{"id":6080,"date":"2026-07-15T22:35:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T22:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=6080"},"modified":"2026-07-15T22:35:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T22:35:53","slug":"woman-who-schemed-to-lure-vulnerable-migrants-to-us-for-sex-work-pleads-guilty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=6080","title":{"rendered":"Woman who schemed to lure vulnerable migrants to US for sex work pleads guilty"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Several years ago, a family came to the United States and took up a terrifying new endeavor: smuggling young, poor women from Central and South America into the country and forcing them into prostitution.\n <\/p>

Read more 14 podiatrist-backed shoes that won\u2019t irritate your bunions, including Hoka and New Balance staples<\/a><\/p>\n

\n The scheme was rather straightforward, according to court documents. One or two members of the family would contact women abroad and offer them resources to illegally immigrate and a legitimate job when they arrived. All the women needed to do was pay back their travel fees.\n <\/p>\n

\n But once they were on the way, the women were told that price had increased, often by tens of thousands of dollars. The women felt they had no choice but to agree to engage in commercial sex and hand over the proceeds, prosecutors said.\n <\/p>\n

\n On Wednesday, the ringleader of the operation \u2014 and the matriarch of the family \u2014 pleaded guilty to three conspiracy charges: sex trafficking, conspiring to bring illegal aliens into the US for financial gain, and money laundering.\n <\/p>\n

\n The woman, Yilibeth del Carmen Rivero-De Caldera, faces up to life in prison.\n <\/p>\n

\n The victims are young people who \u201cthink they\u2019re coming to America for some type of opportunity for a better life,\u201d Tysen Duva, who runs the Justice Department\u2019s criminal division, told CNN. \u201cThey want to get here. They want to leave from where they come from. They\u2019re going to pay money to do it. But what they don\u2019t realize is the sex debt they\u2019re going to be incurring when they get here.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n CNN has reached out to Rivero-De Caldera\u2019s attorney for comment, as well as the attorneys for her eight codefendants, who have all pleaded guilty.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cAs a young teenager, my client walked through and survived the jungles of the Darien Gap seeking refuge and a better future,\u201d said Meggan Sullivan, the attorney for one of Rivero-De Caldera\u2019s daughters-in-law. \u201cInstead, she became the victim of a family of traffickers who groomed and controlled her\u201d until she joined their scheme, Sullivan said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cBefore we judge survivors, we have to understand the extraordinary vulnerabilities traffickers deliberately exploit,\u201d Sullivan continued. \u201cWe cannot understand these cases unless we understand the trauma, coercion, and survival that define them.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\nThe scheme <\/strong>\n<\/h2>\n

\n According to court documents, Rivero-De Caldera, a Venezuelan national, entered the United States in 2022 and jump-started the trafficking operation out of motels in Nashville, Tennessee.\n <\/p>\n

\n Prosecutors allege that within a year, Rivero-De Caldera\u2019s two sons, daughter, and their partners also entered the country and joined the scheme, as did two associates.\n <\/p>\n

\n The group allegedly sent travel money to victims, hired smugglers to help them enter the US, and sometimes even escorted victims into the country and to Tennessee.\n <\/p>

Read more Trump weighing options for expanding military operations in Iran<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"Yilibeth<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n
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\nYilibeth Del Carmen Rivero-De Caldera<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n When they arrived, the victims were surveilled on a \u201cnear-constant basis\u201d to ensure they didn\u2019t escape, court documents say. Their immigration documents were often withheld. Some victims told investigators they believed Rivero-De Caldera and one of her sons were connected to Tren de Aragua, a cartel and US-designated terrorist organization, and worried the gang would hurt their families if they refused to comply, according to the documents.\n <\/p>\n

\n One victim highlighted in court documents said she traveled through multiple countries by bus and on foot before she entered the United States. But during her journey, the woman, who is not named by prosecutors, was allegedly told she was going to be fined $35,000 because she was bringing along her 5-year-old daughter.\n <\/p>\n

\n Because the woman couldn\u2019t afford to pay that additional fee, she began working in commercial sex, prosecutors say, adding that she was repeatedly warned that there would be consequences should she try to escape before she had fully paid her debt.\n <\/p>\n

\n When law enforcement arrived toarrest one of Rivero\u2019s sons, they found the woman\u2019s daughter in his hotel room, prosecutors say. Her mother was in a separate room with a client.\n <\/p>\n

\n Prosecutors say Rivero-De Caldera and the codefendants used proceeds from forced prostitution to bring new victims to the US\n <\/p>\n

\n Justice Department focuses trafficking resources\n<\/h2>\n

\n The Justice Department has made human trafficking one of its top priorities.\n <\/p>\n

\n It is one of the most profitable criminal enterprises, according to the Justice Department, along with gun and drug trafficking. Human trafficking is estimated to be a $32 billion-a-year global industry, the department says.\n <\/p>\n

\n To that end, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said last month that he was appointing prosecutor Alessandra Serano to act as a liaison to other federal agencies on the department\u2019s human trafficking and child exploitation work.\n <\/p>\n

\n Serano told CNN that she hopes to \u201ctake the best of what DOJ has to offer\u201d on its human trafficking investigations and partner with \u201cother agencies like Homeland Security, the State Department, (and) state and local organizations, to work together to combat this problem.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Serano is tasked with submitting a report to the deputy attorney general updating the department\u2019s strategies to combat human trafficking and child exploitation within 120 days of her appointment.\n <\/p>

Read more \u200b\u200bOver 100 Democrats vote to block billions of dollars in military aid to Israel, reflecting growing schism in party<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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