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Yoirlan Tome-Rojas, a 46-year-old illegal Cuban immigrant, pleaded guilty on Wednesday before a federal court in the Western District of Texas to three charges of human trafficking for labor exploitation, after arranging the clandestine transport of three Cuban women to the United States and forcing them to work in adult entertainment clubs across several states in the country.
According to a statement from the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas, Tome-Rojas paid for flights, drivers, hotels, and the traffickers who illegally crossed the women over the border between Mexico and the United States, later charging each one a travel debt of up to $50,000.
Once in U.S. territory, the victims were forced to work seven days a week in strip clubs.
Tome-Rojas transported them to Indiana, Detroit (Michigan), and San Antonio (Texas) to work in various establishments, and he demanded that they hand over all of their earnings.
The control mechanism was debt servitude. "He constantly added to the women's travel debts the costs of food, clothing, accommodation, transportation, and others," according to the prosecution.
Women were forbidden to leave or abandon their work until they paid off their respective debts, a condition that was practically impossible to fulfill.
Two of the victims were in the custody of Tome-Rojas for approximately three months, and during that time, they only managed to pay about $1,000 of their debt.
"Throughout the entire time they were victims of abuse, the women feared for their safety and that of their families in Cuba," stated the Prosecutor's Office.
The case was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the San Antonio Police Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Alicia McNab and Karina O'Daniel.
This case is not isolated. In July 2023, three Cubans were sentenced in Houston for secretly bringing Cuban women and forcing them to work in local clubs with debts of up to $30,000. Rasiel Gutiérrez Moreno received 210 months in prison and was ordered to pay $451,298 in restitution.
In April 2025, another Cuban was sentenced to nine years in prison in the same Western District of Texas for conspiracy to traffic persons and sexual assault against an immigrant in El Paso.
Organizations such as the U.S. State Department have indicated that irregular migration and reliance on traffickers exponentially increase the risk of exploitation for Cuban women migrants.
Each of the three charges to which Tome-Rojas pleaded guilty carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000. A federal judge will determine the final sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other legal factors.
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