Every year, thousands of women, many between the ages of 11 to 14, are lured are smuggled from Mexico into the United States and forced to become sex workers.
For a majority of the women, they have no idea what they are getting into. They are seduced by traffickers who promise them a better life, big houses and cars, a coverup for the life of sexual exploitation they will soon endure. Many of these women end up in Queens, New York where they work live and work in brothels and answer only to their pimps. Others are advertised on “chica cards,” which includes a phone number customers can call to request sexual services from the women.
The BBC’s Laura Trevelyan followed the sex trafficking route from Tenancingo, Mexico to Queens, New York and spoke with female victims, pimps and law enforcement officials along the way.