across the globe for those living below the poverty line, america symbolizes the land of hope, of economic promise. for over 500,000 men, women, and children seeking to improve their lives, life in the u.s. feels like something else. >> i feel like a slave. i don't have money. i don't have a passport. i don't have anybody? >> forced into becoming

endentured -- >> see anyone as young as 7, as old as 75 years old. >> relying on the kindness of strangers to free them from captivity. >> this is something i would never expect here. >> open the door, sheriff's office! open the door. >> while they prey on vulnerable for profits. >> it's nothing but modern day slavery. >> msnbc presents "trafficked:slavery in america." today in the u.s. the invisible reach of human trafficking stretches from dusty enclafs of houston to california's most affluent suburbs. it is a growing menace, need for

cheap labor and underground sex. tonight msnbc returns to houston where one-third of all illegal immigrants enter the country. this time the human merchandise is different than what we last found here. not women from latin america but young women from asia trafficked and trapped into selling their bodies and dignity for cash. for those who find it hard to believe that sex slavery is alive and well in modern america, harris county's human trafficking task force invites nonbelievers to ride along in the day in the life. >> houston is a hub. >> federally funded task force from harris county, texas. >> we have a big problem in the houston area with a lot of spas popping up. >> case number 58147. >> the task force mission, root

out sex traffickers hiding behind spas. >> we're going into the vip spa. >> today's target one of the 500 massage parlors or spas who use women illegally trafficked from asia. >> this these are the advertisements they are advertising right here. they are talking about sexy asian girls, open seven days a week, 24 hours a day and they have expensive pictures. >> traffickers who own and operate the spas do little to hide the fact there's sex for sale. page for dozens of online sites and buyers can literally hand pick the type of girl they want, right down to her ethnicity and bra size. today's target is a place in the past federal officers have rescued trafficked women. after shutting it down, it's reopened under new ownership. this brings investigators back for another look. >> we'll be going out to this location to do a raid on the spa, get the girl, hopefully

interview other girls who may be there, take that information back as well as make the arrest. hopefully we can secure other evidence inside that business to indicate prostitution. >> the team heads out hoping to make a dent in a criminal operation that has proven especially difficult to stop. >> you knock one down and ten more pop up. >> seemingly in satiable demand for sex bringing cash to the industry, police face a never ending battle, one with high stakes and human cost. >> it's not a victimless crime. i don't know any female that woke up one day and said i'm going to be a prostitute today. they got talked into it and tricked into it by some pimp. some pimp is making money off the services of this poor girl. >> the crew rendezvous in an alley to suit up, hide their

faces with ski mask so spa workers don't recognize them when they come back to do undercover work. the task force will send in three undercover officers before hand. >> we're going to send undercover deputies in there posing as customers to confirm prostitution is occurring and we're going to do a raid shortly after. >> we've got surveillance units. we're going to send the first one in. >> as the takedown team gets into position, it quickly becomes clear that business is booming at vip. >> they have a a lot of u.s. cans going in. >> undercover don't want to raise suspicion of owners, so when it happens they are to pretend they are regular johns. >> move up to the back door. let me know when you're ready. >> after watching a civilian leave, officer x makes the call to move in.

>> follow in behind them. open the door! sheriff's office, open the door! >> go into the back. go into the back. >> officers sweep the massage parlor obtaining johns found in rooms. >> all the female employees, room number seven. >> officers coral three scantily clad women as they attempt to flee. >> she looks young. >> second ones. >> we'll get the id on these girls and find out where their stuff is at. >> young, scared and foreign. the women pretend they don't understand english. what they do not know is they have been secretly recorded speaking perfect english when they solicited officers for sex. >> where are you from? from korea? >> our producer happens to speak korean and confirms the young women are here illegally.

>> we have an id now. >> how old do they say they are? >> 30. >> 30. >> okay. uh-huh. this one. >> 31. >> there's no way she's 31 years old, ma'am. there's no way. >> how long have they been here? >> i don't know. >> the three working girls keep their heads down and let the older woman, who police suspect is the brothel manager do all the talking. >> are you the mama san? the woman persistently denies being in a position of authority and plays dumb. what we usually find is clorox bottles. >> coming up investigators search and find physical evidence they need to make the prostitution case at vip. >> this is how they hide used condoms. >> that's a sure sign it's not

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harris county's human trafficking task force has carefully orchestrated a sting operation at this houston massage parlor, renowned for trafficking foreign women. police are now seeking to better understand how the korean women got there. >> how old are you? >> 27. >> 27? >> when initially questioned, all three women say they've only been in the country for a few days. as the team searches the facilities, all the telltale signs of trafficking reveal themselves. from the atm in the lobby to the cramped living space filled with mattresses and personal items. the investigators have no doubt the owner is exploiting the women by selling sex for cash. >> most of these businesses

soliciting prostitution have living quarters like this in them. as you can see, their beds here, their suitcase is there. they rarely, they don't even unpack. they keep their clothes in their suitcases. this is their home while they're here. >> officers say traffickers keep the women as virtual prisoners who must eat, sleep and work within these four walls, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. >> with surveillance monitors and a manager who controls their every move, the workers are expected to follow a strict protocol. >> this is what is known as your table shower where you pay for the services here, and they would strip you down, put you on there and do a complete table shower for you. and then usually you make a deal for the sex right there. sometimes in this room, sometimes in a different room. >> the reason they bring you here is separate their clients from their clothes so they can look for any type of listening device or check through their wallets to see if they have any money and if they're law enforcement or any kind.

>> make sure there's nothing in here. >> sometimes they hide the unwrapped condoms in these bath towels. we need to check through them just in case we need to use them as evidence. they are not individually wrapped. they buy them in bulk. they hide them in any household item you can imagine. that happened to be a coffee mate jar. that's easy to find. you open up the top, it looks like the coffee mate. it has a screw-in bottom, as you can see. >> how long have you been here? typically when we come in here, we try to interview the girls. they deny they can speak english. however, just 20 minutes ago or the day before i had ucs come in here and speak with them, have a

conversation english. it's very common to be uncooperative at first. >> this young woman says she's only been in houston for three days. >> only three days? >> at first when the mama san is watching, she refuses to talk, but once they're separated, she confides with the producer she doesn't want to do this type of work and wants to go back home to korea. >> does she have a passport? >> visa at home. >> green card. >> green card. >> are you a resident? >> yeah, green card. >> this woman insists she left her green card at home in california. she denies sellings sex for cash. but officers soon find evidence to the contrary. >> i found clorox bottles. i found used condoms inside. i opened it up to show you, this is how they hide used condoms. >> that's a sign that it's not just massage going on in here?

>> correct. >> when confronted with used condoms, we tried to get some straightforward answers. >> would it surprise you if i told you there was prostitution going on here? >> i don't know. >> would it surprise you, though, if i told you that? >> i don't know anything about it, so. >> and what about the condoms that we found? >> i don't know. >> they were in the laundry area in a clorox bottle. there was no bleach, just used condoms. >> i don't know. >> but you're doing the laundry, right? >> yeah. >> do you use the bleach? >> i do use the bleach. >> that's the bleach that you use? >> yes. >> there are people who say you're the person running this massage parlor. >> i don't know who say that. who say that? i don't know. >> msnbc learned that this self-proclaimed housekeeper is no stranger to police. in 2005, local and federal officers raided a california spa she owned where korean girls were selling sex for cash. young women just like these.

>> do you sleep here? >> this girl known as cherry approached two undercover officers today and will most likely be charged with prostitution. >> what's your name? how long have you been here? >> three day. >> thee days? >> yes. >> where did you come from? >> from l.a. >> l.a.? >> she says she's from korea, seoul. that's what she told me. she said she's been here for three days and she came from l.a. >> her immigration status will also have to be checked. >> does she have a green card? >> no, just a passport. she travels a lot. >> meanwhile, officers search her purse for the money the under covers gave her earlier today. >> two, four, six, eight, ten. >> $500, $600. >> officers find $907. >> ma'am, you're under arrest for prostitution. do you understand what i'm saying? >> the team has what they need

to charge her with prostitution. they hope that by booking her and interviewing her away from the mamasan, they may be able to learn valuable information about the criminal network behind massage parlors. and hopefully help her get out of the life. >> three girls working and a mama-san. one girl went to jail. the other girls we identified, they just arrived or said they have been here for a few days. >> while much of the federal funding goes to fighting sex traffickers, human rights advocates say there's a much more insidious kind of slavery that occurs behind closed doors. men, women and children as domestic servants or factory workers. >> i feel like a slave. i don't have money, i don't have my passport. and i don't have anybody. ve tim. it was different than the other times i tried to quit. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix varenicline is proven to help people quit smoking. it's a non-nicotine pill.

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okay...i'm ready to come in now. hello? i'm trying my best. seriously, i'm...i'm serious. request to come ashore. geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance. profits from sex trafficking have driven the proliferation of massage parlors in virtually every city in america. but experts say the trafficking

of men, women and children for labor is much more common. from indentured servitude in hotels, restaurants and factories, advocates say that modern day slavery is alive and well in even the most affluent of homes. for four long year, a family in suburban san francisco enslaved lily samat, a native of indonesia. >> i feel like a slave because i don't have money, i don't have a passport, i don't have anybody. p if i run away, i say, you know, maybe somebody will kill me. >> in 2002, the family hired lily, then 24 years old to be a nanny. they promised her a steady salary and a nice home. instead, lily says, the demanding diplomat, imprisoned her, abused her and forced her to work 20 hour days, seven days a week for no pay. and where did this modern day slavery take place? in one of the most upscale neighborhoods in the san

francisco bay area. >> i mean, this is something i would never expect here. it's just -- i think it's just preposterous. >> heidi lived just four doors down. shortly after the diplomat and his young family move in, heidi couldn't help but notice the frail junk girl wearing the same thre threadbare jogging suit every time she saw her. >> the thing that i noticed was she was washing the car every day. she washed this car from top to bottom every single day, whether it was raining or cold or warm. we thought what a strange thing. why would some young girl have to come out and wash the car every single day. >> lily said washing the car every day at 6:00 a.m. was only a fraction of her responsibilities. every day began with the feeding of the 7-year-old twins. her job included carrying

the diplomat's briefcase to and from the car and being available at all hours of the night to serve him. >> he would stay up light at night, still asking to make tea, like 1:00. so i don't know. it's like 24 hours. >> lily said her captors started controlling her right away from the moment she first arrived at their house in the middle east. she then was forced to travel with them to the u.s. there she says, they would lock her indoors whenever they left the house. >> and even if they are inside the house, they would lock the door and hide the key. >> the problem is huge. >> human trafficking attorney cindy lu says there are thousands of lilys hiding in plain sight in america. >> how do you count a population by its very nature and definition that's hidden from you. >> the organization asian

pacific islander legal outreach represents over 200 victims of forced labor trafficking in the san francisco area. but according to a 2004 report from the u.s. department of justice, an estimated 14 to 17,000 people are trafficked into the united states every year, making the crime as prevalent as homicide. put to work in popular restaurants, major hotel chains and factories, these silent victims, says lu, are the human cost of the low prices customers pay for food and services in big cities like san francisco. >> we' seen anyone as young as 7, anyone as old as 75 years old. men and women. we've also seen sex trafficking cases. but also a lot of labor cases so that involving domestic servitude, hotel restaurant work. >> and says liou, when they're wealthy foreigners or diplomats, they have little incentive to respect u.s. laws. >> exhausted and alone, lily

worked up the nerve to speak with someone. >> heidi who works out of her home would often see lily when she went to pick up the mail. >> once in a while, she would be there and she would see me standing there getting my mail. she would fly over and start talking to me. and she had this beaming expression on her face as if she was so happy to be talking to another human being. >> even though lily didn't initially convey any distress, heidi slowly began to have concerns about the welfare of the harried young woman. >> it was always clear to me she did not have much time to chat. she would say i have to go now, i must go. so she would run back, almost like she was afraid someone would see her. >> meanwhile, lily began to confide in heidi, one brief conversation at a time. heidi gradually pieced together the ugly and unrelenting reality of lily's daily life. >> she had to work from morning till night, midnight till 1:00 in the morning, 2:00 in the

morning, 18 hours of work, seven days a week. no holiday, no days off, no ability to go anywhere, visit her parents, nothing. and then after a while, she told me she was never paid. and i thought what a strange thing. >> for many, it's hard to understand why lily didn't just run away. but cindy liou says it's important to see the situation from lily's perspective. >> in the beginning, it doesn't register it's necessarily really fishy. they think oh, this is normal, this is what's expected. >> in fact, she had a good experience working as an international nanny. at 15, she left indonesia to live and work with a diplomat in saudi arabia. the family treated her well, paying for her vacation time, taking her with them to europe and teaching her arabic and french. so when she received an offer to work for another diplomat, she leaped at the chance. >> i'm so happy i heard

diplomat. i believe they are really nice people. >> but this family could not have been more different. after two years, lily finally persuaded her captors to send $1,000 home to her family. afraid and isolated, she didn't dare ask for more. >> no one wants to take a chance of putting their own family at risk or in danger. >> cindy says degradation and threats are powerful tools to control the situation. threats like -- >> we'll hurt your family, or maybe we'll report you to the authority and tell them that you're the one who's doing something wrong, you're here illegally and it's your fault. no one is going to believe you. >> after years of isolation and humiliation, lily was near her breaking point. she began to fear she would spend her whole life enslaved to the diplomat and his family. with no one to help her, she turned to the only friendly face she knew. >> someone knocked on the door, i opened the door and there was lily. >> i was crying.

i said, please help me. >> of course then i realized, what am i going to do with her? what can i do? >> coming up, the good neighbor helps lily find her freedom. ecie in keeping the denture clean. dentures are very different to real teeth. they're about 10 times softer and may have surface pores where bacteria can multiply. polident is designed to clean dentures daily. its unique micro-clean formula kills 99.99% of odor causing bacteria and helps dissolve stains, cleaning in a better way than brushing with toothpaste. that's why i recommend using polident. [ male announcer ] polident. cleaner, fresher, brighter every day. cozy or cool? "meow" or "woof"? exactly the way you want it ... until boom, it's bedtime! your mattress is a battleground of thwarted desire. enter the all-new sleep number classic series. designed to let couples sleep together in individualized comfort. starting at just $699.99 for a queen mattress. he's the softy. his sleep number setting is 35. you're the rock, at 60.

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all the latest episodes. all included with your service. it's like hi-fiving your eyeballs. xfinity...the future of awesome. i'm melissa rehberger, here is what's happening. three people dead after a shooting at a retirement home. a boy and a woman at the center of the retirement home. a man is in custody but hasn't been charged. the ntsb said there's no evidence the big rig that slammed into a big rig was on fire before the accident as some witnesses described. ten people were killed in that northern california crash. now back to msnbc undercover. after four years of living the life of a modern day slave in this pristine suburb in

california, lily had lost all hope, working up to 22 hours a day for a demanding diplomat and his family. lily said they made her work when she had debilitating fevers. penny less she lived a life of growing isolation and depression. >> she's my everything. >> back in indonesia, lily's husband andy had heard nothing from his wife for three long years. he feared that she was dead. because she don't have phone number, didn't give me a number. it's really hard. no communication with her. >> finally in 2006, lily reached a breaking point. the diplomat's wife who insisted lily wash the car, even in the rain, accused the obedient lily of shirking her duties. >> i cleaned the car inside and outside. everything.

she was telling me, why don't you clean the car? i told you every day you have to clean the car. i was really, really mad. i went upstairs to the bathroom. i said if i see heidi, i will pack my stuff and just leave. >> someone knocked at the door. i opened the door, and there was lily. >> i was crying. i said please help me. >> so i took her in. alarmed, she hid lily in the back of her car under a blanket and took her to the local police. the local police directed them to the fbi where she was identified as a victim of human trafficking. when lily's employer went to police asking them to find her, they refused, saying she had left voluntarily. panicked about being exposed, lily's former oppressor pressured the indonesian embassy to get her out of the u.s. >> the diplomat had run to the

indonesian consulate and said, i will pay her what i owe her here in the consulate on the condition that i see her ticket going back to indonesia and that she does not speak to anyone. so i thought, well, i don't think that's acceptable. that's basically a form of blackmail. >> if you're a diplomat and you do have diplomatic immunity, there's very little the u.s. government can do to prosecute you or get forms of recovery. >> human rights attorney said workers like lily suffer extreme abuse if they happen to be a diplomat because they are shielded from prosecution. either called diplomatic immunity. high-ranking diplomats who work inside the united states cannot be arrested or prosecuted for criminal activity. as incredible as it sounds, some

diplomats have gotten away with rape and murder in the united states. >> a lot of these diplomats are really powerful people in the country that they're from, and a lot of our clients still have family members in that country. unless you can secure the safety of those family members first, there's a lot of maneuvering to be done without just slapping down a criminal case immediately. >> reporter: unsure how to proceed, heidi and her family agreed to continue to hide lily with the diplomat just two doors down, heidi lived in constant fear of being discovered by a man they considered very dangerous, a man she knew could murder them and never face charges. >> i was very nervous. in fact, there were many nights that i lost a lot of sleep because i thought, oh, my heavens, what's going to happen? >> for months, they lived as if trapped in a surreal spy novel. lily stayed hidden in their upstairs bedroom for days at a time. occasionally heidi would sneak her out of the house. >> of course, i was frightened that they would see her.

so what i used to do is whenever we went from the kitchen to the garage, i would have a coat over myself and she would walk next to me, and we would kind of slowly march into the garage. once she was in the garage, she would be in the backseat and i would put the coat over here and i would put empty shopping bags on top. >> for six months, heidi protected lily while a lawyer friend attempted to recover the $6,000 in back wages lily had been promised. >> as a last resort, heidi wrote a strongly worded letter to the consulate at the embassy where the diplomat worked. >> when i sent this letter to the consul general, i said, a group of concerned citizens would like for you to please take care of this because we do not want this to go into an international incident or to get into the papers or anything like this. >> nine months after fleeing

her captor, lily finally received the $6,000, as promised in her original contract. and what was the final cost per hour for her three years of labor? about 23 cents an hour. in 2009, lily was finally reunited with her husband andy and had a baby girl in october later that year. >> she's a great woman. >> she support me to get better in life and everything. >> she's really everything for me. because without her, i don't know how to do. she's really understand me, and she is really -- i mean, she is everything. >> hello, suchi. how are you? beautiful baby.

>> today, lily is in the u.s. on a legal visa, and works as a nanny in san francisco. >> my life now is very happy, and i have my baby and my husband also, he is here. you know, so it's -- now it's really happy that my life has really changed. >> it's not forever. >> no, only four years. >> while lily's story of modern day slavery was resolved happy, cindy says lily represents a tiny fraction of those who silently suffer. liou says for every lily, there are hundreds of other workers trapped in servitude and sex slavely in the u.s. who aren't empowered enough to run and seek help. >> a big problem for a lot of our clients, if you are residing in the country where you feel like the laws don't apply to you and can't protect you, you're never going to feel safe. >> hello, inspections. please open the door. >> police. >> coming up, san francisco's health department cracks down on human trafficking in the city by the bay.

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since 2004, san francisco's health department has been in the business of putting sex traffickers, particular whether i those running illegal massage parlors out of business. one of its lead investigators is ed walsh. >> initially, i was kind of naive to some of the stuff that goes on. i've never been to a massage parlor as a customer or anything like that. i knew there was sex going on, but i didn't know how it worked. >> walsh got a quick indelible lesson about six years ago. >> hello, inspections. let me take a look over here. when we first took over the program, i went into a facility where there were women sitting on towels on couches.

and when i went in to check their id's i asked why they were sitting on towels. i asked them why they were sitting on towels. i asked them to get up. when they stood up, there was blood on the towels. they were bleeding from their rectum or their vagina. the first time i ever saw something like that, it just blew me away. i couldn't believe it. >> dr. johnson ojo heads up the mayor's human task force. >> the task force has been very, very effective in reducing the number of illegal massage establishments in san francisco. >> come out here, please. thank you. we issued about 500 citations. >> can i see your id, please. >> fines to the tune of, $500,000, and we closed about 40 to 50 establishments. today we are going to be going out for a joint inspection. >> today, the health department is backed up by inspectors from the fire department, building and code enforcement, as well as

the city attorney. they are working together to help build case against human traffickers and establishments running illegal prostitution parlors. >> that girl that was there, that was the one that solicited a police officer? >> in fact, the task force has been so successful that many of the downtown operators have scattered, choosing instead to hide behind phony fronts inside the city's quiet residential neighborhoods. >> what we do with this one, if we go late enough at night, there's a salon in front. and the salon is just for hair cutting. he closes at 6:00. so when all the lights get turned off, they're in the back. hello, hi. inspectors, please open the door. >> police. >> hi. >> police department. >> do you want to put a towel on that customer there. >> my focus initially is on the masseuse. i need to id her and find out if she has a license.

>> in the room next door, another customer is stunned when the lights come on and then even more shocked to see our cameras. when the inspectors try to identify the masseuse, the massage parlor manager plays dumb. >> i don't know. >> you speak mandarin. >> yeah. >> you can tell her i want her to give me id. >> she not work. >> she was in the room with the customer. >> yeah, and the customer had no clothes on. >> oh. >> there was an online it says practitioner was in that room providing massage to client. we all saw it, but when we ask her for her name, she won't tell us. when we ask for id, she will not provide it. >> let's get the customer to talk.

excuse me, sir, do you speak mandarin? can you come here for a second. we want her to show us an id. [ speaking foreign language ] >> she forgot it. >> she has no id with her right now? >> do you have id? >> good luck cards? phone number? >> you have a lot of money in here. wow. no id, though. >> when an immigrant does not have any identification on themselves, those are indication that somebody is in charge of her day to day movement. and that there's a likelihood that that person has been trafficked. >> you ploy the services of online practitioner. because of that, i'm going to issue a citation. >> she was working, she was in there. please. don't argue with me. don't argue with me. i went in there with a police officer and myself. the man has no clothes on, she's standing over him.

okay? there's no argument there. >> the massage parlor is cited and closed down for the night. >> so you're going home. >> okay. >> early today. >> and inspectors move on down the line to another trouble spot. >> supposedly a john in here. saw somebody walk in. yeah. >> as soon as we walked in, this one masseuse got very, very nervous. >> how are you? >> good. >> we went right into the rooms and we saw this gentleman on the table getting ready for a massage. >> hi, sir. are you dresed? why don't you get dressed. >> who has a permit here. who's working right now? >> this is a customer. she knew she didn't have a permit. but the person in the room was just here to order food. >> one customer inside. >> you give him massage? >> no. i take him inside the room.

he waiting for one person, few minutes to come -- >> come from where? >> pack the food. the dinner. >> the person came here to order food? that was the excuse she used. i was like i don't think so. >> inspectors then notice something very strange. the woman is wearing an ear piece and taking instructions over the phone. >> my owner call, he's coming. >> so she's talking to the owner right now. they are getting high-tech on us. >> it's beautiful nonsense. >> with all the commotion and the presence of our cameras, it seems the customer has lost his appetite. >> my inspector is going to issue you a citation because you are running without a license. as we leave her today, i want you to close your doors. you are closed. >> i'm sorry, i not understand. >> you understand? you are closed. no business.

>> nobody has a license here. you have to have a license. you have to have a license. you have to close now. everybody is ready to go, right? let's go. our message is you have to follow the law. that's why we're out here tonight. can i see your massage id? if you do massage, if you hire massage practitioners, you have to have licenses. >> you lose your id? you lose it? >> yeah, it's here. i don't know who takes my id. >> not going to tolerate anybody using his or her massage establishments as front for prostitution or human trafficking. >> we are here to serve the order. >> after a two-year battle, inspectors finally pull the plug on one of san francisco's most notorious massage parlors. >> you're supposed to close effective 5:00 p.m. today. that collisions with wildlife on the road may not be covered? and that you could be liable for any accidents on your property?

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>> it's 3:45 in downtown san francisco, and while most city workers are close to ending their work day, health inspector ed walsh is just gearing up for a much anticipated takedown. >> today we're going to sunflower spa. >> come on out, health department. >> it's the end of a five-year cat and mouse game between city investigators and proprietors of sunflower health spa, a massage parlor offering sex for cash right in the shadow of city hall. >> who is the manager? >> over the last several years with msnbc in tow, in raid after raid, this massage parlor has been cited for numerous violations, where the evidence of sex for sale is obvious. >> this is a house of prostitution. if you're just here for a massage, they don't want you there for a massage. they want the money for the extra service. >> built like a prison fortress with cameras for a two block

radius, they keep watch on video monitors inside. >> that's so the owner has security over the girls, so they can't leave the facility. they know if they're coming and going. >> year after year, authorities including the fbi receive reports of young foreign women being coerced into selling sex for cash at sunflower. >> there were so many signs of trafficking. there were living quarters found in this space. holes in the walls where women working, so to speak, as massage practitioners were hiding because they didn't have licenses. >> sunflower's biggest achievement over the years was building hiding places to hide women. the first was discovered behind a false wall in 2006. >> what is this? >> this is where they were sleeping previously. >> this was a room with a lot of mattresses. personal belongings, shoes, there could be about 8 to 10 people sleeping in that unapproved room. >> after multiple fines, sunflower finally walled up that

illegal living space, but two inspections later, the task force found yet another concealed room. >> this is a mirror on the wall. when you open it, you discover there's a hole there. inside there, there's a very tight space. come out. >> the investigation of sunflower went through the looking glass when inspectors found women crammed into a cubby hole behind this wall. >> stay right there. >> this is probably one of the most blatant in the whole list of massage parlors in san francisco. where they just disregard the law and they do not want to comply with the law. they don't care. >> over the year, sunflower spared no legal expense battling the health department and managed to stay open. >> i don't think they were in violation.

>> sunflower was able to hire the best attorneys to refute all our allegations, all our evidence. it took five years to build a big enough case where we thought we could revoke the permit. and every time we had one of these hearings, they provided the best defense they could with the attorneys that they were able to afford. >> but on this day, after numerous appeals, a judge gives the san francisco health department the ruling they always sought. >> ready to go sir? >> for ed walsh, the decision was a long sought victory and validation. >> are you ready? >> oh, yeah, this is it. this is great. they know it's going to happen. because they've been through the process. the final appeal to rehear the case, the board of appeals, they got denied. so they know that we're getting ready to close them. >> when the inspectors descend upon sunflower, they find the proprietor reluctant to answer the doorbell. >> unable to gain entry by way of the front door, inspector walsh goes around back. >> and as i approached the

backdoor, the gentleman who was walking up the stairs here. >> how are you doing, man? >> good, how are you? >> are you coming out this way? would you open it, please? thank you. >> he had his shoes in his hands. he's barefooted, walking out of the premises. >> san francisco police, can you open the door, please? >> with walsh now inside, sunflower has no choice but to open up for inspection. >> is there anybody else here today besides you? no girls? no? >> i sold everything. i'm done. >> after a quick search of the premises -- >> you have immigrant girls, there's always going to be little trap door, hiding places. >> including all of the favorite hiding spots. >> there were girls hiding here the last time. there's still shoes here, though. but the hole has been sealed up. >> investigators conclude the massage parlor is deserted. >> we are here to serve the

order indicating that your license has been revoked. >> yeah, but i already sold everything in here for the new person and they do a different type of business. i suppose to be out now, take all my stuff so they can come in and do their own business. >> how are you doing, man? >> when asked about the barefoot man who scrambled out the back door, she told the investigator it was her boyfriend. >> when the guy was going out with his shoes in his hand, probably a lot of activities in that location. >> okay, i posted the sign on the front door saying your permit has been revoked. do not remove it. you're supposed to close effective 5:00 p.m. today. no customers. no massage activities. okay? >> thank you. >> thank you. >> i think in the 21st century, no one should tolerate anybody being used as a sex slave.

i will say it to people listening out there that human trafficking is real, and all they need to do is just take one step back. and ask themselves, would they want their daughters to be in that kind of situation? and those that have the ability to stop this should do everything they can to stop this. >> for now, the problem of human trafficking in america is a growing one, and the battlefield is a growing one, involving tens of thousands of victims, many scarred for life. some lost, others dead. each day, law enforcement is winning small victories, closing down the sunflower massage parlor, and the legal battle to win lily's freedom from human servitude. it is victories like these that will help win the war against human trafficking.

on the streets of detroit and throughout michigan, hard times are leading to hard choices for a growing number of young women caught up in the underground sex trade. >> domestic trafficking in the state of michigan is a huge problem. >> police! coming in. >> we've seen cases involving 12- and 13-year-olds in small towns. we've seen cases involving young girls in the big cities here. they are modern-day slaves, on the streets all around us. >> out of work and out of options, more and more are turning to the oldest profession in a desperate bid to make ends meet. >> and why are you guys out doing this?