Economic vulnerability of recent Latino immigrants and its impact on sexual solicitation at day laborer employment sites

There is limited understanding of the complicated circumstances that impact the sexual health of immigrant Latino day laborers, including transactional sexual solicitation by men and day laborers’ acceptance of these solicitations in job recruitment sites.  To explore sexual solicitation in open air job recruitment markets, focus groups were conducted in Baltimore City (a new immigrant receiving community) with recent immigrant Latino day laborers (in the U.S. < 10 years).  Eight focus groups (N = 59) were conducted between June and August 2012.  Focus groups were audio-recorded, and transcripts were analyzed through a modified thematic constant comparison approach. One third of the men (30.5%) reported being offered money at an open air market by another man in exchange for sex, and solicitors were identified as representing diverse races/ethnicities. Participants described acceptance of sexual solicitations for pay as influenced by their economic vulnerabilities in the U.S., specifically experiences with worksite discrimination, wage fraud, and robbery.  HIV/STI risk was not perceived to be associated with these interactions, although they are likely risky given the high prevalence of HIV among men who have sex with men in Baltimore, and thus solicitors may serve as a bridge to introduce HIV into a largely closed sexual network.  Individual and structural interventions are needed to reduce HIV transmission and stem the economic vulnerabilities that place undocumented day laborers at risk for negative sexual health outcomes.