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Massage Parlor Industry Continues to Thrive in Major Metropolitan Cities and Suburban Community Enclaves in the United States

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Massage Parlor Industry Continues to Thrive in Major Metropolitan Cities and Suburban Community Enclaves in the United States FOREWORD MESSAGE FROM CONGRESSWOMAN JUDY CHU, 27th CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT The massage parlor industry continues to thrive in major metropolitan cities and suburban community enclaves in the United States. This research report highlights the enormity of the illicit massage parlor industry, focusing particularly on New York City and Los Angeles County. With its many in-depth interviews of Asian immigrant women in this industry, this report deepens our understanding of how these women were recruited, and how they are treated both in the parlors as well as in the criminal justice system. Most importantly, the research report provides an important analysis and recommendations for reforms, especially from a labor rights as well as a law enforcement perspective. As a Congressional leader representing a district in Los Angeles County, I believe it is important to shine a light on this issue, so that we can work on improving the lives of these women. We must have continued dialogue and action as we address this local issue, which has such a clear national and global impact. Sincerely, JUDY CHU, Ph.D. Member of Congress, 27th District Illicit Massage Parlors in Los Angeles County & New York City October 2019 AUTHORS John J. Chin,a Lois M. Takahashi,b Yeonsoo Baik,c Caitlin Ho,d Stacy To,e Abigail Radaza,e Elizabeth S.C. Wu,e Sungmin Lee,f Melanie Dulfo,f Daun Jungg ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We are grateful to the many women who shared their stories about working in massage parlors. We also thank the legal and social service providers who offered their expert guidance and insights about the massage parlor industry. We thank Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team – Special Service for Groups in Los Angeles (Jury Candelario, Division Director) and APICHA Community Health Center in New York City (Therese Rodriguez, CEO) for their partnership on the project. We also thank study interviewers Hyang Choi, Mio Lan Chou, Yichen Tu, and Jennifer Zhang. We are grateful to Sahnah Lim (Assistant Professor, NYU School of Medicine, Department of Population Health) and Catherine R. Chen (Chief Program Officer, Polaris) for their careful review and helpful comments on a previous draft and to Elizabeth S.C. Wu for graphically designing the report. Research reported in this paper was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under Award #R21HD074446. The content of this report is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of NIH, the authors’ institutions, or the experts we consulted. We are also grateful to the following experts for generously sharing their knowledge with us during the course of our research: Leigh Latimer, Supervising Attorney, The Exploitation Intervention Project, The Legal Aid Society Jimmy Lee, former Executive Director, Restore NYC Chiu Hong Ma, MA, LMFT Kate Mogulescu, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School Rosie Wang, Immigration Attorney Kate Zen, Co-Founder and Director, Red Canary Song For inquiries about this report, please contact John J. Chin ([email protected]) or Lois M. Takahashi ([email protected]) a Department of Urban Policy and Planning, Hunter College, City University of New York b Sacramento Center, USC Price School of Public Policy C Department of Epidemiology, Fielding School of Public Health, UCLA d Hunter College AANAPISI Project (HCAP), City University of New York e APAIT – Special Service for Groups, Los Angeles f Apicha Community Health Center, New York g John Jay College, City University of New York 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................3 Summary of study findings .............................................................................................................4 Summary of recommendations ......................................................................................................5 INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................7 WHAT EXISTING RESEARCH TELLS US ...........................................................................................8 How does the illicit massage parlor industry operate? ...................................................................8 What are the effects on women who work in illicit massage parlors? ..............................................9 What are the effects of regulation and anti-prostitution enforcement on the illicit massage parlor industry? .................................................................................................................................9 OUR RESEARCH QUESTIONS .......................................................................................................10 OUR STUDY: DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES ............................................................................10 OUR STUDY: WHAT DID WE FIND? ..............................................................................................13 Illicit massage parlor operations in New York City and Los Angeles County ...................................13 Workers’ relations with owners and managers ..............................................................................14 Entry into illicit massage parlor work ............................................................................................14 Risks and costs of illicit massage parlor work .................................................................................17 Violence towards illicit massage parlor workers ................................................................17 Reluctance to seek police protection.................................................................................18 Stigma and shame .............................................................................................................19 HIV risk .............................................................................................................................19 Strategies for minimizing health risks ..............................................................................20 Access to healthcare ........................................................................................................21 Experiences with law enforcement and the criminal justice system ..............................................21 Unfair arrest, aggressive policing, and police misconduct ................................................21 Language barriers and lack of adequate language interpretation during arrest and court processes ...................................................................................................................23 Immigration status ...........................................................................................................23 Returning to illicit massage parlor work after arrest ........................................................24 Disproportionate law enforcement focus on workers vs. owners and clients ....................25 Illicit massage parlor workers’ understanding of legal issues ............................................25 Avoiding arrest ................................................................................................................26 Experiences with lawyers .................................................................................................26 Human Trafficking Intervention Courts and Prostitution Diversion Programs ...................27 Alternatives to or legalization of illicit massage parlor work .........................................................28 Training for alternative jobs .............................................................................................28 Planning for illicit massage parlor ownership ...................................................................29 Legalization of prostitution .............................................................................................29 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLICY MAKERS, LAW ENFORCEMENT AND THE JUSTICE SYSTEM, AND ADVOCATES ..............................................................................................................................30 Illicit massage parlor work as a labor rights issue ...................................................................30 Illicit massage parlor work as a part of the larger immigrant story of survival .........................30 Illicit massage parlor work as a law enforcement reform issue ................................................31 Specific recommendations ............................................................................................................31 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................36 BIOGRAPHIES ..........................................................................................................................37 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................39 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Recent media accounts about high-net-worth individuals, including New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, being identified as clients of illicit massage parlors have gained national attention.1 Other media reports have documented raids, mass arrests and undercover stings of massage parlors in US cities and
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