Medrano, a naturalized U.S. citizen who emigrated from El Salvador in 1974, admitted that from October 2004 to January 2005 she harbored illegal Hondurans and employed them at her bars in Union City and Guttenberg. Ringleaders had forced them to work there to pay off smuggling debts that ranged up to $20,000, authorities said.

Luisa Medrano is the 10th defendant to plead guilty in connection with a smuggling ring that brought more than 20 young women and teenagers from small villages in Honduras with promises of employment as waitresses and then forced them to work at bars in Union City, New Jersey. Medrano owned the Hudson County bars where the young women were put to work: El Paisano Bar and Nightclub, at 509 22nd St., Union City; El Puerto de la Union I, at 6710 Bergenline Ave., Guttenberg; and El Puerto de la Union II, at 3806 Bergenline Ave., Union City.

Medrano also owned the three apartment buildings where the women were housed: 509 22nd St. and 2604 New York Ave., both in Union City, and 75 68th St. in Guttenberg. The women worked at the bars six days a week, from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., for $240 a week plus tips, and lived the apartments where they were virtually imprisoned. The women, including at least four juveniles who obtained false identification, would get the male patrons to buy beers for themselves and the women, and would dance with the patrons for $3 a dance.

After rescue, the women stated that they were beaten, their families had been threatened in Honduras, and they were subjected to forced abortions. Investigative efforts resulted in the rescue of nineteen Honduran females, six of whom were juveniles as young as 14 years of age.

The victims were relocated and received counselling, education and other services. Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, all qualify for special visas that allow them to stay in the country and become naturalized citizens.