ICE still determining if 4 Pinoys are human trafficking victims
ORANGE COUNTY – Four Filipino domestic servants were found in the home of a Saudi Arabian princess, who is accused of human trafficking a Kenyan woman into the United States, according to authorities.
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas on Wednesday charged Meshael Alayban, 42, with one felony count of human trafficking. Alayban was arraigned on Thursday and posted a $5-million bail, Rackauckas said.
Alayban surrendered her passport and is required to wear a GPS tracking device. She is prohibited from leaving Orange County without permission from the court, and is barred from having any contact with the victim, Rackauckas said.
Authorities are still trying to determine whether the 4 women from the Philippines found in Alayban’s Irvine condominium are trafficking victims as well.
Rackauckas said Alayban is one of the wives of Saudi Prince Abdulrahman bin Nasser bin Abdulaziz al Saud.
“The laws of our nation and California do not tolerate people who deprive or violate the liberty of another and obtain forced labor or services,” said Rackauckas in a statement.
“If any person is being enslaved, he or she should contact law enforcement. Any victim of human trafficking will receive the benefit and protection of the laws of the United States and California,” Rackauckas added.
According to authorities, the arrest of Alayban came after a Kenyan woman fled Alayban’s Irvine home and flagged down a bus. A passenger helped the Kenyan woman who was described as distraught at the time local Irvine police received a call.
The victim (whose identity was not released) was found possessing a US Department of State pamphlet, which was given to her at the embassy in Saudi Arabia when she was issued her travel visa. It described her rights and warning of human trafficking, authorities said.
The 30-year-old victim alleges that she began working for the Saudi family in March 2012 to help pay for her young daughter’s medical care. Prosecutors said the woman signed a two-year contract with an employment agency guaranteeing that she would be paid $1,600 a month to work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.
But once the victim arrived to Saudi Arabia, she was working 16 hours a day and 7 days a week without a day off and was only receiving $220 a month. The defendant is accused of taking away the victim’s passport and refusing to allow the victim to return to Kenya, prosecutors said.
In May 2013, prosecutors accused Alayban of bringing the victim to the US to work as a domestic servant at her home in Irvine. The victim alleges that upon arrival to the US, Alayban confiscated her passport and forced her to work as a domestic servant against her will.
The 5 women (the Kenyan and the 4 Filipinas) are all currently in the care of a non-governmental organization in the Orange County area “that has expertise aiding victims and witnesses in human trafficking cases,” said Virginia Kice, spokesperson for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Kice said ICE has not definitely determined whether the 4 Filipinas are trafficking victims at this point.
“They are being described as witnesses and potential victims,” said Kice.
The majority of the Filipino women are in their twenties, with the oldest at 52 years old, said Kice.
Alayban is being held on $5 million bail. She is the first forced labor human trafficking case to be prosecuted in Orange County under California’s Proposition 35, authorities said.
Passed last November, Prop 35 increases the penalty for human trafficking. Alayban faces a maximum sentence of 12 years if convicted.
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Weekend July 13-16, 2013 Sec A pg.6)
