In United States v. Rivera. the prosecutors in her office utilized the Trafficking Victims Protection Act to help them obtain a conviction against an owner of several New York bars for his role in a sex trafficking and forced labor ring. The evidence at trial established that the defendants recruited and harbored scores of undocumented Latin American immigrants. and forced them to work as waitresses at the owners bars. The owner and his accomplices used violence. including rapes and beatings. as well as fraud and threats of deportation. to compel the victims to work and prevent them from reporting the illegal activity to police. Because of the leadership Ms. Lynch showed in making such cases a priority. the bar owner was sentenced to 60 years in prison.
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undocumented deportation immigrants