Flora immigrated to the United States in 2023 because of a promise. The man with whom she shared an infant son swore they’d be able to start a new life as a family in the Midwest, where he was living. But the second she arrived, the young Venezuelan mother says, she was trapped in a nightmare. The man immediately demanded that Flora surrender every cent she had, she says, telling her she owed him money for the journey and that she’d have to work to pay off her debt. For the next year and a half, the man held Flora hostage in his home — she alleges he repeatedly raped her, forced her to perform domestic labor and work for his small business without pay, physically abused her and denied her food, and threatened to harm her and her child. Flora had become one of the estimated 27 million people worldwide who are victims of human trafficking.
