BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — The Kern County Sheriff's Office is reporting that there has been a change in the previously reported story about 16 people held against their will in an east Bakersfield home. According to KCSO, the case which had originally been framed as a human trafficking case is more likely a case of migrant smuggling instead.
"Sometimes, when they come from another country, there's a little bit more intricacy in the process, so we do have other agencies that we work with that specialize in this type of undocumented support," said Open Door Network CEO Lauren Skidmore.
Open Door Network (formerly the Bakersfield Homeless Center) is one of the organizations that responded to provide resources to the migrants after they were rescued from locations in both the 600 block of Haley Street and the 500 block of Sloan Lane in Bakersfield.
"Any law enforcement agency will reach out to us to provide victim support services, so in this case, the sheriff's department reached out to us," said Skidmore. "We were able to be there within a few minutes of identifying that there were victims a part of this situation."
KCSO received reports of a man knocking on doors in the 8300 block of Cha Cha Court asking for help and saying he had escaped from a house where he and others were being held against their will after being smuggled into the United States from Mexico.
The District Attorney's office says the case has now revealed that the evidence they've gathered suggests the 16 victims they recovered had agreed to be brought from Mexico into the U.S.
Residents of the neighborhood who spoke with 23ABC said they also believed this was likely the case.
Skidmore says the Open Door Network has reached out to the agencies they regularly work with when it comes to providing resources to undocumented individuals.
"We've already reached out to them and we'll be working with them to see if we need to reunify them back to their home country or if they have family here or what additional services are needed," said Skidmore.
Skidmore also affirms that Open Door helps anyone who needs help regardless of citizenship status.
"[A]ll of our services are confidential, which means documented or not, we can support them and we will not engage any agencies that they are not interested in engaging," said Skidmore.
The DA's office says they now believe this is a case for federal authorities to investigate and are taking steps to have the case officially transferred into federal jurisdiction.
