(WXYZ) — A new lawsuit has been filed in several states, including Michigan, against 12 hotel chains. It was brought by 21 survivors of human trafficking alleging they are not doing enough to stop human trafficking.
A Michigan survivor is now 29-years-old and claims she was forced to work in the sex trade for several years in Detroit and Ann Arbor.
Her attorney Tiffany Ellis says the survivor was sexually assaulted by her father as a teen, moved to a foster home, and was taken advance of there.
Ellis says federal law sets the basis for the lawsuit and the industry has not been held accountable.
Attached to the lawsuit are several ways hotel and motel staff can be trained to be the eyes and ears to human trafficking, including looking for signs of fear, physical and mental abuse, lack of freedom, no belongings or luggage and in the company of older men.
“It was incumbent on those hotel chains to train and develop these policies and they just didn’t do it. And they didn’t do it, we believe because they were profiting from these rooms.”
Ellis says the majority of human trafficking takes place in big hotels and smaller motels.
We went into the downtown Detroit hotel seeking a response and have not heard back.
The lawsuits could take months or years to resolve.
Hotel Lawsuit by WXYZ-TV Channel 7 Detroit on Scribd
