The Justice Mission

In Sunday school today we did the first session of “The Justice Mission,” the five-session youth curriculum I mentioned a few posts ago. Each session includes a short video followed by discussion. Today’s lesson was “Oppression,” and it was sobering. I felt like all of us were shaken by what we saw. In the video, four teens from the U.S. travel to India and see oppression and slavery firsthand. They grapple with the reality of it and actually take some practical steps to fight it.

For me, the most powerful part of today’s video was when the teens spoke with a young woman who, at age 12, went looking for her father, who had left home. At the local train station, two elderly women with another young girl offered her a job and convinced her to go with them. You can guess what happened. When they arrived in a different city, they forced her into prostitution. She had to service some 30 customers every day.

This kind of subject matter is pretty intense, and I’ve been a little nervous about presenting it to the kids. But then I think about how our Christianity so often can come across as divorced from real life, irrelevant and, for many young people, actually kind of boring. Maybe if they can see how God calls us to join Him in the great cause of defending, rescuing, redeeming and restoring people, that can help them hold onto faith through their high school, college and young adult years.

I’ve also ordered a dozen copies of Zach Hunter’s book “Be the Change,” and I’ll plan on leading the youth group through that in the coming weeks as well.

Where I used to live

My friend Chris sent me an article from the StarTribune in Minneapolis. The brothels mentioned in the article were close to where I used to live--the "hub" was about 13 blocks from our old house. I'm so glad the authorities recognize who the bad guys are and who the victims are in this case.

Attack on 'sex slavery' targets 8 brothels
Jean Hopfensperger, Star Tribune

The women came mostly from Mexico and Central America.

When they arrived in Minnesota, the women had their passports and other identifying documents taken away and they were forced into a world of prostitution. In one night, two women serviced more than 80 men in a south Minneapolis house.

On Monday, in what might be one of the biggest such cases in Minnesota, 25 people were charged in federal court with running eight brothels. Eighteen of the suspects are illegal immigrants, according to an indictment filed in U.S. District Court.

Five of the brothels operated in Minneapolis and the others were in Richfield, West St. Paul and Austin, Minn., according to the indictment.

"The leaders of this prostitution ring ... are responsible for the bondage and sex slavery of women, an intolerable condition in a twenty-first century America," U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose said at a news conference.

Major state law enforcement leaders also were there.

The charges stem from arrests made Saturday during high-profile raids near Lake Street and Bloomington Avenue S. in south Minneapolis. Nineteen men and six women were charged. All had surnames that appeared to be of Hispanic origin. Paulose said she could not reveal the countries of origin of the accused and the victims.

Another house was a hub

The indictment charges that Marisol Ramirez, a 37-year-old woman, established the network of brothels, and that she was assisted by Roberto Rivera-Miranda, 31. A house at 3212 Cedar Av. S. in Minneapolis was the hub of operations, where prostit! utes would spend time while coming to and from the airport or moving from brothel to brothel, the indictment said.

The other people charged Monday rented the houses used as brothels, drove women to various locations, delivered condoms, supplied narcotics and worked as doormen, the indictment said.

Some distributed business cards -- in Spanish -- at places such as Mystic Lake Casino and along Central Avenue in Minneapolis.

The prostitution ring did not appear to be a high-tech operation. Rivera-Miranda, for example, used his name to get from Qwest a land-line telephone number for a brothel in northeast Minneapolis, the indictment said.

The women were subjected to horrendous exploitation, Paulose said. At 3104 Pleasant Av. S. in Minneapolis, for example, one woman was forced to provide sex to 46 "johns" in one night last month, the indictment said.

The 25 people were charged with conspiracy, transporting persons to engage in prostitution, and coercion and enticement of another to travel across state! lines to engage in prostitution.

The arrests were largely the result of a collaborative investigation involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) and the St. Paul Police Department, officials said.

The arrests also were credited to slain St. Paul police Sgt. Jerry Vick, who two years ago this month was killed while doing undercover work.

St. Paul Assistant Police Chief Nancy DiPerna said that Vick had discovered a prostitution ring involving Mexican and Central American women. A foundation created in his name applied for a federal grant to continue that investigation after his death, she said.

"Our prosecutor and dedicated law enforcement partners deserve much credit for their work in investigating and dismantling a major prostitution ring in a metropolitan area that has been identified as one of the nation's top centers for the prostitution of women," Paulose said.

Human trafficking a concern

The case points to the growing concern about human trafficking in Minnesota. Last year the Legislature commissioned the first state report, which found that 43 percent of the 119 human service providers it surveyed had helped a victim of human trafficking -- and that they were helping about 200 victims at the time of the survey.

There was no information on people charged with human trafficking in the report, because until now, Minnesota law enforcement did not use the law, said Danette Buskovick, the statistics director and task force staff member from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

"Sex trafficking isn't a new crime, but it's something hidden," she said. "These are cases that are very hard to build and to prosecute. So this is a really big deal."

The people charged in the case are scheduled to make their first court appearance Wednesday in U.S. District Court.

Jean Hopfensperger • 612-673-4511 • hopfen@startribune.com