RSS
Home
Sentencing for convicted trafficker in Virgina
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
When one looks at human trafficking, modern slavery, one still tends to reach for images from the past, or look beyond our borders. However the harsh reality of modern slavery is that it happens in every corner of the globe, including right next door. Almost daily I am asked, “you mean like overseas, right?”, when I talk about modern slavery, however shock and dismay quickly sets in as I tell them facts and figures along with stories about the daunting reality of the modern slave trade and how big it really is. I live in Virginia and work in DC, and daily I find myself staring into the face of modern slavery, regardless if it is on the street, the brothel that fronts as a massage parlor right down the street from my office, the children who are peddling candy around the streets, the young girls forced onto the DC streets for the purpose of sexual exploitation. However my eyes have been held wide open, and I am looking.
Therefore when when one begins to look, it takes little time for it to show its face, and for one to see that slavery truly is in our backyard. As was the case in Virgina Last November, when Soripada Lubis, along with his wife, Siti Chadidjah Siregar, were found to be harboring up to 11 Indonesian women in Falls Church, Virgina, over a seven year period. However in his guilty plea, Lubis actually admitted to harboring a number between six and 24 women. As was first reported in the article, Forced labor operation busted, published by the Washington Examiner on November 24, 2008, it was reported that:
Between seven to 11 women are said to have been held at a time by Soripada Lubis at 7129 Roosevelt Ave., in Falls Church, Virginia. Man allegedly confiscated the women’s passports and threatened to kill their families if they left.
For the past seven years, federal authorities say, a Falls Church man forced almost a dozen female illegal immigrants from Indonesia into a form of slavery, selling their services as housekeepers to Montgomery County families Lubis, a naturalized American citizen originally from Indonesia, pleaded guilty today to harboring illegal aliens for commercial advantage and private financial gain, the Justice Department announced. Lubis’ wife, Siti Chadidjah Siregar, a citizen of Indonesia, pleaded guilty to making false statements to federal agents who were investigating the scheme. The women all lived and worked with various upper-class families in Potomac, MD, on weekdays, serving as housekeepers. However on the weekends the women would be forced to reside at the resident of Lubis, Siregar and their children, where they were forced to remain in the families basement. The women often slept three to a bed, had their passports removed from their possession, as well they women were held under numerous rules which limited there freedoms. Additionally the women were all charged $375 a month for "rent" and transportation, in addition to fees for "taxes" and to send money to Indonesia. Investigators claim that over the past five years, Lubis and Siregar earned more than $90,000 from the exploitation of the women. You can see more details in the statement issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) which was issued February 25, 2009:
"The Civil Rights Division vigorously investigates charges of labor trafficking and will prosecute those who are exploiting vulnerable aliens," said Loretta King, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice.
"Even the most innocent among us may blend into the scenery and be unseen victims," said Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office. "Suburban families who paid these women to clean likely never expected the abuses these women suffered as they tried to make a better life for themselves and their family."
Over a period of seven years the survivors all had their passports and documentation taken by Lubis who forced the women into a life of slavery for the purposes of domestic labor.
You can take part in Soripada Lubis’s sentencing and show your support for the survivors of this atrocious crime, as he is scheduled to be sentenced, tomorrow, 1 July at 2pm at the Eastern District Court of Virginia in Alexandria, VA . Lubis's sentencing will be held by Judge Gerald Bruce Lee in Room 601, and is open to the public; however seating is first-come-first-served, so please arrive early. The Lubis case is first on the docket. What: Sentencing of convicted trafficker Soripada Lubis:
Where: Eastern District Court of Virginia
U.S. Courthouse 401 Courthouse Square
Room 601
Alexandria, VA 22314
When: 2pm, but arrive early.
The citizen activist group Stop Modern Slavery will be meeting in the lobby at 1:30, feel free to join them!
Why: To show support for anti-human trafficking efforts in Virginia and the Greater DC Metro area!
Lubis faces up to 10 years in prison as well as an order to pay restitution to several women whom he hired out to work as maids. In a further note Siregar faces up to five years in prison at sentencing, a date for which has not yet been set.
While the sentencing seems light compared to the harsh nature of the crimes; for Lubis will not even get one year in prison per person, per year, to pay for those he victimized, however this still is a groundbreaking case. Trafficking laws and legislation have now reached 43 states, in addition to the Federal Trafficking Victims Reauthorization Act (2008), low levels of prosecutions of trafficking cases remain. The main reason for low levels of prosecutions, and light sentencing, is that law enforcement officials must go with the most provable crime, and thus it may then leave some areas seemingly unfocused on as the chain of evidence needed for prosecution is unobtainable. It is a tangled and complicated web at times, as more resources are needed to train law enforcement to identify victims, however in order for such funding and and resources to be approved, one looks to base this on need, which is often difficult when the problem has not been clearly identified. Nonetheless the prosecution and sentencing in this case, will lead the way for future cases and sentencing, and is a great step forward in the abolishment of modern slavery in all forms.
If you have reason to suspect that someone is a victim of human trafficking, please call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline on 1-888-373-7888. Multilingual call specialists are on standby 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All calls are confidential.
