This Is What Human Trafficking in the Form of Ramon Ontiveros Looks Like

Abstract: This Is What Human Trafficking in the Form of Ramon Ontiveros Looks Like advances a dual-accountability framework for understanding contemporary human trafficking and labor exploitation by holding personal responsibility and structural responsibility simultaneously, without allowing either to negate the other. It argues that Ramon Ontiveros is directly accountable for leveraging hunger, exploiting dependency, benefiting from institutional delay, and participating in coercive practices that deprived an immigrant worker of basic needs and autonomy. These actions are named as deliberate choices, not misunderstandings or accidents. At the same time, Samuel Martínez Roque demonstrates that such exploitation was made viable by a State-constructed environment characterized by immigration precarity, weak labor enforcement, bureaucratic delay, and the normalization of deprivation as “process.” These conditions do not excuse individual wrongdoing; they enable it. Ramon Ontiveros did not invent the system that allowed exploitation to persist, but he understood how it functioned and acted competently within it to extract labor, silence, and compliance while minimizing risk.Keywords: Human Trafficking, Labor Exploitation, Wage Theft, Forced Starvation, Deprivation of Basic Needs, Immigrant Labor Exploitation, Retaliation, Harassment, Sex Trafficking, Intimidation, Consent Under Coercion, Abuse of Legal Process, State Complicity, Ramon Ontiveros, Alex Armengol, Dacia Ontiveros Medina, Ramon Ontiveros Baylon, Dacia Medina, El Paso Texas, Martínez Roque vs USADeclaration of InterestThe author is a survivor of human trafficking. This submission constitutes a contemporaneous personal testimony and political essay grounded in lived experience and independent research. Due to credible threats to the author’s life, this document is submitted in part to ensure the existence of a recorded account in the event of harm or other adverse circumstances. The author declares no financial, professional, or personal relationships that could be construed as influencing the content of this work.Ethics ApprovalThis work is based on first-person survivor testimony and reflective analysis of lived experience. Formal ethics committee approval was not sought, as the submission does not involve human subjects research beyond the author’s own experiences and is intended as a contemporaneous personal record. Reasonable measures have been taken to protect the identities and privacy of any third parties referenced.Funder StatementThis work was conducted independently. No external funding, institutional support, or financial assistance was received from any organization or individual.Suggested Citation:Martínez Roque, Samuel, This Is What Human Trafficking in the Form of Ramon Ontiveros Looks Like (December 2, 2025). Published on March 10, 2026. Available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19138040