Opinion

As the world’s fastest growing criminal enterprise, human trafficking is not something we can ignore. We hear news reports and wonder, how can this be happening in our region? What can ordinary citizens do about it? The following account, which details the victimization of a woman in Santa Clara County, sheds light on the problem. Names have been changed to protect privacy.Aesha is a 28-year-old woman from South Asia with a Master’s degree in Engineering. She left her home to live in Santa Clara County with her new husband, Robert. Before marrying Aesha and bringing her to the U.S., Robert promised her a wonderful home and opportunities to pursue a career. Shortly after arriving, Aesha discovered Robert had a fiancée and his real purpose in bringing Aesha was to have a cook and maid to serve his family, and a nanny to care for his younger brother.From day one, Robert and his live-in parents emotionally and physically abused Aesha. Her workday began at 6 a.m. and rarely ended before midnight. Robert raped Aesha regularly. His parents sometimes beat her. They kept her under constant surveillance. She had no car or money of her own. She became desperate to return to her home country but was not free to leave the house. She had no one she could turn to.Federal law defines human trafficking as the act of recruiting, harboring, transporting, obtaining or providing of a person by means of force, fraud or coercion, for the purpose of sex or labor exploitation.Act: Robert courted and married Aesha under false pretenses, transported her to the U.S., and harbored her in his house, denying her the means to leave or to communicate with her family.Means: Robert resorted to put-downs, threats and physical abuse to force Aesha to comply with his demands. He confiscated her passport and controlled her through isolation, constant surveillance and control of household finances.Purpose: Robert intentionally defrauded Aesha, then exploited her for labor, forcing her to act as a domestic servant and caregiver for his family, while denying her basic freedoms and rights.Even a well-educated person can fall prey to a situation where he or she is deceived, abused and exploited.In reality, the same factors that increased Aesha’s risk of being trafficked prevented her from leaving the situation. Nearly every aspect of Aesha’s situation was a red flag indicating that she was a victim of human trafficking. Robert ensured that Aesha was dependent on him for survival. Her lack of familiarity with U.S.  systems, resources and protections further isolated her. Aesha was unable to attain financial independence, because Robert kept her from obtaining employment and didn’t pay her.  Fortunately, a neighbor noticed bruises on Aesha’s arms when she was working in the yard and connected her with Community Solutions, a South County nonprofit with offices in Morgan Hill and Gilroy. The local organization provided Aesha with confidential services and a way out of exploitation.Learn more. Attend an anti-trafficking workshop at the Morgan Hill Library, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Sept. 27. To report a potential case of human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline 888-373-7888 or text BeFree (233733).Perla Flores is Director of Solutions To Violence at Community Solutions. Sharan Dhanoa is Coordinator for the South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking. This guest view is part two in a three-part series on human trafficking in Santa Clara County. To read part one, visit morganhilltimes.com.

I missed it, but it’s never too late to talk about Autism or ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). April is Autism Awareness month and I usually mention it in a sermon sometime in April.   Autism is particularly close to my heart because one of my adult...

Charter schools pillage the funds for public schools and tell lies, lies and more lies

The City of Morgan Hill is set on selling an option they own, “Depot Center/BookSmart,” to City Ventures, a developer from Southern California. The company has developed many great projects but this one will not be good for Morgan Hill. This project will be a net loss for the community. A small group has offered to match the offer from City Ventures for the option and keep Depot Center as it is. If this happens the owners of Depot Center have agreed to do major repairs to the property and do everything they can to keep the present tenants intact.Several years ago the city bought this option for about $1.7 million. Today they are offering that same option to a developer for $100,000 dollars. So the price is set at $100,000. What will the community get for $100,000? You will get some townhomes and a small amount of retail space. Here is how I see it:Morgan Hill will only get 8 to 10 percent more property tax from the new project than they are receiving now on the property.Sales tax will be far less than what the city is getting now because they are only building 3,000 square feet of retail space. The property currently holds about 25,000 square feet of retail space.Existing tenants draw many more people downtown than the proposed project.Occupants of the residential component of the project will be gone all day at work, so that is a loss to downtown.Very few retail businesses will be able to afford the rents that need to be charged for new construction.There are more employees working at the current site than what is being proposed.Seven or 8 long-time businesses, which have supported the downtown for more than 100 years collectively, will be displaced. The City of Morgan Hill will spend up to $1 million in relocation funds (already earmarked by the city council).The city has developed a relocation plan that may help some of the tenants but will be onerous for others.They have no plan to keep these businesses downtown during redevelopment or to bring them back after. The downtown needs businesses just as much as it needs housing (maybe more!).The City Ventures plan for the Depot Center property is very nearly the same type of project (townhouses and a little retail) that was denied last year for the property adjacent to Depot Center and the new parking garage. If this type of development is not right for one, why is it OK for the other?I appreciate that the city has a lot to do and in a short matter of time but they shouldn’t cave in and put a bad plan into action just because time is short.Contact your elected officials directly, not through social media. Directly speaking them to them pulls more weight than sniping on Facebook.Cities need to keep older buildings for the reason Jane Jacobs said in her book, “The Life and Death of Great American Cities.”The following is an excerpt from Jane Jacobs on old cities:“If a city area has only new buildings, the enterprises that can exist there are automatically limited to those that can support the high costs of new construction...Enterprises that support the cost of new construction must be capable of paying a relatively high overhead—high in comparison to that necessarily required by old buildings.”Brad Jones is co-owner of BookSmart, 80 East Second Street in downtown Morgan Hill.