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FROM THE FIELD
Andrew Kline MPA 2003
THE FBI CALLED IT Operation Gilded Cage. More than 100 Korean women who were smuggled into the United States and forced to work as prostitutes were taken into custody last summer in San Francisco after federal investigators raided a dozen massage parlors, which were fronts for brothels. More than two dozen men were arrested. Andrew Kline MPA 2003 served as the cocounsel in the case for the Department of Justice. Kline, a federal prosecutor who moved to the department’s civil rights division after he left the Kennedy School, spoke to the Bulletin in March about the case, sex trafficking in general, and the emotional nature of his work.
Does sex trafficking in the United States tend to happen more in certain parts of the country?
Unfortunately it happens all over the place. A lot of it happens in border states: California, Texas, New York, and Vermont, for example. Usually they [traffickers] come in from Mexico and Canada and try to get women over the border.
Is it difficult to get the women to talk once you’ve made the bust?
It depends on the kind of case. Coercion is very subtle. People assume the women must have been locked up behind bars and couldn’t physically leave, but that’s rare. Usually the coercion is so subtle that you wouldn’t necessarily recognize this was even going on. As time goes on, we have a relationship with NGOs that counsel the women, and generally speaking, most do come around and tell the truth.
Why don’t they come forward earlier?
A lot of the traffickers demonize law enforcement to the women. They’ll tell them ahead of time that they’ll be deported or thrown in jail, so the women don’t want to tell the authorities what’s going on. This is illegal coercion. That’s enough for us to prosecute. So is fraud. If someone says, I’ll bring you to the United States to be a model, but brings you here and instead makes you a prostitute, then says, now you owe me $18,000 for bringing you here, that’s also enough for us to prosecute. Not all women are victims, however, especially in sex cases.
What happens to these women, the ones who weren’t coerced? Are they charged with prostitution or deported?
No, they don’t get charged with a crime. There’s no federal prostitution law, and it’s highly unlikely that a state would prosecute either. Deported? It depends. In some cases, they can be witnesses. They may have suffered human rights abuses in their country, and even if they came here voluntarily, they may be eligible for visas.
What about the men who run these rings?
Again, it depends on the case. Statutory guidelines in these cases are high. When someone is charged with sex trafficking or forced servitude, usually the minimum is seven years in prison.
How do these cases get started?
We get a lot of anonymous tips. Sometimes women will escape and report it to the police or FBI.
So this really is modern day slavery.
People think about slavery and think that’s 100-something years ago, and it doesn’t happen anymore. People are shocked that it happens and that it happens right under their noses.
How hard is it to hear that some of the women you’ve helped go right back to this?
We try keeping track of them until the cases are over, but the reality is, unless the NGOs are doing a good job helping them get jobs, they often get lured back in. They’re used to doing what they’re doing.
How did you get into this work?
I was a regular federal prosecutor before I came to the Kennedy School. I didn’t always feel like I was making a difference, and I always had an interest in human rights work.
I resigned and came to Harvard to study human rights. Originally I thought I’d get a job at an NGO or the United Nations after the Kennedy School, but this job was a combination of my prior work and my human rights interest. It was the best of both worlds.
Do you work only on sex trafficking cases?
No. My division does criminal cases in the civil rights division. This includes slavery and human trafficking, police brutality, abortion clinic crimes, and hate crimes. I do it
all. Recently I prosecuted a cross burning in Florida. Last month I convicted prison guards for beating a man who had his arms handcuffed behind his back.
These are emotional issues you’re dealing with. Do you get burned out or inspired?
I would say both. The most trying aspect of being a prosecutor is having to argue with defense attorneys and appear before federal judges who are extremely demanding. But on the other hand, it’s extremely rewarding that you’ve made a difference in someone’s life. Right now I’m working on a new case. An Egyptian couple forced a 12-year-old girl into domestic servitude for two years. Eventually she was put into foster care and adopted. She learned English and is now in school. With all the bad and negative stuff comes the good.
Do you see yourself at the Department of Justice long-term?
My goal is to get to New York to do more human rights work. I’d like to recover from the law some time soon.
From the Field is a new series that appears in each issue. It looks at what alumni from around the world are doing to shape policy, ideas, and each other. If you would like to
recommend an alum for this series, send an e-mail to publish@ksg.harvard.edu.
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