Missed Opportunity in Philadelphia

Upper Darby police may have lost the chance to rescue eight young Liberian girls from an international human trafficking ring.

From Philadelphia Daily News:

An alleged sexual assault on an Upper Darby girl led police to a house full
of young, Liberian women - some of them pregnant-who may be involved in international human trafficking.

Now, police are anxious to locate the women, who disappeared after authorities started asking questions and arrested a woman posing as their mother.

[...]

The woman, Ophelia Cheayee, 34, of North Church Lane near Harrison Avenue, was arrested Dec. 11 on charges of aggravated indecent assault, possessing obscene and indecent materials, and corruption of a minor.

Read the story at http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20081218_Authorities_investigate_human_trafficking_in_Upper_Darby.html

This story illustrates the need for every state in the United States to adopt an anti-trafficking law and to give training to police officers on all aspects of the law. States should also develop referral mechanisms to ensure that victims of human trafficking receive appropriate services.

The police failed to remove the girls from the home after the sexual assault had been reported because they felt that they did not have a legal basis to do so. This is outrageous on two counts: First, anti-trafficking laws give states the power to remove children from the home in cases of suspected human trafficking; Second, even in the absence of an anti-trafficking law, states have the legal right to remove children the home in cases of suspected abuse.

Certainly in this case the abuse is clear. The 13 year old girl reported being sexually assaulted by a woman with whom she was living and who admitted to police that she did sexually assault the girl. In these circumstances, authorities had the duty to remove all children from the home.

Despite the belief of law enforcement that the girls may be victims of human trafficking, the young girl who reported the assault has not been treated as a possible victim of human trafficking. She was not taken to a shelter and given counseling and medical care, instead she was sent to juvenile detention on an unrelated assault charge stemming from a school incident.

Even though police believe that the children were trafficked from Liberia to Philadelphia for the purpose of sexual exploitation, the woman who admitted to sexually exploiting at least one girl was not charged with human trafficking. She was charged with lesser crimes that do not carry penalties that are comparable to the penalties that are associated with the crime of human trafficking.

Tragically, the girls have disappeared and will be very difficult to locate. None of the girls had identification, and police are unsure of their names. They have likely been transported to another city in the United States and are continuing to be exploited by their traffickers.