafficking laws
to combat MS-13. Since 2011, EDVA prosecutors have successfully
convicted numerous MS-13 gang members for their roles in juvenile sex
trafficking schemes. While a great deal of the district’s success is
attributable to creative and aggressive prosecution, the Northern Virginia
Human Trafficking Task Force in 2004 has also played a significant role.
More specifically, the Task Force has enabled these successful, highprofile prosecutions by providing a pool of investigative resources and
services for victim-witnesses.
In this section, I provide an overview of the federal statutes used to
combat human traffickers, including domestic sex traffickers and MS-13
gang members. I discuss the challenges to successful prevention and
prosecution of domestic juvenile sex trafficking, such as Congress’s
historically narrow-sighted focus on international human trafficking, the
lack of trafficking-specific victim’s services, and the inconsistent
investigation of domestic juvenile trafficking cases. Finally, I argue that
well-informed and comprehensive human trafficking joint task forces
should be used to combat MS-13 juvenile sex trafficking by developing
more consistent investigation, prosecution, and prevention of human
trafficking cases in jurisdictions beyond the Washington, D.C.
metropolitan area. In addition to preventing and prosecuting MS-13
trafficking cases, development of human trafficking joint task forces will
improve awareness, investigation, and prosecution of juvenile trafficking
schemes in general.
A. FEDERAL STATUTORY RESPONSE TO DOMESTIC JUVENILE TRAFFICKING
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA)134 is the
primary vehicle for combatting juvenile sex trafficking, though the
132
HUMAN SMUGGLING & TRAFFICKING CTR., supra note 58, at 2.
BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS, U.S. DEP’T OF JUSTICE, CHARACTERISTICS
OF SUSPECTED HUMAN TRAFFICKING INCIDENTS, 2008-2010, at 3 (2011),
available at http://bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cshti0810.pdf.
134
Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000, Pub. L. No.
106-386, 114 Stat. 1464, 1466 (2000); Trafficking Victims Protection
Reauthorization Act of 2003, H.R. 2620, 108th Cong. (2003); Trafficking
Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005, H.R. 972, 109th Cong. (2005);
William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of
133
2014]
MS-13 and Domestic Juvenile Sex Trafficking
359
statute addresses the problem of human trafficking more broadly.135 This
powerful statute is derived from the Thirteenth Amendment’s antislavery principles136 and is the first comprehensive federal statute
prohibiting sex trafficking in general,137 without requiring an interstate
nexus.138 Unlike other statutes used to combat juvenile sex trafficking,
the TVPA requires only that the child is used to commit a commercial
sex act and does not require the use of force139 or transportation of
victims across borders or state lines.140 The TVPA combats trafficking
through three mechanisms: prosecution of traffickers, protection of
victims, and prevention of trafficking.141 Initially designed to focus on
reducing the instances of non-U.S. citizen human trafficking,142 the
statute has gradually been refocused to incorporate provisions addressing
domestic trafficking through various reauthorizations.143
Congress passed the TVPA to facilitate prosecution of “trafficking
of persons.”144 The TVPA is codified in 18 U.S.C. § 1591, a broad
statute prohibiting “sex trafficking of children” and sex trafficking of
2008, H.R. 7311, 110th Cong. (2008); Trafficking Victims Protection
Reauthorization Act of 2013, H.R. 898, 113th Cong. (2013).
135
KRISTIN M. FINKLEA ET AL., CONG. RESEARCH SERV., R41878, SEX
TRAFFICKING OF CHILDREN IN THE UNITED STATES: OVERVIEW AND ISSUES FOR
CONGRESS 1 (2011).
136
See AMY FARRELL ET AL., NE. UNIV. INST. ON RACE & JUSTICE, URBAN INST.
JUSTICE POLICY CTR., IDENTIFYING CHALLENGES TO IMPROVE THE
INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF STATE AND LOCAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING
CASES 1-­‐2 (2012), available at http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412593State-and-Local-Human-Trafficking-Cases.pdf [hereinafter FARRELL ET AL.,
IDENTIFYING CHALLENGES].
137
TVPA Fact Sheet, POLARIS PROJECT, http://www.polarisproject.org/resources
/resources-by-topic/anti-trafficking-efforts (click on link for “Trafficking
Victims Protection Act Summary Resource Pack”) (last visited May 1, 2013).
138
FINKLEA ET AL., supra note 135, at 15.
139
HUMAN SMUGGLING & TRAFFICKING CTR., supra note 58, at 3.
140
FARRELL ET AL., IDENTIFYING CHALLENGES, supra note 136, at 1-2.
141
See Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 §§ 106, 107,
112; TVPA Fact Sheet, supra note 137.
142
See Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000; FINKLEA ET
AL., supra note 135, at 3-4; HUMAN SMUGGLING & TRAFFICKING CTR., supra
note 58, at 2.
143
Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005; William
Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008; TVPA
Fact Sheet, supra note 137; PHYLLIS J. NEWTON ET AL., NAT’L OP. RESEARCH
CTR., NORC FINAL REPORT: FINDING VICTIMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING vi
(2008), available at https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=233840.
144
See HUMAN SMUGGLING & TRAFFICKING CTR., supra note 58, at 3; Victims
of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 § 102(a).
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adults “by force, fraud, or coercion.”145 The TVPA defines “severe forms
of trafficking in persons” as:
(A)
sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is
induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which
the person induced to perform such act has not
attained 18 years of age; or
(B)
the recruitment, harboring, transportation,
provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or
services, through the use of force, fraud, or
coercion for the purpose of subjection to
involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage,
or slavery.146
“Sex trafficking” is defined as “the recruitment, harboring,
transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a
commercial sex act.”147 Prior to the TVPA, federal prosecutors relied on
other federal statutes, including the Mann Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2423, to
prosecute juvenile sex traffickers.148 The Mann Act prohibits
transportation of minors across state or international lines for prostitution
or other unlawful sexual activities.149 To successfully prosecute
traffickers under the Mann Act, prosecutors must overcome the hurdle of
proving the minors crossed state lines for the purpose of unlawful sexual
activities.150 In contrast, 18 U.S.C. § 1591 is more broadly applicable
because it does not require a trafficker to transport the child across state
lines in order to face prosecution.151 Additionally, the language of 18
U.S.C. § 1591 permits prosecution not only of the traffickers, but also of
the customers who solicit juvenile prostitutes.152 The TVPA authorizes
punishment up to life imprisonment for sex trafficking of a child, and the
minimum imprisonment increases from ten to fifteen years for
trafficking a child under the age of fourteen.153 In 2008, the
145
18 U.S.C. § 1591(a) (2008); Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection
Act of 2000 § 112(a).
146
22 U.S.C. § 7102(8) (2008); Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection
Act of 2000 § 103(8).
147
22 U.S.C. § 7102(9) (2008).
148
FINKLEA ET AL., supra note 135, at 14, n.54.
149
18 U.S.C. § 2423(a) (2006); FINKLEA ET AL., supra note 135, at 14 n.54.
150
18 U.S.C. § 2423(a), (b) (2006).
151
See HUMAN SMUGGLING & TRAFFICKING CTR., supra note 58, at 4.; FINKLEA
ET AL., supra note 135, at 15.
152
See Press Release, Matt J. Whitworth, Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S.
Attorney’s Office for the W. Dist. of Mo., Undercover Sting Leads to First-Ever
Human Trafficking Charges for Attempting to Pay for Sex with
Children (Mar. 10, 2009), available at http://www.justice.gov/usao/mow/news2
009/childers.ind.htm.
153
18 U.S.C. § 1591(b) (2008).
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MS-13 and Domestic Juvenile Sex Trafficking
361
reauthorization of the TVPA expanded the crime of juvenile sex
trafficking by no longer requiring that traffickers have actual knowledge
of a minor victim’s age in order to be prosecuted for juvenile sex
trafficking.154 The child is considered a trafficking victim under federal
law regardless of whether the child has represented herself as an adult.155
To facilitate the prosecution of traffickers, protection of victims, and
prevention of future trafficking incidents, the TVPA authorized funding
for trafficking victims’ services and for anti-trafficking task forces.156
One example of how this funding has been used is the Innocence Lost
National Initiative, which is dedicated to combatting sex trafficking of
minors in the U.S.157 The Civil Rights Unit of the FBI, in conjunction
with the Child Exploitation and Obscenities Section of the Department
of Justice and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,
has established thirty-nine Innocence Lost task forces throughout the
United States.158 The Department of Justice funds forty-two Anti-Human
Trafficking Task Forces nationwide.159 These task forces facilitate
interagency cooperation between federal, state, and local law
enforcement investigators and prosecutors and NGO victims’ services
providers.160
B. PROBLEMS WITH AND LIMITATIONS OF THE FEDERAL RESPONSE
TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING
A variety of notable cultural and legal shifts have occurred at the
federal level as a result of the TVPA. First, the TVPA has succeeded in
equating pimps with human traffickers, encouraging equal legal and
societal treatment of all individuals responsible for sexually exploiting
154
See 18 U.S.C. § 1591(c) (2008); TVPA Fact Sheet, supra note 137.
FINKLEA ET AL., supra note 135, at 1 n.5.
156
Id. at 16.
157
Id.; Innocence Lost, FED. BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, http://www.fbi.gov/ab
out-us/investigate/vc_majorthefts/cac/innocencelost (last visited May 1, 2013).
158
FINKLEA ET AL., supra note 135, at 16. For additional information about the
Civil Rights Unit of the FBI, see Civil Rights, FED. BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION,
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/civilrights (last visited Oct. 8, 2013).
For additional information about the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section
of the Department of Justice, see Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section:
Prostitution of Children, DEP’T OF JUSTICE, http://www.justice.gov/criminal/ceo
s/subjectareas/prostitution.html (last visited May 1, 2013). For more information
about the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, see NAT’L CTR.
FOR MISSING & EXPLOITED CHILDREN, http://www.missingkids.com/home (last
visited Oct. 8, 2013).
159
FINKLEA ET AL., supra note 135, at 16; U.S. GOV’T ACCOUNTABILITY
OFFICE, GAO-07-915, HUMAN TRAFFICKING: A STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK
COULD HELP ENHANCE THE INTERAGENCY COLLABORATION NEEDED TO
EFFECTIVELY COMBAT TRAFFICKING CRIMES 31 (2007).
160
FINKLEA ET AL., supra note 135, at 16.
155
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children and adults.161 Additionally, the TVPA requires that under
federal law, prostituted children must be considered victims, not
criminals.162 Shockingly, though, these cultural and legal shifts have not
necessarily permeated all levels of U.S. law enforcement and
prosecution, causing large gaps among local agencies with regard to
juvenile sex trafficking investigation, prosecution, and access to victims’
services. Gaps such as the adjudication of victims as juvenile delinquents
and disparate treatment of domestic versus international trafficking
victims result from a variety of factors. Among these factors are the
long-standing political focus on international, as opposed to domestic,
juvenile trafficking, and lack of sex-trafficking-specific collaboration,
communication, and training of prosecutors, investigators, and nongovernmental organizations.
Until recently, many Americans had conceptualized human
trafficking as an international problem in which victims are brought into
or taken from the United States against their will.163 In contrast,
Americans have tended to view domestic victims of trafficking as
criminal prostitutes or delinquents.164 This disconnect resulted in an
overly narrow view of the problem, reflected in the TVPA’s initial
construction.165 The TVPA of 2000 targeted primarily noncitizen
victims, though the reauthorizations in 2005 and 2008 have shifted more
towards domestic trafficking by funding services for a greater spectrum
of victims.166
The more insidious barrier to successful prosecution and prevention
of juvenile sex trafficking has been this characterization of domestic
juvenile prostitutes as criminal “delinquents” and not as victims, even by
prosecutors, service providers, and law enforcement.167 This
mischaracterization has not only adversely affected countless potential
prosecutions of traffickers, but may do further damage to countless
victims forced into prostitution as a result of life circumstances beyond
161
Kimberly Kotrla, Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking in the United States, 55
SOC. WORK 181, 181 (2010).
162
U.S. DEP’T OF STATE, supra note 7, at 364.
163
HUMAN SMUGGLING & TRAFFICKING CTR., supra note 58, at 2.
164
Id.
165
See FINKLEA ET AL., supra note 135, at 4-5.
166
See id. at 4.
167
Kimberly J. Mitchell et al., Conceptualizing Juvenile Prostitution as Child
Maltreatment: Findings from the National Juvenile Prostitution Study, CHILD
MALTREATMENT, Feb. 2010, at 18, 18 (2009); David Finkelhor & Richard
Ormrod, Prostitution of Juveniles: Patterns from NIBRS, JUV. JUST. BULL., June
2004, at 1, 4; Kotrla, supra note 161, at 184.
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MS-13 and Domestic Juvenile Sex Trafficking
363
their control.168 Treatment of trafficked juveniles as criminals instead of
as victims “create[s] an adversarial rather than a rehabilitative
relationship with the court system” and causes further trauma as police
and prosecutors may threaten to incarcerate minor prostitutes if they do
not testify against their pimps.169
Even though the TVPA of 2000 did legislate that trafficked juveniles
are to be considered victims and not criminals for the purpose of federal
law, there have been disparities in labeling victims at the state and local
levels due to inconsistent state legislation and lack of thorough law
enforcement training.170 While local law enforcement agencies have
become more involved in combatting juvenile sex trafficking after
TVPA, the decentralized nature of the criminal justice system has
prevented effective integration of local, state, and federal actors in many
jurisdictions.171
Lack of funding, data, and research172 has also created holes in the
battle against juvenile sex trafficking in the U.S. For example, despite
the prevalence of underage trafficking involving gangs, the Obama
Administration recently shut down the FBI’s National Gang Intelligence
Center, dedicated to curbing gang violence.173 Additionally, most
Department of Health and Human Services trafficking victim services
are available only for foreign victims, preventing domestic victims from
accessing many benefits.174 Further, despite the federal funding for task
168
See generally Tamar R. Birckhead, The “Youngest Profession”: Consent,
Autonomy, and Prostituted Children, 88 WASH. U. L. REV. 1055, 1114-15
(2011).
169
Id. at 1083-1086.
170
See FINKLEA ET AL., supra note 135, at 29; FARRELL ET AL., IDENTIFYING
CHALLENGES, supra note 136, at 6-9.
171
See Maureen Q. McGough, Ending Modern-Day Slavery: Using Research to
Inform U.S. Anti-Human Trafficking Efforts, NIJ J., Feb. 2013, at 26, 26-27
(arguing that lack of dependable data hampers anti-trafficking efforts); NEWTON
ET AL., supra note 143, at 4-6; Barbara Ann Stolz, Identifying Human
Trafficking Victims, 9 CRIMINOLOGY & PUB. POL’Y 267, 271 (2010).
172
See Kristiina Kangaspunta, Measuring the Immeasurable: Can the Severity
of Human Trafficking be Ranked?, 9 CRIMINOLOGY & PUB. POL’Y 257, 263
(2010).
173
Sanctuary Policies Aid Gang Run Prostitution Rings in DC, JUDICIAL
WATCH (Feb. 15, 2013), http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2013/02/sanctuarypolicies-aid-gang-run-prostitution-rings-in-d-c/. For additional information
about the National Gang Intelligence Center, see National Gang Intelligence
Center, FED. BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investig
ate/vc_majorthefts/gangs/ngic (last visited Oct. 8, 2013).
174
See generally OFFICE OF REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT, U.S. DEP’T OF HEALTH &
HUMAN SERVS., SERVICES AVAILABLE TO VICTIMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING: A
RESOURCE GUIDE FOR SOCIAL SERVICE PROVIDERS (2012), available at
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/orr/traffickingservices_0.pdf.
364
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forces and victims’ services, many agency collaborations do not
effectively meet the unique needs of vulnerable juvenile domestic
trafficking victims by, for example, failing to provide adequate mental
health services to victims.175 However, the successful prosecution of
MS-13 juvenile traffickers in Virginia proves these challenges are not
insurmountable. Overcoming these challenges requires a coordinated and
unified collaboration of local, state, federal, and non-governmental
agencies, and such efforts will have the dual benefit of broader
prevention and more effective prosecution of juvenile sex trafficking
schemes whether they are perpetrated by MS-13 or by other gangs.
C. COMPREHENSIVE HUMAN TRAFFICKING JOINT TASK FORCES
WILL IMPROVE INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION
OF MS-13 JUVENILE SEX TRAFFICKING CASES
Successfully prosecuting human trafficking cases requires victim
testimony, collaboration with prosecutors, rapport with service
providers, and trust of law enforcement, all of which may be obtained
only with patient and trained investigators.176 Furthermore, prosecutions
should empower victims and facilitate the healing process to the greatest
extent possible.177 MS-13 cases present unique difficulties for
prosecutors and investigators, due to the vulnerability of victims, violent
and threatening nature of MS-13, and inconsistent investigation and
prosecution of domestic juvenile sex trafficking cases. The most
promising solution to these difficulties is more effective use of joint task
forces to encourage interjurisdictional cooperation and investigative and
prosecutorial consistency. The FBI calls human trafficking a “national
problem with local ties,” a characterization that speaks to the need for
collaboration between federal and local authorities, victims’ services
organizations, and other non-governmental organizations throughout the
investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases.178 MS-13’s
recruitment tactics further demonstrate the need for coordinated victim
175
See U.S. DEP’T OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVS., STUDY OF HHS PROGRAMS
SERVING HUMAN TRAFFICKING VICTIMS FINAL REPORT vii-viii (2009)
[hereinafter U.S. DEP’T OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVS., STUDY OF HHS
PROGRAMS]; NAT’L HUMAN TRAFFICKING RES. CTR., INCREASING
AWARENESS AND ENGAGEMENT—ANNUAL REPORT: STRENGTHENING THE
NATIONAL RESPONSE TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN THE US 28 (2011), available
at http://www.polarisproject.org/resources/hotline-statistics.
176
HEATHER CLAWSON ET AL., PROSECUTING HUMAN TRAFFICKING CASES:
LESSONS LEARNED AND PROMISING PRACTICES vi (2008), available at
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/223972.pdf.
177
U.S. DEP’T OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVS., RESOURCES: MINDSET OF A
HUMAN TRAFFICKING VICTIM, available at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default
/files/orr/understanding_the_mindset_of_a_trafficking_victim.pdf (last visited
Nov. 8, 2013) [hereinafter U.S. DEP’T OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVS., MINDSET].
178
Amanda Walker-Rodriguez & Rodney Hill, Human Sex Trafficking, FBI L.
ENFORCEMENT BULL., March 2011, at 1, 4.
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MS-13 and Domestic Juvenile Sex Trafficking
365
services and a uniform approach to investigation and interagency
cooperation.
Since 2011, federal prosecutors in the EDVA United States
Attorney’s Office have used the TVPA, 18 U.S.C. § 1591, in
conjunction with the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force
(the “Task Force”), to successfully convict MS-13 gang members for
juvenile sex trafficking in Northern Virginia.179 In 2013, Jonathan
Adonay Fuentes, aka “Cheesy” and “Crazy Boy,” was sentenced to ten
years in prison.180 In 2012, Yimmy Pineda-Penado, aka “Critico,” was
sentenced to seventeen years and six months in prison;181 and Rances
Ulices Amaya, aka “Murder,” was sentenced to fifty years in prison.182
In 2011, Jose Ciro Juarez-Santamaria, aka “Sniper,” was sentenced to
life in prison.183
EDVA’s prosecutorial success can be attributed in part to the
cooperation, communication, training, and collaboration of actors such
as the FBI’s Washington Field Office, Fairfax County Police
Department’s gang unit, federal prosecutors, and victims’ services
organizations under the umbrella of the Task Force.184 Founded in 2004,
the Task Force is a collaboration of federal, state, and local law
enforcement agencies, and non-governmental organizations dedicated to
combatting human trafficking and related crimes.185 Between 2011 and
179
See, e.g., Position of the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United
States v. Amaya, supra note 2.
180
Press Release, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the E. Dist. of Va., MS-13 Gang
Member Sentenced to 120 Months for Child Sex Trafficking (Mar. 1, 2013),
available at http://www.fbi.gov/washingtondc/press-releases/2013/ms-13-gangmember-sentenced-to-120-months-for-child-sex-trafficking.
181
Press Release, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the E. Dist. of Va., MS-13 Clique
Leader Sentenced to 210 Months for Child Sex Trafficking (Dec. 14,
2012), available at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae/news/2012/12/20121214
penadonr.html.
182
Press Release, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the E. Dist. of Va., Leader of MS13 Gang Sentenced to 50 Years in Prison for Sex Trafficking Multiple Teens
(Jun. 1, 2012), available at http://www.fbi.gov/washingtondc/press-releases/201
2/leader-of-ms-13-gang-sentenced-to-50-years-in-prison-for-sex-traffickingmultiple-teens.
183
Press Release, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the E. Dist. of Va., MS-13 Gang
Member Sentenced to Life in Prison for Sex Trafficking a Child (Oct. 28,
2011), available at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae/news/2011/10/20111028sa
ntamarianr.html.
184
See, e.g., Press Release, Immigration & Customs Enforcement, supra note
99; Press Release, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the E. Dist. of Va., MS-13 Gang
Member Sentenced to 120 Months, supra note 180; see also NAT’L HUMAN
TRAFFICKING RES. CTR., supra note 175, at 18.
185
Press Release, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the E. Dist. of Va., MS-13 Gang
Member Sentenced to 120 Months, supra note 180; Press Release, U.S.
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the end of 2012, the Task Force assisted in the prosecution of forty-four
defendants in the Eastern District for Virginia for human trafficking and
related conduct.186 These crimes involved at least thirty-two victims and
twenty-five distinct cases in the Eastern District alone.187
Research has shown that locales with task forces incorporating state,
local, and federal agencies that oversee law enforcement, prosecutions,
and comprehensive victim services are more likely to successfully
identify and prosecute human trafficking cases.188 This is due, in part, to
increased awareness of the problem of human trafficking,189 greater
collaboration between advocates and agencies to maximize resources,190
better coordination between state and federal law enforcement
agencies,191 and increased access to victims’ services.192 Effective,
widespread use of human trafficking task forces will facilitate successful
gang-based sex trafficking prosecutions, even beyond MS-13, by
improving training of law enforcement agents, prosecutors, and service
providers, and by securing witness cooperation through better victim
services.193 Ideally, human trafficking task forces will have the
additional effect of preventing trafficking incidents by providing greater
law enforcement, strengthening social services, and promoting general
public awareness of victim risk factors and pre-recruitment intervention
strategies.
Attorney’s Office for the E. Dist. of Va., Leader of MS-13 Gang Sentenced to
50 Years, supra note 182.
186
Press Release, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the E. Dist. of Va., MS-13 Clique
Leader Sentenced to 210 Months, supra note 181.
187
Id.
188
See FINKLEA ET AL., supra note 135, at 16.
189
NEWTON ET AL., supra note 143, at ix-x, 6-7.
190
Jennifer Gentile Long & Teresa Garvey, No Victim? Don’t Give Up,
STRATEGIES, Nov. 2012, at 1, 1-2.
191
Jennifer Gentile Long, Enhancing Prosecutions of Human Trafficking and
Related Violence Against Sexually Exploited Women, STRATEGIES, May 2012,
at 1, 2.
192
CALIBER, EVALUATION OF COMPREHENSIVE SERVICES FOR VICTIMS OF
HUMAN TRAFFICKING: KEY FINDINGS AND LESSONS LEARNED 47 (2007),
available at https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/218777.pdf [hereinafter
CALIBER, EVALUATION OF COMPREHENSIVE SERVICES].
193
For information on developing and implementing human trafficking task
forces, see Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force Strategy and Operations eGuide, OFFICE FOR VICTIMS OF CRIME TRAINING & TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
CTR.,
http://www.ovcttac.gov/TaskForceGuide/EGuide/Default.aspx
(last
visited Nov. 8, 2013).
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MS-13 and Domestic Juvenile Sex Trafficking
367
i. Improving Training of Law Enforcement Agents, Prosecutors, and
Service Providers to Facilitate Trafficking Victim Identification
Task forces may help uncover instances of MS-13 and other gangbased juvenile sex trafficking by increasing public awareness of the
problem’s prevalence and by training law enforcement agents,
prosecutors, and service providers194 to quickly identify trafficking
victims.195 A joint task force can provide a clearer definition of what
constitutes trafficking through development of law enforcement
protocols and guidelines, which may facilitate greater interagency
communication and cooperation.196 For example, in one of the EDVA
MS-13 cases, a young female trafficking victim escaped the gang and
fled to a juvenile detention center in Alexandria, where she stayed for
two weeks.197 Court records do not provide an explanation for this
disconnect, but law enforcement agents may have mistaken her for a
juvenile delinquent. This misidentification is unfortunately common, as
many victims of gang-related juvenile sex trafficking appear at first to be
gang members or are reluctant to identify themselves as victims out of
embarrassment or fear of reprisal.198
Responsibility for identifying victims of trafficking falls
disproportionately on the shoulders of local law enforcement,
necessitating greater awareness and training for potential victim
assessment and investigation of sex trafficking schemes.199 A 2005 study
noted that in eleven of twelve cases, law enforcement failed to recognize
domestic trafficking victims despite having direct contact with the
victims.200 Joint task forces may be able to reduce the variation in
194
Kotrla, supra note 161, at 185 (suggesting trafficking screening protocols for
social workers).
195
See NEWTON ET AL., supra note 143, at 73-77; CALIBER, LAW ENFORCEMENT
RESPONSE TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR VICTIMS:
CURRENT PRACTICES AND LESSONS LEARNED 57-58 (2006), available at
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/216547.pdf.
196
See NEWTON ET AL., supra note 143, at 73-77; Amy Farrell et al., Where Are
All the Victims? Understanding the Determinants of Official Identification of
Human Trafficking Incidents, 9 CRIMINOLOGY & PUB. POL’Y 201, 222-25
(2010) [hereinafter Farrell et al., Where Are All the Victims?].
197
Criminal Complaint, United States v. Penado, supra note 118.
198
U.S. DEP’T OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVS., MINDSET, supra note 177.
199
Robert Moossy, Sex Trafficking: Identifying Cases and Victims, NIJ J.,
March 2009, at 2, 3; see Finkelhor & Ormrod, supra note 167, at 3.
200
Suzanna L. Tiapula & Melissa Millican, Identifying the Victims of Human
Trafficking, PROSECUTOR, Jan./Feb./Mar. 2008, at 34, 36 (referencing KEVIN
BALES & STEVEN LIZE, MISS. CROFT INS. FOR INT’L STUD., TRAFFICKING IN
PERSONS IN THE UNITED STATES: A REPORT TO THE NATIONAL
INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE (2005), available at http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/gr
ants/211980.pdf).
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perception of trafficking among responding agencies and investigators201
by providing specialized training in trafficking investigation to more
officers, developing protocols, providing education about state human
trafficking statutes,202 collecting and reporting data to share among
agencies, and promoting sex trafficking awareness when officers
respond to other criminal activities, such as gang-related activities.203
ii. Securing Victim Cooperation
The most frequent challenge faced by law enforcement and
prosecutors in sex trafficking cases is lack of victim cooperation.204
Victims are often hesitant to testify or cooperate for a variety of reasons,
including fear for their safety, concern for their family’s safety,
Stockholm Syndrome,205 distrust of law enforcement, and lack of access
to victims’ services.206 MS-13 trafficking victims are particularly
hesitant to cooperate because of MS-13’s reputation for “greenlighting”
anyone affiliated with the gang who cooperates with law enforcement.207
“Greenlighting” refers to a gang order that any gang member may kill a
201
Stolz, supra note 171, at 270.
FARRELL ET AL., IDENTIFYING CHALLENGES, supra note 138, at 11-13; Stolz,
supra note 171, at 271-73; Farrell et al., Where Are All the Victims?, supra note
196, at 223-24; see also Press Release, Office of the Governor Robert F.
McDonnell, Governor McDonnell Signs Legislation to Protect Victims of
Sexual and Domestic Violence (May 8, 2012) (on file with Va. Governor’s
Office) (outlining new Virginia statutes combatting human trafficking,
including a statute that makes sex trafficking a predicate offense).
203
Stolz, supra note 171, at 272; see also AMY FARRELL ET AL., NE. UNIV. INST.
ON RACE & JUSTICE, UNDERSTANDING AND IMPROVING LAW ENFORCEMENT
RESPONSES TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING 77 (2008) [hereinafter FARRELL ET AL.,
UNDERSTANDING AND IMPROVING LAW ENFORCEMENT RESPONSES] (“[N]early
ninety-two percent of law enforcement agents reported a connection between
[human] trafficking and an additional crime in the course of their
investigation.”).
204
FARRELL ET AL., UNDERSTANDING AND IMPROVING LAW ENFORCEMENT
RESPONSES, supra note 203, at 8.
205
Stockholm syndrome is a complex and paradoxical psychological response to
captivity whereby a hostage views their captor as “giving life by simply not
taking it,” resulting in a “positive bond between hostage and captor.” Nathalie
de Fabrique et al., Understanding Stockholm Syndrome, FBI L. ENFORCEMENT
BULL., July 2007, at 10, 12.
206
See McGough, supra note 171, at 30.
207
Dave Gibson, Virginia Has Become a Stronghold for MS-13, EXAMINER.COM
(Mar. 2, 2011), http://www.examiner.com/article/virginia-has-become-stronghol
d-for-ms-13-w-video; Ines Rivera, MS-13: Gangs Infiltrating the Suburbs of
Washington, D.C., DC SPOTLIGHT, Aug. 28, 2010, http://www.dcspotlight.com/
features/living-the-life/ms-13-gangs-infiltrating-the-suburbs-of-washingtondc/; Jamie Stockwell, In MS-13, a Culture of Brutality and Begging,
WASH. POST, May 2, 2005, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2005/05/01/AR2005050100814.html.
202
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MS-13 and Domestic Juvenile Sex Trafficking
369
certain person, and that the killing must be carried out within a certain
period of time.208
The gang prohibits all members from testifying against other MS-13
members and can order those who testify to be killed.209 Victims and
witnesses fear enduring the fate of Brenda Paz, a young female MS-13
gang member who agreed to testify against other members and was
subsequently murdered by the gang in 2003 because she cooperated with
law enforcement.210 As a result of the gang’s warnings that “if you snitch
you get killed,” girls may repeatedly lie about their affiliation with the
gang until they feel safe.211 Adding to the pressure, gangs may
continually intimidate witnesses throughout the adjudicative process.212
For example, throughout his trial, Amaya smiled smugly at victims as
they struggled on the witness stand to discuss the harm they suffered at
his hands.213
While the federal Witness Security Program offers some security for
witnesses,214 young victim-witnesses like MS-13 member Brenda Paz
often find it difficult to comply with the program’s rigid restrictions. Paz
witnessed countless crimes as a young gang member and was enlisted by
federal prosecutors to testify in MS-13 prosecutions.215 At age seventeen,
Paz entered the witness protection program and was relocated to another
state and given a new name, but she could not sever ties to MS-13.216
208
209
Stockwell, supra note 207.
Trial Brief of the United States, United States v. Amaya, supra note 117, at
6.
210
See Stockwell, supra note 207. For further information on the Brenda Paz
case, see Jerry Markon & Maria Glod, Giving Up a New Life for a Gang Death:
Valuable Witness Made a Fatal Turn Back to Old Friends, WASH. POST, Aug.
10, 2003, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39342-2003Aug
9.html and Gangland: You Rat You Die (The History Channel television
broadcast Nov. 8, 2007).
211
Del Quentin Wilber, MS-13 Gang Is Branching into Underage Prostitution,
Authorities Say, WASH. POST, Nov. 13, 2011, http://articles.washingtonpost.com
/2011-11-13/local/35281998_1_ms-13-gang-member-mara-salvatrucha.
212
See John Anderson, Gang-Related Witness Intimidation, NAT’L GANG CTR.
BULL., Feb. 2007, at 1, 2.
213
Position of the United States with Respect to Sentencing, United States v.
Amaya, supra note 2.
214
For information on the origin, structure and purpose of the federal Witness
Security Program, see Douglas A. Kash, Hiding in Plain Sight: A Peek into the
Witness Security Program, FBI L. ENFORCEMENT BULL., May 2004, at 25. For
general information about the Witness Security Program, see Witness Security
Program, U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE, http://www.usmarshals.gov/witsec/ (last
visited Oct. 8, 2013).
215
Daren Briscoe, The New Face of Witness Protection, NEWSWEEK, May 2,
2005, at 56; see generally supra note 207.
216
Briscoe, supra note 215, at 56.
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Despite strict orders to avoid contact with gang members, the lonely and
homesick Paz called her old friends and eventually fled back to her home
in Virginia.217 The program was unable to protect her as she disregarded
the rules, and a few days later she was brutally murdered by MS-13 for
cooperating with law enforcement.218 As Paz’s tragic fate demonstrates,
the lure of the gang lifestyle and insecurity of juvenile witnesses limit
the effectiveness of the witness protection program and demonstrate the
need for specialized programs and treatment of juvenile gang victimwitnesses.
Task forces may facilitate victim-witness cooperation by providing
comprehensive and targeted services for trafficking victims, including
domestic juvenile sex trafficking victims.219 Trafficking victims need
specialized services and treatment because their loyalty to traffickers
may stem from having no practical alternatives to being trafficked.220
Facilities such as foster homes and runaway and homeless youth shelters
generally provide inadequate protection from traffickers and insufficient
treatment for juvenile victims.221 The Department of Health and Human
Services has instituted a pilot program to encourage development of
residential treatment facilities for juvenile trafficking victims,222 but
access to these programs must be expanded and funds appropriated in
order to have an appreciable effect on rehabilitating victims.223
The Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force has
successfully incorporated the services of Youth for Tomorrow, a
Bristow, Virginia victim services organization providing specialized
services for trafficking victims.224 Youth for Tomorrow’s “Girls on a
Journey Program” is an individualized residential program designed to
establish a stable living environment, protect victims from their
traffickers, facilitate the pursuit of education, foster self-reliance, and
provide guidance on establishing healthy relationships.225 Perhaps the
217
Id.
Id.
219
CALIBER, EVALUATION OF COMPREHENSIVE SERVICES, supra note 192 at 7476; U.S. DEP’T OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVS., STUDY OF HHS PROGRAMS,
supra note 175, at 37-43; see, e.g., Rami S. Badawy, Shifting the Paradigm
from Prosecution to Protection of Child Victims of Prostitution, Part Two of
Three, PROSECUTOR, Apr./May/June 2010, at 40, 40-42.
220
McGough, supra note 171, at 30; Long, supra note 191, at 6 (noting that
victims may not be able to return home due to family rejection or safety
concerns).
221
See FINKLEA ET AL., supra note 135, at 14.
222
See id. at 12.
223
See id. at 4 (discussing the lack of adequate facilities specializing in serving
child victims of sex trafficking in the United States).
224
Girls on a Journey Program, YOUTH FOR TOMORROW, http://www.youthfort
omorrow.org/Girls-On-A-Journey-Program (last visited May 1, 2013).
225
Id.
218
2014]
MS-13 and Domestic Juvenile Sex Trafficking
371
protection and structure of a residential program would have saved
Brenda Paz by giving her the emotional support and practical tools
necessary to resist the temptation to leave the confines of Witness
Security and return to her MS-13 friends. Incorporation of a
comprehensive victim treatment facility, like Youth for Tomorrow, is
integral to providing the safety, treatment, and security necessary to
protect victim-witnesses and ensure successful prosecution of traffickers.
III. CONCLUSION: PREVENTION OF JUVENILE SEX TRAFFICKING
IS THE ULTIMATE GOAL
Sex trafficking by gangs like MS-13 may never be completely
eradicated, but joint task forces such as the Northern Virginia Human
Trafficking Task Force can combat the problem through a coordinated,
multifaceted effort while serving as a blueprint for successful
prosecution of gang-based sex trafficking offenses.226 MS-13 juvenile
sex trafficking cases are notoriously difficult to prosecute, investigate,
and prevent, in part because victims are reluctant to testify due to the
vulnerabilities that made them ideal targets for MS-13 in the first place.
The pervasive influence of MS-13 as an institution implicitly coerces
victims into silence, and explicit threats deter potential witnesses from
speaking out. This vicious cycle may inhibit prosecution of traffickers
and leave countless girls vulnerable to victimization. Because MS-13
trafficking cases present such challenging obstacles to prevention and
prosecution, any strategy that improves law enforcement and
prosecutorial success in addressing the problem will likely be broadly
applicable to other instances of gang-based sex trafficking as well.
These challenges may be countered by building on the Trafficking
Victims Protection Act’s task force system, particularly by increasing
funding available to create and expand human trafficking task forces
around the country. Surprisingly, despite the Northern Virginia Human
Trafficking Task Force’s integral role in combatting human trafficking,
the Task Force does not receive federal funding.227 Lack of funding
creates a significant barrier to maximizing task force effectiveness, even
for the successful Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force.228
226
See Global Centurion Foundation Commends Recent DOJ Prosecution of
Gang-Related TIP, GLOBAL CENTURION (Dec. 27, 2012), http://www.globalcent
urion.org/global-centurion-foundation-commends-recent-doj-prosecution-ofgang-related-tip/.
227
SHARED HOPE INT’L, RAPID ASSESSMENT ON DOMESTIC MINOR SEX
TRAFFICKING: VIRGINIA 67 (2011), available at http://sharedhope.org/wpcontent/uploads/2012/09/VirginiaRA.pdf.
228
Id. (stating that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia
took control of the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force in 2010
but “receives no funding by the Department of Justice, hampering its full
effectiveness.”).
372
Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law
[Vol. 21:2
Federal funds put toward task forces, however, would be well spent. Not
only would funding support further investigations and prosecutions of
juvenile sex trafficking, it would also help prevent future trafficking as
task forces increase community awareness of the prevalence of gang sex
trafficking. Task forces, for example, may be used to publicize
trafficking risk factors229 in order to encourage intervention through
schools, child welfare agencies, and other community services before a
child is trafficked.230 The Eastern District of Virginia’s recent successful
prosecutions of MS-13 gang members demonstrate that effective human
trafficking task forces lead to successful sex trafficking prosecutions,
due to improved victim services and interagency collaboration and
coordination. Increasing investment in human trafficking task forces
would be a significant step towards winning the ongoing battle against
juvenile sex trafficking.
229
HUMAN SMUGGLING & TRAFFICKING CTR., supra note 58, at 5-8.
Susan Ferriss, Federal Initiative to Help Schools Recognize Youth Sex
Trafficking, CTR. FOR PUB. INTEGRITY (Feb. 7, 2013), http://www.publicintegrit
y.org/2013/02/07/12167/federal-initiative-help-schools-recognize-youth-sextrafficking.
230