guess who? it couldn't be those human rights defenders in the sand...
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/05/human-trafficking-probe-at-home-of-saudi-diplomat/
The State Department confirms that federal law enforcement officials removed two potential human-trafficking victims from the home of a Saudi Arabian diplomat in Northern Virginia on Tuesday afternoon.
“The U.S. State Department is aware of this matter. Diplomatic Security is aware of the matter,” State Department spokesperson Patrick Ventrell told reporters on Wednesday. Ventrell said that the department was working with both the Justice and Homeland Security departments and specifically Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who is taking the lead on the case.
The two women who were removed from the home are from the Philippines, Montgomery said, but there has been no formal determination that they needed to be rescued.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/05/human-trafficking-probe-at-home-of-saudi-diplomat/
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/05/02/2-workers-removed-from-saudi-owned-residence-in-va-in-human-trafficking/The two women who were removed from the home are from the Philippines, Montgomery said, but there has been no formal determination that they needed to be rescued.
Recent cases have involved an Italian government worker at the consulate in San Francisco who was prosecuted in 2011 for keeping a Brazilian woman as an involuntary servant. The same year, a naval officer from the United Arab Emirates was acquitted at a federal trial in Providence, R.I., on charges that he had kept a Filipino woman as an unpaid servant.
Domestic workers' visas are tied to employment with a particular household, so quitting or standing up to abuse runs the risk of deportation. For domestic workers who live in the home, leaving a job also can mean homelessness, Williams said.
Torres said trafficking cases involving domestic workers are a particular problem in the Washington area, in part because of the presence of a large diplomatic corps and cultural differences -- some countries consider it acceptable to treat workers more harshly than is allowed in the U.S.