You Mi was a college student living in South Korea in 2002 that had amassed a large debt while in school. After hearing about the possibility of lucrative hostess positions available in California’s Koreatown, You Mi saw an opportunity to pay back her debts to lenders and credit card companies. For a price of $8,000 (U.S.) You Mi was transported to Tijuana, given fake papers and driven illegally across the border to San Francisco, only to be handed off to another driver and have the papers taken away for reuse with another human trafficker. After meeting with her alleged boss, You Mi was told that her travelling debt was $12,000 and the only way to pay it off would be by working as a sex slave and was given a job at a brothel disguised as a massage parlor. You Mi worked for five months, before she was able to pay off the debt, having no contact with her family and no access to the money she earned. Escaping was an impossibility, her bosses warned her daily that her family back home would be murdered if she tried to leave or warn authorities. On many days, You Mi was forced to have sex with as many as 14 men with no more than a moment’s rest in between. While working one day, the “massage parlor” was raided and You Mi was arrested. Rather than allowing her to explain the circumstances, You Mi was held on $1000 bail and charged with prostitution and later had to pay over $10,000 in court fees in an attempt to defend herself. In 2006 while in court, You Mi recounted her story for the U.S. government, which granted her a special visa for trafficking victims, given only to those who can prove they were enslaved through "force, fraud or coercion." The government's decision was based on interviews with You Mi's attorney, and on You Mi's translated story. Sadly, with the crackdown on brothels, room salons and masasge parlors that sell sex in South Korea, many vendors have taken a global approach to sex trade and relocated to the United States, where the risk is low and profitability is high. You Mi's story is not an anomaly, she represents one of the millions of girls that are kidnapped-lured into the sex industry with promises of lucrative American jobs. (8)