Trafficking in HS Basketball Players - New Jersey

[Wbbfan1]

New questions, including human trafficking concerns, broadside N.J. basketball power

 

[f1f1ferrari]

Wow - that's my hometown. My parents went to that school (many years ago, before its decline and rebirth). Not fun to hear of them pulling this kind of stuff.

 

[Zorro]

Wow! Admittedly only one side of the story, but the folks on the other side do not seem eager to communicate. If even a substantial portion of the allegations are true, someone needs to suffer and suffer greatly, jail time or whatever.

 

[Dillon77]

New questions, including human trafficking concerns, broadside N.J. basketball power

I was just at that school before this story broke to watch Andrea Aquino(she is #22 on the far left of the team picture in the linked article), who is undoubtedly the Paraguyan female player in question (she is the only Latin American on the girls team). I will give a brief report on what I saw about her in another section. While I was not overly impressed with the game-day coaching I saw that night, that is nothing new at the high school ranks. She, on the other hand, has improved tremendously since I first saw her. I hope she's managing in her real-life situation and hope this can be addressed. Geesh.

 

[oldude]

This practice is not new. At least 20 years ago, various FL high schools were fielding powerhouse basketball teams with Caribbean, Central & South American players. While I don't have any knowledge of their living situations, it was fairly obvious that they were there to play basketball.

 

[oldude]

Here's an NBC News story about FL from 2015 involving players recruited from Cameroon & Serbia.

A Florida high school is under investigation and a coach has been forced to resign in a scandal over allegedly improper recruitment of foreign students who were housed in "deplorable" conditions to play basketball, according to an internal report by the school.

Randy Lee resigned last week as boys basketball coach at Lake Wales High School, a public charter school in Polk County, in a dispute with administrators over the enrollment of three basketball players from Cameroon and one from Serbia, the school said in an eight-page report this week to the Florida High School Athletic Association.

The boys — who average 6 feet, 7 inches tall — arrived at Lake Wales in early February over the objections of the school's principal and the district superintendent, who gave Lee the choice of resigning or being fired, according to the report.

According to the report — which NBC News isn't publishing because it names the students, who are minors — the boys arrived last month with apparently proper paperwork indicating they were transferring from Faith Baptist Christian Academy North in Ludowici, Georgia.

Principal Donna Dunson wrote that Lee told her that the school "had closed and the boys did not have any place to go." She said the boys were living in "deplorable" conditions — which weren't described — with the 21-year-old girlfriend of an assistant basketball coach. They have since been placed with foster families and are being represented by an immigration attorney, the report says.

State records and the academy's website show that Faith Baptist Christian Academy North is in the Gainesville area of north Georgia, not Ludowici. Ludowici, almost 300 miles away in south Georgia, is home to a different school, Faith Baptist Christian Academy.

Georgia high school sports records show that both institutions were still in existence and played boys basketball tournament games on Feb. 27 — at least two weeks after the young men arrived at Lake Wales. Calls to phone numbers for both academies weren't answered late Wednesday.

 

[meyers7]

Wow, that's some crazy stuff.

 

[UcMiami]

Using the word 'trafficing' which carries the connotation of slavery or worse is a little harsh, but what a messy situation for these poor kids. They I am sure have no idea what is going on, and having been through some of the regulations on various visas, I can well believe that some of the adults involved are in the same boat.

 

[meyers7]

Using the word 'trafficing' which carries the connotation of slavery or worse is a little harsh, but what a messy situation for these poor kids. They I am sure have no idea what is going on, and having been through some of the regulations on various visas, I can well believe that some of the adults involved are in the same boat.

Just different kinds of trafficking. But it's still trafficking.

 

[oldude]

Using the word 'trafficing' which carries the connotation of slavery or worse is a little harsh, but what a messy situation for these poor kids. They I am sure have no idea what is going on, and having been through some of the regulations on various visas, I can well believe that some of the adults involved are in the same boat.

I think "trafficking" is an appropriate term. It is most often associated with bringing young girls into the country to serve as prostitutes.

This case involves bringing young girls & boys into the country to serve as basketball players. It appears that in both cases the young people are treated deplorably and have no real choice in the matter once they get here.

 

[UcMiami]

I think "trafficking" is an appropriate term. It is most often associated with bringing young girls into the country to serve as prostitutes.

This case involves bringing young girls & boys into the country to serve as basketball players. It appears that in both cases the young people are treated deplorably and have no real choice in the matter once they get here.

They are getting an education, a chance to develop their basketball skills, and I am not sure we have a basis for saying they are being treated deplorably in terms of living conditions or food. That they are being exploited is a given, and that they are probably unknowingly breaking US law based on the actions of adults is terrible, but I am just saying that is very different from being either chained to a bed or a sewing machine.

 

[oldude]

They are getting an education, a chance to develop their basketball skills, and I am not sure we have a basis for saying they are being treated deplorably in terms of living conditions or food. That they are being exploited is a given, and that they are probably unknowingly breaking US law based on the actions of adults is terrible, but I am just saying that is very different from being either chained to a bed or a sewing machine.

Read the NBC article I posted on the Lake Wales, FL kids above. The article specifically uses the term "deplorable" to describe the living conditions of the 4 boys and that they were removed and placed in foster care. I also think it's a stretch to suggest that they are getting an education.

 

[meyers7]

They are getting an education, a chance to develop their basketball skills, and I am not sure we have a basis for saying they are being treated deplorably in terms of living conditions or food. That they are being exploited is a given, and that they are probably unknowingly breaking US law based on the actions of adults is terrible, but I am just saying that is very different from being either chained to a bed or a sewing machine.

While true, not as bad, still fits definition c)

The Trafficking Protocol, which now has 169 parties,[14] defines human trafficking as:

(a) [...] the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal, manipulation or implantation of organs;


(b) The consent of a victim of trafficking in persons to the intended exploitation set forth in sub-paragraph (a) of this article shall be irrelevant where any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) have been used;
(c) The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered "trafficking in persons" even if this does not involve any of the means set forth in sub-paragraph (a) of this article;
(d) "Child" shall mean any person under eighteen years of age.

Although human trafficking can occur at local levels, it has transnational implications, as recognized by the United Nations in the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (also referred to as the Trafficking Protocol or the Palermo Protocol), an international agreement under the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (CTOC) which entered into force on 25 December 2003.

 

[Blueballer]

Anything to win - Sad

 

[Charliebball]

Wow - that's my hometown. My parents went to that school (many years ago, before its decline and rebirth). Not fun to hear of them pulling this kind of stuff.

Paterson.............rebirth?

 

[Charliebball]

Updated story on Patterson Eastside........

Eastside girls team out of states, multiple suspensions announced in Paterson hoops scandal

 

[willtalk]

Wasn't there a thread on this site, some time back, that dealt with two Nigerian girls who played for a high school. One of which got a scholly and the other transferred to a school in Jersey? I forgot the Name of the school she transferred to. The whole thing seemed kind of fishy and should have prompted and investigation then. A poster from New Jersey stated that it didn't surprise me that she came to his state because they have no transfer regulations.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Such a Penalty, Suspended with Pay. Probably will draw their Teachers Pay for Years and who knows may never go back to teaching.

Updated story on Patterson Eastside...

Eastside girls team out of states, multiple suspensions announced in Paterson hoops scandal

 

[f1f1ferrari]

Paterson...rebirth?

I meant the rebirth of Eastside High. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the city.