Tieu Tran owned and managed a nail salon in Minnesota. She promised Vietnamese women high-paying jobs and legal immigration status if they came to work with her. In reality, she smuggled three Vietnamese women into the United States and charged them with a huge debt. She told one woman she could only work off the debt by working at her son’s restaurant. She forced her to work long hours without pay, manipulating debts to coerce the victim into staying. The victim did not speak English, was in the United States without legal status or any money, and feared financial harm to her family in Vietnam. Tran was found guilty of labor trafficking and sentenced to one year and one day in prison.
