Risk of Working Illegally (outside Japan)

[fireman]

Obviously they wouldn’t phrase it like that… with proper legal advice they could definitely spin the story in a way that would allow them to get a T visa (indeed if you look at the stats it happens)

In the first place the only federal crime involved is the Mann Act which involves transporting the woman not the prostitution itself. Prostitution isn’t a federal crime and the immigration offenses are all civil.

Lying to immigration is a federal crime. Up to 6 months in prison for first offense, and 2 years for repeaters. And on the mamasan side, importing prostitutes is a felony under the Immigration and Nationality Act with a maximum sentence of 10 years, and there's also a potential RICO Act charge if there was an organization behind it. And you have SESTA, the new law from 2018 that bans online advertising for prostitution; that has a potential 20-year sentence.

 

[AdditionalPylons]

Obviously they wouldn’t phrase it like that… with proper legal advice they could definitely spin the story in a way that would allow them to get a T visa (indeed if you look at the stats it happens)

In the first place the only federal crime involved is the Mann Act which involves transporting the woman not the prostitution itself. Prostitution isn’t a federal crime and the immigration offenses are all civil.

Border agents are not stupid, dude. They can tell just by looking at these girls who is actually trafficked and who is touring. They might be able to suggest that they were "kidnapped" because the mamasan wouldn't let them leave (and again, they will let the j girls leave, it's just the strongly encourage them not to), but that would out these girls themselves are illegal prostitutes and they would get permanently banned from entering the US.

Again, these border agents are not stupid. In fact, my girlfriend's korean friend (who kind of looks like a ho), got turned away at customs because they suspected that she might be travelling to escort. Lol!

 

[OsmanthusFragrans]

Lying to immigration is a federal crime. Up to 6 months in prison for first offense, and 2 years for repeaters. And on the mamasan side, importing prostitutes is a felony under the Immigration and Nationality Act with a maximum sentence of 10 years, and there's also a potential RICO Act charge if there was an organization behind it. And you have SESTA, the new law from 2018 that bans online advertising for prostitution; that has a potential 20-year sentence.

I don’t think you’re right about the statutory breadth of immigration fraud, but regardless, the workers could plead out on those charges and cooperate with the prosecution and come out with a visa at the end.

RICO is less a separate crime and more something that’s tacked on to underlying offenses. Good point about the additional immigration laws that are violated by the mamasans. SESTA has pretty much only been used against the founder of B*ckpage and it has pretty serious constitutional flaws that make prosecutors unlikely to use it as a big part of their toolbox.