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5/2/13, "2 workers removed from Saudi-owned Va. residence," AP, Matthew Barakat
"Immigration officials have removed two domestic workers from a northern Virginia home owned by the government of Saudi Arabia as part of an investigation into a report of human trafficking.
Agents went to the home in McLean on Tuesday night, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Brandon Montgomery said Thursday. Fairfax County police were called in to help.
Montgomery said the investigation is in the early stages. The two
women who were removed from the home are from the Philippines,
Montgomery said, but there has been no formal determination that they
needed to be rescued.
Officials received a tip that alleged two workers were being held in circumstances that amounted to human trafficking, said John Torres, ICE's special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations in the Washington field office. But he declined in an interview Thursday to discuss the case in more detail. ICE is investigating whether there may be other potential victims
connected to the home, Torres said.
He wouldn't discuss the specific
allegations but said that generally in cases of domestic workers, ICE
prioritizes those involving allegations of workers being held against
their will or threats of violence against workers or their families.
According to real estate records, the Virginia home is owned by the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Armed Forces Office. A representative of the
Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia
could not be reached for comment Thursday. A guard at the gated home,
near the CIA headquarters in Langley, waved off a request to speak to
residents there Thursday morning. "...via Atlas Shrugs
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