The Global Center on Human Trafficking
TEENAGE BOYS – GUATEMALA/UNITED STATES
This teenager and his friends grew up more than 2,500 miles from central Ohio, in the western highlands of Guatemala. They were impoverished. The smuggler promised them a chance at a better life in America in exchange for $15,000. To help pay, some of their families traded the deeds to their homes. Once the teens made the dangerous trip north and crossed the border, most were detained by the border patrol and then turned over to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as unaccompanied minors. It was the job of HHS to place them with a relative or adult sponsor, and the smuggler had a network of accomplices who posed as sponsors for the boys. Instead of being safely settled, they were brought to Ohio, and forced to live and work at an egg farm in virtual slavery to pay off their debts. (Source)