The FBI recently named Atlanta as one of the 14 cities in the U.S. with the highest incidence of children used in prostitution. According to the state, more than 400 adolescent girls are being exploited each month in Georgia on the streets, through escort services, at hotels and online.
Research also shows that every day an estimated 300 men are purchasing sex from adolescent girls in Georgia, both knowingly and unknowingly. The U.S. justice system is trying to tackle that problem one trafficker at a time.
Authorities have put one man behind bars. The trafficker made a career of bringing underage Mexican girls across the border, to unspeakable horrors. By the time Amador Cortes-Meza gets out of jail he will be 76 years old.
The Mexican national was sentenced to 40 years in prison after being convicted of forcing into prostitution young girls he smuggled from Mexico to Atlanta. "He was the head of the human trafficking ring that brought 10 young women here from Mexico on the promise of love and marriage and coming here for a better life and after he tricked the women into coming here he then forced them into prostitution," said Sally Yates the U.S. Attorney in the Northern Georgia District.
According to Yates, some of the victims were as young as 14 years old and were held as slaves. The girls were forced to have sex with dozens of men every night in locations around the Atlanta area. In fact, the first night that they were here, the young girls were forced to have sex with 20 men each. There were some nights that would be as many as 40.
Nine of the victims testified in court against Cortes-Meza. One of them said that Cortes-Meza would say that he would take it out on her mother if she tried to escape. Authorities say the level of cruelty against the victims is hard to describe.
"Daily beatings to remind them that they needed to stay in line," said Special Agent Brock Nicholson with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "Atrocities that are hard to believe can occur here in the United States." The case is being tried in the federal court building in Atlanta, and is proving to be an example of how human trafficking crosses borders.
The victims were recruited in Mexico by Mexican traffickers, were brought illegally to the United States and offered to American and also foreign customers. In addition to Cortes-Meza, five other members of his ring, including a brother and two nephews, pleaded guilty to similar charges.
They were all given sentences ranging from 10 to 20 years. The women and girls were given temporary asylum in the United States while the case continued. A U.S. Law passed in 2000 allows them to now apply for permanent residency.
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