GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. -- It's something we're beginning to hear a lot more of: human sex trafficking of illegal immigrants. And, many times, the traffickers are illegal themselves.

In the latest case, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and FBI agents raided homes in three different Gwinnett County apartment complexes.

According to a federal criminal complaint, a confidential source contacted the FBI "about a group of Hispanic pimps operating in and around Atlanta". The pimps are alleged to use drivers to transport girls to various locations for prostitution. One of the drivers was actually the informant in this particular case; that driver disclosed the information upon learning one of the prostitutes was a relative.

At the Lakeview Estates apartments in Norcross, one of the ringleaders of the trafficking ring, Miguel Angel Rugerio, was arrested. Three young girls who had been forced into prostitution were removed from the home.

The federal criminal complaint said Miguel Rugerio and his brother, Saul Rugerio, brought young girls from Mexico to the United States on false promises of a better life. Once the girls arrived in Atlanta, they were told they had to sell their bodies to repay their debt for coming here.

And that is a typical scenario in what, according to ICE, is becoming a too-typical crime.

"We've always suspected the problem is larger than we know about," said Brock Nicholson, Deputy Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta division of ICE.  "Oftentimes, victims are very reluctant to come forward."

Also in the complaint, a female victim alleged that Saul Rugerio told her, "You have to pay for your crossing, [and] if you don't, your family will pay the consequences."

The girl told agents she worked seven days a week, and, according to the criminal complaint, "was forced to have sex with about 25 men a night during the week, and about 30 men per night on the weekends."

On July 7, federal agents broke up another ring, arresting five men and freeing at least ten women trapped in suburban homes in Norcross and Cartersville. Immigration officials say it happens everywhere and there are signs for residents to look for.

"A house in your neighborhood where men come to throughout the day and night and are there for short periods of time?" Nicholson said.  "That's suspicious."

ICE said they need the public's help because the girls are not likely to come to them even though they assure the girls they will not be deported if they do. They say the girls they see are as young as 13 and as old as their early 20s.

ICE said they need the public's help in stopping this sort of crime. The victims -- some as young as 13, some in their early 20s -- fear deportation and are unlikely to come forward, though an ICE representative told 11Alive that the girls will not be forced to leave the country.