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.
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.
That’s not enough to qualify for trafficking, you need the second part about labor/sex. Just sending a bunch of people to another state doesn’t qualify.
Not true.
https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/faqs.html#h1
Again you need to show the second half. Just moving people under false pretenses isn’t trafficking. You need to show the intent to exploit them for some sort of gain, and it generally has to be of the forced labor/sex variety. That isn’t happening here.
You’re late for your bus to Disney!
Bus dumps you in Dallas
Gonna cry?
Putting people onto a bus by use of force, fraud, or coercion, by itself, doesn’t seem to meet the definition of trafficking.
Am I wrong? What am I missing?
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
they’re being politically ‘exploited’. and the republicants and their ‘transportation partners’ are profiting from it…
does that count?
I’ll have to think about this. Thanks for responding.
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.
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.
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