(Headline Image: Kendall County Sheriff's Office)
We don’t need a wall, right? No need for it, right? The left has to be right when they say there’s no crisis at the border, right?
An Illinois woman has been arrested by federal authorities for allegedly housing 33 Guatemalans in her basement and forcing them to work, all the while taking a large portion of the money they earned.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times:
Federal authorities say they found 19 adults and 14 children in a Cicero home during an early morning raid Tuesday, following allegations that Guatemalan citizens were being held in the basement there and forced to work[…]
[Concepcion] Malinek, 49, of the 3100 block of South 53rd Court in Cicero, allegedly helped the immigrants cross into the United States in 2018 and 2019, either through the use of her name and address or by paying airfare. Then, she told them they owed her thousands of dollars for her assistance and helped them find employment in a Romeoville factory, delivering them to work in a white passenger van.
Essentially, Malinek allegedly kept the illegal immigrants in line by telling them that if they didn’t do what she said, she would “threaten to turn them into immigration authorities,” according to WGN. People in the Cicero neighborhood had no idea what was happening.
"They would sometimes have these huge parties, but otherwise you wouldn’t notice them," a neighbor said.
This really seems like human trafficking, followed by forced labor. The lack of freedom to leave Malinek’s house sounds tantamount to slavery, especially when considering Malinek had a “cleaning schedule” that the occupants had to adhere to or face paying a fine. Also, the people were only allowed limited movement through the house.
The Sun-Times also reported:
One victim, who lived in the house with his 15-year-old daughter, said he knew Malinek from working construction at a hotel she owned in Guatemala. He said she told him he owed her $18,000 for letting him use her name and residence on his immigration paperwork.
Another victim said Malinek charged him $7,000 to get him into the United States after he had been detained with his 12-year-old son. After he arrived at the Cicero home, Malinek allegedly arranged for his wife and second child to join him for $30,000.
There’s big money in human trafficking in the form of helping people illegally emigrate into the U.S.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) reported in 2014 that “$8 billion dollars [is] saved [annually] by private households by not paying or underpaying domestic workers held in forced labor.” Also according to the ILO, “the private economy generates US $150 billion in illegal profits per year.”
As for Malinek, she was expected to appear in court on Thursday.