Miami, Florida, USA, United States
ICE special agents in Miami identified Jorge Velasquez and Jaime Velazquez-Zompantzi, 26 as responsible for forcing the two females in Florida into prostitution. ICE special agents also determined that the Velazquez brothers had held the female victim’s children captive in Mexico and prohibited the victims from contacting their children. In May 2010, ICE HSI special agents in Miami requested assistance from the ICE Attaché Mexico City special agents regarding this ongoing human trafficking investigation after the two female human trafficking victims from Mexico were identified in Florida. On May 12, 2010, ICE special agents presented the investigation to Secretary of Public Safety (SSP) Border Enforcement Security Task Force officers in Mexico for enforcement action, and ICE special agents assisted those officers with locating and identifying the organization’s leaders in Mexico. Subsequently, on June 6, 2010, Assistant Attorney General for Special Investigations (SIEDO) and SSP officers executed search warrants on a business and residence belonging to the Zompantzi family, an alleged human trafficking organization operating in Tenancingo, Tlaxcala, Mexico. SSP officers arrested Jaime Velazquez-Zompantzi, Jorge Velazquez-Zompantzi, Fausto Velazquez-Zompantzi, and Severina Zompantzi, all Mexican nationals, indicted in Mexico on federal charges to include trafficking of persons and organized crime. During the search of the Mexican business, SSP officers found four minors suspected of being the children of trafficked victims currently in the United States. Two of the minors were identified as the children of the two female human trafficking victims in Florida. In 2011, Mexican authorities successfully prosecuted Jorge Velasquez for his role in this commercial sex trafficking ring. Velasquez was sentenced in Mexico to 18 years and 3 months in prison. Mexico prosecuted Velasquez along with three other Mexican traffickers.