A newly-released report from the Central Intelligence Agency claims up to 50,000 Asian, Latin, and Eastern European women and even children are lured to the U.S. for prostitution as well as servant labor.
Based on interviews with government and law enforcement officials as well as victims and expert observers, "International Trafficking in Women to the United States: A Contemporary Manifestation of Slavery" is said to illustrate both the trade itself and the obstacles in fighting it.
The latter, the report says, is why law enforcement officers at all levels are not so willing to take such cases on. And the United States, the report continues, lacks sufficient laws to deal with the problem most effectively.
The report isn't classified yet, and hasn't been made public; but it was a government official who wanted it publicized who provided a copy to the New York Times.
The report says up to 100,000 victims came into the United States over the past two years, but federal estimates indicate the government prosecuted cases involving no more than 250 victims, the Times reports.
