Turn on the news these days and what do you see? College campuses turned into “war zones,” fringe radicals fighting in the streets, and professional athletes taking a knee during the National Anthem. But while Americans tear each other apart over what we consider to be injustice and oppression, unspeakable acts of very real abuse are going on all over the world.
Right now, more than 40 million people are enslaved. That’s more than the total number of slaves that existed during the height of the slave trade in the 1700 and 1800’s.
She didn’t want me, so she kicked me out of the house.
Today on the show, Glenn talked with Mixie, a former victim of human trafficking in Mexico City. Mixie was 13 years old when her mother died, forcing her to live with her violent and very abusive stepfather. She fled to live with her aunt, but as Mixie tearfully explained, “she didn’t want me, so she kicked me out of the house.” After a while of living on the streets, Mixie moved in with a stepsister, who said she’d “be like an older sister” and “take care” of her.
“When I first met her, she was … very good to me,” said Mixie of her stepsister. “She offered me a house to live in, clothes, and told me to live with her, that I would be happy.” But before long, Mixie was serving as a full-time housemaid and nanny to her stepsister’s five children.
Then things got worse
Tricked into believing she had to make money to protect her eight-year-old sister, Mixie was coerced into prostitution. After that, she was beaten and locked away without food or a bathroom for days if she didn’t cooperate fully with her captors.
“She told me she was going to get my little sister. I was terrified because in my mind there was a horror movie playing where I would see my little sister alone, like me,” said Mixie. “I didn’t have anybody. I didn’t want her to be in the same situation I was in.”
My life is a blank page and I am its only author. This is Mixie’s story.
After more than three years of enslavement and abuse, Mixie met a hotel worker named Ivan who helped her escape. She then assisted the police in an investigation which lead to her captor’s arrest. Mixie has since become an outspoken advocate against human trafficking and is helping to shed light on the terrible crimes being committed in Mexico.
Listen to Mixie share her story in the video clip above.
