Survivor Story | Yuri Guerrero

In movies and media, it often seems as if human trafficking situations begin spontaneously. A person in a van snatches someone off the sidewalk or someone is lured into a trap where they're suddenly captured and instantly become victims. The truth is, trafficking is a much more deliberate and psychological crime than that. The story of Yuri Guerrero demonstrates the dependence traffickers create perfectly.

Yuri grew up in Mexico, where her mother and father struggled to care for her and her siblings. A friend of their mother came to help, offering love and support. Over time, this friend began to control everything in the children's lives from the way they dressed to what they believed. They were completely dependent on her for everything. This woman would soon become their trafficker. When Yuri was fifteen years old, her trafficker insisted on illegally moving the children to the United States and away from their "despicable, mentally ill" parents.

After arriving in the U.S., the trafficker kept all of the children's documents, and frequently reminded them that nobody else in the world would care about them. She claimed to love them, yet forced them to work several jobs without compensation. Any money they made from jobs outside of the home were kept by her. Yuri and her siblings had no days off, no education, no medical care. They worked their fingers to the bone, just trying to survive. Any time Yuri would think about leaving, she'd remember that she was in a foreign country, without the proper paperwork, and nobody else to turn to.  Not to mention her siblings were there as well. How could she leave them?

Thankfully, this hopelessness is not where Yuri's story ends. Click here to read her full story of escape redemption.