Chinese Triads Using Massage Parlors for Human Trafficking in Kansas: Sen. Marshall

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) speaks with reporters during a press conference in the U.S. Capitol in Washington on July 11, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Massage parlors operated by Chinese triads have sprung up across Kansas, and these locations have become fertile ground for human trafficking, according to Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.).

“We now have more massage parlors than we do Starbucks coffee cafes,” Mr. Marshall told The Epoch Times’ sister media outlet NTD on March 6. “And, of course, human trafficking is coming in behind this.”

The senator said that he learned about the situation from law enforcement officials from his state, including sheriff’s officers and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

Mr. Marshall noted that Chinese triads, which he characterized as organized crime gangs, have had a presence in the United States for decades. However, the triads’ activities, particularly human trafficking, have “exploded over the past several years,” he said.

“Specifically, this Chinese triad is running the money laundry,” the senator continued. “This growth of fentanyl explodes with the cartel—the cartel doing all the dirty work—they’ve been working hand in glove with the Chinese triad.”

Mexico cartels have been buying precursor chemicals from China to make fentanyl, and ship the finished products to the United States. Fentanyl overdose deaths tripled between 2016 and 2021, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease and Control Prevention, becoming the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.

‘We’re Seeing People Smuggled From China’

“We’re seeing people smuggled from China through Turkey into Colombia. And this is where they then next crossed the Darién Gap. And sometime in there is where these people are enslaved for lack of a better word,” Mr. Marshall said.

In 2023, a record 500,000 migrants traveled through the Darién Gap, a major migration route linking Panama and Colombia.

After arriving in the United States, many smuggled Chinese nationals would be forced to pay off their debts by working in Chinese weed farms or becoming prostitutes at massage parlors, according to Mr. Marshall.

In February, 50 senators and House members sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, requesting him to provide information on U.S. illegal marijuana cultivation operations tied to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

“The thousands of illicit Chinese marijuana growing operations pose a direct threat to public safety, human rights, national security, and the addiction crisis gripping our nation,” the letter says.

Jonathan Cassara, a retired special agent for the U.S. Treasury, warned about Chinese triads during a congressional hearing in March 2023.

“In addition to domestic drug trafficking, Chinese organized crime groups increasingly traffic in international markets. Chinese triads were involved in narcotics trafficking long before it became a global phenomenon; the groups have grown as the trade has expanded,” Mr. Cassara wrote in his written testimony.

He added, “China is a major source of NPS [new psychoactive substances] and other synthetic drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine that are flooding into the U.S., Canada, and increasingly other Western countries.”

The Polaris Project, a nonprofit that runs the National Human Trafficking Hotline, stated in a 2018 report that there were about 9,000 illegal massage parlors in more than 1,000 cities nationwide. According to the report, most of the prostitutes were from China and South Korea, who entered the United States illegally and were heavily in debt.

In October 2023, seven individuals, including Li Huang and Wei Chongmei, were arrested for illegally operating seven massage parlors in North Carolina and South Carolina, according to WFMY News 2.

“We, as Americans, think that there’s right and wrong. But members of this underground mafia blur right and wrong. So they have legal and illegal activities setting side [by] side each other,” Mr. Marshall said.

The senator also said he intended to support newly introduced legislation to address risks associated with using the Chinese social media TikTok. The bipartisan proposal, called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, would ban app stores from making TikTok available.

“I personally will support this. I’m a physician. The benefits of TikTok don’t outweigh the risks,” Mr. Marshall said.

He continued: “Americans need to understand that the Chinese Communist Party is trying to attack America on the air, the land, and the sea. And by that, I mean through espionage, through misinformation, through propaganda, and not a better way for them to do it than to attack the vulnerable, which would be our youth.

“So that would be my concern with TikTok. It’s not only attacking Americans but specifically targeting our youth, who are so vulnerable. And we need to do something that could curtail it.”