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.
Human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act.
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.
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.
Human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act.
Am I wrong? What am I missing?
Human trafficking is defined in the UN Trafficking in Persons Protocol, which supplements the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, as “the recruitment, transport, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a person by such means as threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud or deception for the purpose of exploitation”.
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
purpose of exploitation
they’re being politically ‘exploited’. and the republicants and their ‘transportation partners’ are profiting from it…
does that count?
Don’t get fooled into “it’s only human trafficking if it’s transporting for sex/profit”. It’s a much broader definition
I’ll have to think about this. Thanks for responding.
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.
Fine, let’s call it what it really is: kidnapping.
https://www.findlaw.com/state/texas-law/texas-kidnapping-laws.html
https://www.findlaw.com/state/illinois-law/illinois-kidnapping-laws.html
I think “smuggling of persons” is the most appropriate charge, but I’m not a lawyer.
Sec. 20.05. SMUGGLING OF PERSONS.
deleted by creator
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
Oh, you mean literal slavery.
deleted by creator
So is this another fabricated case just so that Supreme Court can strip cities of some rights? I wouldn’t be surprised if it was.
Maybe the charter company could just announce they are coming…
Sue the bus company over being an accessory to kidnapping.
It does seem like a pretty easy case for them. The law sounds unconstitutional, infringes the right of free travel.
You don’t have a Constitutional right to human trafficking.
The law isn’t banning human trafficking. They specifically say that in the story. If you or I bought a one way ticket to chicago, the law would require the bus company to annouce that you or I are coming. It’s just too broad. And it is what happens when you ask winners of a popularity contest to write and approve laws.
It also specifically says it’s in response to all of the human trafficking.
And no, it wouldn’t do that, it specifies that it applies to unscheduled buses, so the charter company doesn’t need to notify Chicago when one person buys a ticket, but nice try.
I missed the unscheduled busses part. But that is still covering plenty of private citizens who have done nothing wrong. And it is easy for the intended target to avoid. They can just schedule the bus to run once a week and cancel any weeks they want due to low demand. So now you are only impacting private citizens.
deleted by creator
Yeah, it’s a poorly written law for sure. Not really even a good attempt to solve the problem
Sending migrants to new York and Chicago has probably been the best political move any Texas governor has done in a long time.
Using desperate and innocent people as political pawns is a good look in your eyes?
What if your mother/sister/brother/ or child moved to Sweden and she called you and said she got dropped off in a random city with no guidance or resources? You’d be happy with the Swedish government for that?
Forcing cities that claim to not care about illegal immigration to deal with less than one percent of the people Texas is expected to handle, has been great for them to realize the problem. These people are either existing with no resources in Texas, or being dropped off with nothing in New York/Illinois, I can’t really say which is worse.
Bussing people is preventing other states from ignoring the southern border problems.
Lmao seems to me the best solution is to seize all of Texas’ land around the border. If the border is such an inconvenience, surely they won’t mind the feds taking it off their hands? Unless of course its just something for them to whine about. California has more illegal immigrants than Texas yet somehow manages to thrive. Yet somehow Texas can’t do the same?
The biggest issue with this is not sending them to other states. Its using people as pawns and making their lives more difficult just to stick it to other states. They should be coordinating for that reason alone. They dont because they care more about sticking it to other states than about being decent humans. In my opinion that is not the act of a “united” state. Its the act of an enemy. Texas has decided to start a cold war with its hostile actions. The intent matters. They are intentionally making this a bigger issue than it needs to be just so they can act hostile toward other states. Thats fucked on so many levels. Im perfectly fine accepting refugees from Texas whether it be healthcare, their trans witch hunt, or their behavior toward illegal immigrants. That isn’t the issue here. The issue is their hostile behavior.
Im of the mind they should not receive a federal penny while they are making attacks on other states and preventing the feds from doing their jobs at the border. I didnt elect Texans to oversee foreign policy. Its about time biden nationalized the national guard and reminded Texas that it doesn’t run the show. Its about time Texans had to suffer for the suffering they inflict on others. Sucks for those not inflicting it but thats why I support a refugee program. Terrible people can keep being terrible because they never suffer for it. Making them feel the weight of their choices probably won’t change them as they are rotten to the core, but enabling them only makes the rest of us complicit in their lack of humanity.
The only problem it makes anyone realize is how inhumane Texas and the people who support this are. Texans aren’t very bright if they think its sending any kind of message about immigration itself. Its only showing more people how awful Texans are and how they care more about sticking it to other states than having any basic humanity. Anybody who supports this is a horrible person who thinks its acceptable to use human lives as pawns to throw tantrums with.
I really have wondered why this aspect. If they are illegal, then the feds should be handling them, and footing the bill. If they are legal it sure does get a bit grey. Sure it is a burden on texas for having a border. But they also get a ton of money from commerce generated by being on the border. Seems fair they foot the bill for the legal migrants.
Says more about the people of Texas than anything else.
And another for the block list. Thanks for showing us who you are.
