U.S. Government Anti-Trafficking Ad Carries Message For Prospective Immigrants (VIDEO)

A young Hispanic woman, locked up in a giant birdcage, is forced to sing for two white men who keep her prisoned. They smear lipstick on her face. They laugh. "I didn't leave my country for this," she cries.

This disturbing scene is featured in a U.S. government video ad that aims to inform citizens of the dangers connected to human trafficking. The video is part of a larger campaign called "Don't be Fooled," that was set up by the Department of Homeland Security to warn prospective immigrants for illegal border crossings and to encourage victims of human trafficking to speak up. CNN writes that while earlier videos were aired in Mexico and Central America, the new ads will be broadcasted in Florida, Washington and Georgia.

“Death, disappearance, and enslavement -- these too often are the futures that await illegal immigrants who mortgage their lives to human smugglers” commented CBP Deputy Commissioner, David V. Aguilar in the department's official news release.

According to the Daily News, the campaign will also include posters and radio spots.

Watch the video here:

Comments

[ddubya1978]

10:53 AM on 07/25/2011

Dont you just love that they use two "white" men in this video. I spent two years of my life living 10 miles from the border so I do have a little insight. The vast majority of human smuggling is commited by people of the same race as the victims. Mexicans, called coyotes, promising to deliver people safely,but often raping the women, robbing others and at times leaving people to die in the desert. They care about one thing...money. If you look at history you will find the same facts. Black Africans enslaving and selling fellow black Africans ect.... This in no way excuses the whites who bought the slaves but i think it is very typical of our current government to inaccurately blame American white for all of the wrongs in the world. You can bet that the vast majority of Latino girls being brought into the Rio Grande Valley of Tx are being enslaved by local hispanic men who own strip clubs and massage parlors and force them to work there performing sexual acts for there patrons. Any white man guilty should be prosecuted just the same.

[the New West]

12:07 AM on 07/25/2011

Povrecitas, Have you people no heart? These inocentes are being trafficked into slavery.

Illegal or not this is wrong.
Save these poor girls, they could be your daughters.
IGNORANTES!!

These kids don't deserve this.

[foresure]

11:36 PM on 07/24/2011

One more "unintended consequence" of our War on Drugs.

Another source of income for drug dealers, and those who benefit from the "war".

[Monk2001]

11:28 PM on 07/24/2011

Brutal ad but not incorrect. Nothing more vile then human trafficers.

[amake616]

06:33 PM on 07/24/2011

What a brutal ad. Although I suppose it would have to be, if you're trying to get the truth of the point across and make it memorable.

[Gerald OHare]

05:40 PM on 07/24/2011

I have serious doubts about this human traffacking situation. How come there are so few arrests? It is so much easier to make money from drugs than from prostitution that I doubt the validity of the reports from the police. The transportation of people is expensive and the enslavement of people from other countries into the US is also expensive when compared to the drug trade. Sometimes I think these stories are made to keep the police getting money from the state.

[Monk2001]

11:28 PM on 07/24/2011

Lack of arrests means it's not happening?

You're crazy to think this stuff isn't happening.

[Monk2001]

11:31 PM on 07/24/2011

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/may/27/prostitution-ring-victimized-hispanics/

[Cold in Michigan]

02:48 PM on 07/24/2011

So they got 34,000 calls and think they have found 4,000 girls. So...how many have they saved? Any arrests?

I'm sorry, but this type of activity has been going on a long time and as long as the police do not arrest the John and give him the same punishment that they give the enslaver this will continue. Our laws put more bite and more money to enforce the illegal use of pot then finding these women and doing something to stop it.


We throw someone who smokes pot in jail and don't wait for the dealer or supplier to be found, yet in this, where there is a real crime we sit back and all too often arrest the girls for prositution and not the men that are paying her pimp or inspect the places she lives.

TV ads? Until I can see that they are working I will continue to consider them a waste of money.

[amake616]

06:33 PM on 07/24/2011

"I'm sorry, but this type of activity has been going on a long time and as long as the police do not arrest the John and give him the same punishment that they give the enslaver this will continue."

100% agree.

[arizonasoccermom]

10:42 PM on 07/23/2011

Wake up people and stop being so naive. It's your neighbor doing these horrible things.
Just read an article in our paper about a couple in Flagstaff, Arizona that lured young people from S.E.A. to "work". These poor people ended up enslaved for years working for these monsters in their wedding dress business.

[Cold in Michigan]

02:50 PM on 07/24/2011

I didn't see the article...did it say how the law officials found them? I only ask because I think the ads running on TV are a waste and that we should put the money to law enforcement not to ads.

[arizonasoccermom]

05:46 PM on 07/25/2011

Sorry I didn't post the link.
Here it is.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/07/21/20110721flagstaff-indictment-women-forced-labor-brk21-ON.html
I will try and post any additional information as it comes out.

[jack Winn]

12:29 AM on 08/08/2011

Yes, it's your neighbors! So we are duty bound to go peer in our neighbors' windows, and video everything we see.

Sorry, lady, my neighbors are just drunks, whiners and illegal parkers. No traffickers.

But I'm sure they think I'm criminal too, since I believe in ecology, not cutting the grass like an OCD victim.

[rda1911a1]

09:06 PM on 07/23/2011

Wow so if we went ahead and sealed the border it would help people cool let's do it

[CognitoErgoSum]

05:18 PM on 07/23/2011

I get right-wing emails forwarded to me by my others, just to pull my chain, I think, decrying on one hand how illegal aliens are the cause of all our nation's problems by their demands on our social services and on the other hand, also claiming how no American will do certain jobs at the wages illegals are getting, so we have to accomodate them...

Hmmm... Human trafficking=illegal aliens NOT using American social services and doing jobs that no American would do.... For a right-winger, what's NOT to love about that?

[anothervoice2]

11:15 AM on 07/23/2011

By the stream of some posts on this thread, appears white men in the US commit no crimes. They are all pure, without sin. Forget about the message, save the white man from those false pictures. That's it! That is the message.

[sydfynch]

03:19 PM on 07/25/2011

yeah, when are white men going to catch a break in this country?

[Dogmudgeon]

02:46 AM on 07/23/2011

This is hysterical!

I don't mean sex trafficking -- that's beyond evil.

I mean all the anonymous commentators who are enraged that the PSAs would dare suggest that white men have anything to do with it.

The White Warriors will have to realize that sex trafficking is run almost entirely by international organized crime, and most of that is a "white" operation, with only a few Black, Asian, and Hispanic gangs involved.

It's nothing personal. I'm sure those enslaved girls are quite sympathetic to your distress.

[ddubya1978]

10:56 AM on 07/25/2011

I'm not sure about Europe or other regions but when it comes to girls being brought across the border of Mexico I believe this is a very inaccurate statement.

[Js420]

09:08 PM on 07/22/2011

Its about time this serious issue starts getting some real attention.

[Weeklong Zero]

07:58 PM on 07/22/2011

This PSA was brought to you by David Lynch.

[Monk2001]

11:29 PM on 07/24/2011

It is Lynchish isn't it…. hilarious observation.

[Steph C]

07:02 PM on 07/22/2011

This just really shows how people care more about the "racist" portrayal of white men than human trafficking. How pathetic and sad. Surely, the trafficking of innocent women is more important than how privileged white men are portrayed? Never mind that the US government created this PSA.

[precigil]

02:48 AM on 07/24/2011

NO WAY--WE JUST LIKE OIL LYING WARS