Prostitution in Hawaii

CNMI critics often point toward egregious instances of labor abuse and human rights violations in order to advance their federal takeover agenda. Such claims of abuse often involve extremely disturbing allegations of forced prostitution and sexual slavery. The ABC news magazine 20/20 once advanced these charges in a segment entitled “The Shame of Saipan.”

These CNMI critics would have the US Congress and the American people believe that young Asian women are routinely exploited on Saipan soil. They contend that, under a flagrantly abusive system of local immigration and minimum wage control, imported foreign women are regularly lured into a life of forced prostitution and sexual enslavement. They further maintain that only with the application of federal immigration, minimum wage and US Customs Service controls can these perennial local problems finally be resolved.

There are two serious flaws with this argument. First, it is not at all clear that the CNMI’s local control of immigration and minimum wage is directly responsible for these largely unsubstantiated allegations of widespread nonresident worker abuse. Second, the federal application of US immigration, Customs and minimum wage controls is no panacea: there is no guarantee that forced prostitution and other abuses will not occur under a federalized system.

Consider the case of Honolulu, Hawaii, an American state where all federal rules clearly apply, and where prostitution remains quite rampant, widespread and easily accessible. As an Asian tourism and US military-dominated economy, Honolulu’s tourists and servicemen have traditionally figured in quite prominently as a substantial customer base for the world’s oldest profession.

According to the Honolulu Police Department’s 1997 Annual Report, more than 440 prostitution offenses were recorded that year. Most of these indictments have not resulted in criminal convictions. According to a January 29, 1997 Honolulu Weekly feature story, “Since 1992, HPD has arrested and ‘cleared’ . . . 1,047 prostitutes.”

Yet, of these numerous arrests, less than 2 percent have resulted in actual criminal convictions. Some of these arrests, however, have been alarming–particularly when compared to the allegations surrounding the Northern Mariana Islands.

On April 15, 1999, the Honolulu Star Bulletin published an article revealing that a Rodney D. King, 33, “pleaded guilty to a charge of transporting a juvenile for prostitution.” The three juveniles in this case ranged from ages 15 to 17, and reportedly charged $300 for sex. The escort service in this case was called “Cherry Patch”; in the 1998-1999 GTE Hawaiian Tel Yellow Pages, it boasted of the “Sweetest lil’ thangs you ever did see.”

On November 3, 1998, the Honolulu Advertiser reported that federal officials filed pandering charges against one Antonio Torres. Mr. Torres was alleged to have transported two 15-year-olds and one 16-year-old from Tacoma, Washington to work as Hawaii prostitutes. According to the news article, federal officials reported that the 16-year old girl claimed that Torres would “hit and kick them.”

On April 24, 1998, The Honolulu Advertiser reported that Courtney Fitzhugh, 20, and Tonya Frankhauser, 18, pleaded guilty in federal court to transporting a 16-year-old Las Vegas girl to Hawaii for the purpose of working as a prostitute.

On March 23, 1998, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported yet another teen prostitution case. Cleveland Nelson, 33, was charged with “second-degree promotion of prostitution involving a 17-year-old girl.

These examples are not merely isolated incidents. Despite the application of U.S. Immigration and the federal minimum wage, prostitution flourishes in Honolulu. These well-documented instances of Hawaii prostitution clearly far outstrip any of the claims leveled against the Northern Mariana islands, demonstrating once again that a CNMI federal takeover offers no solution to the alleged labor abuses besetting the Commonwealth.

Despite the reports of CNMI abuses, Hawaii’s prostitution situation appears to be far worse. It includes substantial instances of forced teen prostitution as well as some evidence of alien woman trafficking for the same purposes. Such crimes thrive under a completely federalized system of U.S. Immigration, U.S. Customs and federal minimum wage controls. And, unlike the CNMI, Honolulu doesn’t even have a local garment industry to blame for their prostitution problems.