International Sex Trafficking Rings Operate In Chicago

Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand speaks during the opening of the summit on Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking at Department of Justice in Washington, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. With her from left, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Acting AAG Criminal John Cronan and Acting AAG Civil Rights John Gore.
Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand speaks during the opening of the summit on Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking at Department of Justice in Washington, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. With her from left, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Acting AAG Criminal John Cronan and Acting AAG Civil Rights John Gore. AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand speaks during the opening of the summit on Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking at Department of Justice in Washington, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. With her from left, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Acting AAG Criminal John Cronan and Acting AAG Civil Rights John Gore.
Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand speaks during the opening of the summit on Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking at Department of Justice in Washington, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. With her from left, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Acting AAG Criminal John Cronan and Acting AAG Civil Rights John Gore. AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

International Sex Trafficking Rings Operate In Chicago

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Chicago experiences the highest volume of immigration out of other cities in the Midwest. Studies suggest that major points of entry lead to high rates of sex trafficking. A 2003 article in The New York Times labeled Chicago a “national hub of human trafficking,” and in 2005, the FBI designated Chicago as one of 13 locations of “High Intensity Child Prostitution.” Documents from a federal court case in Minneapolis say one particular international trafficking ring used Optima North Shore Woods Apartments in Skokie and Catherine Courts on the Far Northwest Side of Chicago as venues for prostitution.

We’ll discuss the issue of sex trafficking in Cook County with Kaethe Morris Hoffer, the executive director of the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE), and Dr. Charles Hounmenou, an assistant professor at the Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago.