A charter bus company hired by the state of Texas to transport migrants to Chicago is trying to flip the script on the border crisis in a federal lawsuit against the city alleging that its ordinance banning unannounced migrant drop-offs is unconstitutional and punishes transportation companies working with Texas, court documents show.
Wynne Transportation LLC is fighting new restrictions in Chicago against buses dropping off one-way passengers without prior notice.
The ordinance does not specifically mention immigration, but city leaders have acknowledged it is in response to the influx of more than 30,000 migrants arriving from Texas on government-contracted charter buses, often dropped off on street corners with little or no notice.
Regardless, Texas should be held liable for trafficking.
Human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act.
How can this be prosecuted as trafficking?
edit: Thank you everyone for all the responses. I appreciate it.
there’s no way that texas would lie to these people or force them onto the buses. they’re the model state of integrity and human rights.
Putting people onto a bus by use of force, fraud, or coercion, by itself, doesn’t seem to meet the definition of trafficking.
Human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act.
Am I wrong? What am I missing?
Human trafficking is defined in the UN Trafficking in Persons Protocol, which supplements the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, as “the recruitment, transport, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a person by such means as threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud or deception for the purpose of exploitation”.
https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/faqs.html#h1
I don’t think Texas’ intent here is benevolent, and I don’t think they are doing it without getting what they want.
Pretty sure it fits the definition.
However, it’s not a clear cut case. Legally, the exploitation would have to be proven. IE who & how the people behind it are exploiting vulnerable immigrants.Don’t get fooled into “it’s only human trafficking if it’s transporting for sex/profit”. It’s a much broader definition
purpose of exploitation
they’re being politically ‘exploited’. and the republicants and their ‘transportation partners’ are profiting from it…
does that count?
Don’t get fooled into “it’s only human trafficking if it’s transporting for sex/profit”. It’s a much broader definition
I’ll have to think about this. Thanks for responding.
So, just to be clear, you’re OK with someone telling you to get on the bus? A bus headed to a location they aren’t telling you about?
What if they took you to the train station and loaded you on a box car with a bunch of other people, is that OK?
I’m not defending Abbott’s operation.
But you are.
I agree, not trafficking. It’s just run of the mill false imprisonment and kidnapping.
I think it might qualify as human smuggling, but I’m not a lawyer.
Fine, let’s call it what it really is: kidnapping.
https://www.findlaw.com/state/texas-law/texas-kidnapping-laws.html
https://www.findlaw.com/state/illinois-law/illinois-kidnapping-laws.html
I think “smuggling of persons” is the most appropriate charge, but I’m not a lawyer.
Sec. 20.05. SMUGGLING OF PERSONS.
They are lying to the people. It’s literal coercion.
What are they telling the people?
That they are bringing them to shelters in states where they will be taken care of, they’ll be given jobs, they’re going to go be processed for asylum, some said they were given money.
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Driving someone to chicago and dropping them off isn’t trafficking, but there is most definitely a slew of child-labor happening in this country, and the majority of the children involved are migrants who illegally crossed the border. There’s a lot of coverage about this if you look for it. I imagine that Texas might be involved in some part of that process if they’re the ones handling these people.
Edit: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/04/1173697113/immigrant-child-labor-crisis
Oh, you mean literal slavery.
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So is this another fabricated case just so that Supreme Court can strip cities of some rights? I wouldn’t be surprised if it was.
Maybe the charter company could just announce they are coming…
Sue the bus company over being an accessory to kidnapping.
It does seem like a pretty easy case for them. The law sounds unconstitutional, infringes the right of free travel.
You don’t have a Constitutional right to human trafficking.
The law isn’t banning human trafficking. They specifically say that in the story. If you or I bought a one way ticket to chicago, the law would require the bus company to annouce that you or I are coming. It’s just too broad. And it is what happens when you ask winners of a popularity contest to write and approve laws.
It also specifically says it’s in response to all of the human trafficking.
And no, it wouldn’t do that, it specifies that it applies to unscheduled buses, so the charter company doesn’t need to notify Chicago when one person buys a ticket, but nice try.
I missed the unscheduled busses part. But that is still covering plenty of private citizens who have done nothing wrong. And it is easy for the intended target to avoid. They can just schedule the bus to run once a week and cancel any weeks they want due to low demand. So now you are only impacting private citizens.
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Yeah, it’s a poorly written law for sure. Not really even a good attempt to solve the problem