Where the Obama Administration Must Turn its Attention

There is yet another heartbreaking article in the paper today about Arab and African families smuggling very very young poor girls to America to work as their slaves. This crime is among the very worst crime that human beings can commit. It is a long process of inhumanity and exploitation that destroys these girls emotionally, spiritually, and physically. This kind of cruelty makes me far angrier than murder. The perpetrators - both husbands and wives - belong in prison for a very long time, and their possessions should be given to the slaves, who should also be given legal status. The Bush administration has turned a blind eye to this problem, even deporting these girls as illegal aliens back to their own countries once they are discovered, thus helping to victimize them further. Similar slavery has crept into America as sex slavery and in garment factories. We need action now. I am optimistic that the Obama administration will step up action domestically. This is part of what a Labor Department is supposed to do. It sometimes happens that otherwise well-meaning liberals say we should "understand" this "cultural practice." The same idiotic arguments are made about female genital mutilation.

These practices should not be hard to stamp out in the United States. More importantly, stopping these crimes should be a priority, far more important than the endless "war on drugs" that takes up so much of our law enforcement efforts with almost no effect.