Mildred Ramos testifies on youth trafficking and systemic failures
Ramos describes being abducted and trafficked as a 16-year-old, ACS and OCFS failures, and decades of trauma and instability. She demands extradition and prosecution, independent oversight with paid survivor seats, cross-border tracking, first-responder CNS training, and housing and economic support.
Good afternoon, Chair, members of the Committee on Women and Gender Equity.
My name is Mildred Ramos.
I'm an executive leader in nonprofit operations and human services.
Coming forward today as a survivor and independent advocate to address systemic gaps in survivor protection and youth human trafficking oversight.
Proof that lived experience must lead policy.
In 1987, as a 16-year-old girl, I was abducted in Washington Heights, forced into two separate apartments inside the building,
physically attacked, beaten, and lost consciousness several times while being subjected to severe sexual violence
by an adult Dominican man, an adult Jamaican man, a Colombian boy, and a group of diverse boys forced to participate under their direction.
I was examined at North Central Bronx Hospital and reported the crime to the 46th Precinct.
Despite formal records, New York City ACS and New York State OCFS failed to act.
Case stalling permitted me to be trafficked to Arecibo, Puerto Rico, without legal advocacy, tracking, or state care, housed solely by a minor friend.
Unaddressed catastrophic trauma permanently damaged my central nervous system, causing late-onset fibromyalgia with somatic pain.
Rather than protection, I faced decades of institutional law.
Systemic blackballing has left me completely without an income for six years.
During a recent Newark emergency, first responders misidentified my trauma as noncompliance.
I was forced into a hospital, an experience that deeply re-traumatized me.
The second time I was forced to go, I do not recall everything that happened.
I remember walking in, being put on an IV, and later waking up to speak with a doctor on a screen.
I was discharged alone to spend Thanksgiving dinner isolated in my home, ultimately resulting in the total loss of my family home and stability.
In Puerto Rico,
One-third of the population lives with fibromyalgia, as reported by El Diario de Puerto Rico, amid severe medical shortages.
And I deeply worry that the people living there will face even worse conditions than what I have endured.
These are the untold stories of Puerto Rico.
Where our children are sold into modern-day slavery and our people left without health care, while traffickers accelerate gentrification and politicians are silenced by corruption.
I demand five immediate actions.
Extradition and prosecution.
Locate, extradite, and prosecute my abusers.
Closing jurisdictional loopholes.
Independent Oversight Commission.
Establish a multi-agency body with permanent paid seats for survivors with lived experience.
Mandatory cross-border tracking.
Link New York City ACS, New York State.
OCFS, Newark GCPMP, and Puerto Rico Departamento de la Familia.
First responder CNS training requires citywide training on central nervous system trauma so somatic pain is met with stabilization, not forced hospitalization or hostility.
Housing and economic support.
Eliminate administrative barriers to guarantee housing stability and economic recovery pathways.
Without survivors leading oversight, institutions use blackballing and lawfare to protect themselves while perpetrators walk free.
Establish this commission, open doors for housing and recovery, and extradite my abusers.
Thank you for allowing me to testify today.