Schools in the northeast (and as far south as NJ) start school the last week in August…usually the full week before Labor Day. So…at least three more weeks of summer break in most cases. @jym626
Talked to Homeland Security. Agent 145 said they had her file. That’s it!
Probably best to pack up her belongings and get them back to the local rep from this agency. Does this girl have a key to your home?
“Talked to Homeland Security. Agent 145 said they had her file. That’s it!”
I am not surprised at all. 
It is a sad reality that a person can simply vanish without a trace. Homeland Security has bigger issues, so people like this young lady just fall through the cracks. If this is an abduction case, I hope she has a family that can be notified and that cares to get her back. Sorry you got this on your plate in addition to what you had been dealing with!
Second what jym said.
Truly, this is an unbelievable situation.
If she does have a key, I think you should change the lock.
I wonder if the French girl has told her parents. Can you imagine getting THAT email? 
@Consolation I can’t even imagine. My kid would be out of there so fast just on principle. Rather than try and figure out what the hell is going on, I’d just pull her to be safe.
Yes, me too. Without question. I’m surprised she’s still there.
Me too! Not to show that I have zero confidence in the host, but because I would have zero confidence in the program.
I’m not sure which agency would be conducting the missing person / potential criminal investigation into whether the girl is safe or a victim of a crime, but it would not necessarily be Homeland Security.
In any event, I don’t think we should expect that OP will be provided with any information about any ongoing investigation as a matter of course. Unfortunately for us.
I would hope they would let OP know if it is determined that the girl has NOT been the victim of a crime, but I’m not even sure that would happen. I hope for OP’s sake that she is provided with any happy news.
Maybe the fact that a Chinese private investigator has not appeared on OP’s doorstep is a good sign – maybe the parents have been in contact with the girl and have determined she is safe.
Or maybe the parents were in on it.
Right. And we don’t know what the “it” was that the parents may have been in on – a scheme to evade the US immigration laws that doesn’t put the daughter in danger, or a criminal scheme beyond the potential immigration law violations that does endanger the girl.
At this point, I’m really hoping it was the first – an immigration law violation engaged in volitionally by the girl with the parents’ knowledge and consent, aided and abetted by law-breaking but benevolent adult co-conspirators here in the states who are committed to providing adequate care and protection. Not great from an immigration law perspective, but infinitely better than all of the alternative parades of horribles. We likely will never know.
Fauxmaven, sending good wishes your way. Hope you are doing okay.
Hoping that however this young girl gets settled she isn’t being exploited. I really hope the parents are in on it, because there are so many other folks who might want to meet up with a beautiful young girl.
I just hope the missing student is safe.
The part I don’t get is why she would leave all her belongs.
Hoping that however this young girl gets settled she isn’t being exploited. I really hope the parents are in on it, because there are so many other folks who might want to meet up with a beautiful young girl.
That’s why I am worried about- why can’t these people find a LEGAL Asian citizen!
As of yesterday, there was nothing in the news about this missing student (haven’t checked today). Is there no media coverage? I see other missing exchange students have made the news at other times.
CTTC, there will be no media coverage, unless the family makes a plea to the media or there is some other reason for the media to get interested. It is a sad reality that a person can disappear like a needle in a haystack despite an official investigation. There aren’t enough resources. Unless a private party gets involved, many cases simply go cold, even in the US.
Trafficking, illegal immigration, child labor (TIP) are much bigger ills than what an average citizen knows about them. It is a huge worldwide problem.
As far as not finding a citizen girl, traffickers prefer illegals, because these people have no voice and in most countries, illegals have no rights.
(A personal anecdote. My kid was terrified when someone mistaken her on a social media site for a native of the country where she is stationed now… She was showered with promises of “big Euros” and a lucrative “modeling job.” She cut off that account after telling them that she was a US citizen and that what they do is highly illegal. There was no way that activity would be investigated by anyone, so reporting it to the appropriate authority there would have been futile.)
Doesn’t seem to be any interest. My French student said no mention of it at the program!
If I were a victim of human trafficking or the parents of a victim, I would be surprised to learn that no news stories reported on the disappearance. What if this girl is still in the state and is waiting to be found? The fact that her belongings were left behind makes this story more concerning.
FM. Contact the sponsoring agency…and return the girl’s belongings to them ASAP.