What Would You Do?, I think that a chinese restaurant near me maybe trafficking women

francot1

O.G.
Jan 24, 2009
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2
My DH eats lunch out with clients and coworkers frequently at this chinese restaurant near his work. The restaurant opened up in January and he has been going there at least once a week, for their lunch buffet. Yesterday, while eating lunch, the waitress, who recognized them from the previous week, starting talking to his friend. In the course of the conversation she mentioned to them, that she is not paid a wage and is only allowed to keep half of the tips she receives. She is bused in everyday to work, stays in different places, and does not have a stable place to live. Her english was difficult to understand, but they found out, that she had not been in this country for long, maybe a couple of months. She told them that she would not see them anymore as she was going to NYC the next day and would not be back. My dh has noticed that there seems to always be different people working in this restaurant every week.

Last night at dinner my dh was telling me about this, and I told him that I thought that it sounded like the restaurant maybe trafficking chinese women.
I said that I thought that he should call someone to report this. My dh said that he did not get this womans name, and as she is not at the restaurant anymore, wondered if anyone would get involved. He is also a bit apprehensive because he is not 100% sure that there is trafficking going on, and also does not know who to contact, the police, immigration etc? It is also hard to know who to trust and my dh does not want his name given back to the owner of the restaurant, as sometimes when women are trafficked there are gangs involved.
Has anyone else had any experience with this, or recommend who to contact? What would you do?
 
While there might be something going on, you don't have a crime to report. If you call the police, I think they will ask you for info that is criminal, or info that strongly suggests criminal activity is taking place.
That said, it won't hurt to place a call to the PD.
 
In many asian-owned restaurants, many owners hire immigrants because they are cheap, they work and get paid under the table. Also, they get a low wage and not all the tips go to the waitress/waiters. But changing staff every single week and sending them elsewhere to work? That's odd. Is there a possibility that they're being sent to another restaurant opened by the same owner??

Regarding the concern of different waitress/waiters each week, the reason could be because of the low pay for the job to be done??

Is there anywhere you could report to for this "unusual behavior" of this business aside from the police?? Local newspaper maybe? Where they could investigate this matter??
 
I think you can report things to the police anonymously. Not sure how, but perhaps you should check out your local PD's website and they might have info on how to do that.
 
The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement has an entire department dedicated to human trafficking. You can contact them and provide all the information you know aboutt he situation. The number is 1-866-DHS-2-ICE.

And here is the website http://www.ice.gov/human-trafficking/

Human trafficking is a growing business, particularly the trafficking of underage females from Asian and Central American countries.
 
Here often staff are replaced quickly in Chinese stores/restaurants, they are non english speaking immigrants (maybe illegal?)
Also once we had an issue with a store and the owner asked us to come back after hours, he was yelling so much at the girl working there, you'd think he was going to kill her.
We were so shocked, but they don't seem to be treated that well. It's kind of sad but they seem to get away with it, and find ways around the law to run their establishments.

I don't know if reporting them would help or not, it's a sticky situation.
 
^Agree completely with lily25, if you have any suspicions you may want to contact immigration. Don't go to the police, you have no proof beyond some suspicions there is human trafficking taking place. However as lily25 suggested, do so anonymously because most of this human trafficking is run by the Triads and you don't want them to come after you or your family.
 
^Agree completely with lily25, if you have any suspicions you may want to contact immigration. Don't go to the police, you have no proof beyond some suspicions there is human trafficking taking place. However as lily25 suggested, do so anonymously because most of this human trafficking is run by the Triads and you don't want them to come after you or your family.

Yes, Right now my DH only has suspicions of possible trafficking, and the waitress is gone that was talking to him. He will look into reporting it to immigration but is afraid that with the waitress gone no one else there would be willing to talk.

Who are the Triads, are they a gang?
 
Yes, Right now my DH only has suspicions of possible trafficking, and the waitress is gone that was talking to him. He will look into reporting it to immigration but is afraid that with the waitress gone no one else there would be willing to talk.

Who are the Triads, are they a gang?

The Triads are the Chinese equivalent of the Mafia.
Their business is mostly counterfeiting, trafficking, and prostitution these days.
 
My DH eats lunch out with clients and coworkers frequently at this chinese restaurant near his work. The restaurant opened up in January and he has been going there at least once a week, for their lunch buffet. Yesterday, while eating lunch, the waitress, who recognized them from the previous week, starting talking to his friend. In the course of the conversation she mentioned to them, that she is not paid a wage and is only allowed to keep half of the tips she receives. She is bused in everyday to work, stays in different places, and does not have a stable place to live. Her english was difficult to understand, but they found out, that she had not been in this country for long, maybe a couple of months. She told them that she would not see them anymore as she was going to NYC the next day and would not be back. My dh has noticed that there seems to always be different people working in this restaurant every week.

Last night at dinner my dh was telling me about this, and I told him that I thought that it sounded like the restaurant maybe trafficking chinese women.
I said that I thought that he should call someone to report this. My dh said that he did not get this womans name, and as she is not at the restaurant anymore, wondered if anyone would get involved. He is also a bit apprehensive because he is not 100% sure that there is trafficking going on, and also does not know who to contact, the police, immigration etc? It is also hard to know who to trust and my dh does not want his name given back to the owner of the restaurant, as sometimes when women are trafficked there are gangs involved.
Has anyone else had any experience with this, or recommend who to contact? What would you do?


Since I obviously do not know who you are (I don't know any Purse Forum members personally), I can only give my opinion based on what you've typed in your post. You say that your husband notices that there appears to be different people working at the restaurant every week. Could it be possible that some of the employees work alternate hours/shifts or perhaps the employees sometimes work in another part of the same restaurant (eg, the kitchen) and therefore it "looks" like there are different employees every week when in fact there may not be different employees every week?
Or, as another person mentioned in this thread, perhaps some of the employees were sent to another restaurant owned by the same owner?
Or perhaps there is a high turnover rate because of the low pay?

In your post, you also say your husband and his friend spoke to one of the waitresses and said she was bused to work everyday and stayed in different places. Perhaps she was bused to work because she was not 100% familiar with the transit systems and roads of the city she just arrived in? And perhaps she lives with different friends temporarily because she will be moving to another city shortly?
Since (as mentioned in your post) you say your husband said the waitress's English was somewhat difficult to understand, perhaps your husband misunderstood some of the things she said, and therefore thought her situation was more complicated than it actually may be?


In my opinion, from reading what you've posted, the situation sounds more like a situation of workers' rights (or lack of) rather than trafficking.

I think it's wrong to "jump to conclusions" that there is "Triad trafficking" occurring at the restaurant.


In the city where I live, I've eaten at many Chinese restaurants and the employees there are legal immigrants.
 
Since I obviously do not know who you are (I don't know any Purse Forum members personally), I can only give my opinion based on what you've typed in your post. You say that your husband notices that there appears to be different people working at the restaurant every week. Could it be possible that some of the employees work alternate hours/shifts or perhaps the employees sometimes work in another part of the same restaurant (eg, the kitchen) and therefore it "looks" like there are different employees every week when in fact there may not be different employees every week?
Or, as another person mentioned in this thread, perhaps some of the employees were sent to another restaurant owned by the same owner?
Or perhaps there is a high turnover rate because of the low pay?

In your post, you also say your husband and his friend spoke to one of the waitresses and said she was bused to work everyday and stayed in different places. Perhaps she was bused to work because she was not 100% familiar with the transit systems and roads of the city she just arrived in? And perhaps she lives with different friends temporarily because she will be moving to another city shortly?
Since (as mentioned in your post) you say your husband said the waitress's English was somewhat difficult to understand, perhaps your husband misunderstood some of the things she said, and therefore thought her situation was more complicated than it actually may be?


In my opinion, from reading what you've posted, the situation sounds more like a situation of workers' rights (or lack of) rather than trafficking.

I think it's wrong to "jump to conclusions" that there is "Triad trafficking" occurring at the restaurant.


In the city where I live, I've eaten at many Chinese restaurants and the employees there are legal immigrants.
And I think it is wrong to turn a blind eye to a possible human rights violation.
 
The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement has an entire department dedicated to human trafficking. You can contact them and provide all the information you know aboutt he situation. The number is 1-866-DHS-2-ICE.

And here is the website http://www.ice.gov/human-trafficking/

Human trafficking is a growing business, particularly the trafficking of underage females from Asian and Central American countries.

I'd go this route, remain anonymous, and block my phone number before calling. But definitely call.... :yes: