I think it is complete bullshit propaganda that they did not come to do sex work.
Sex workers are much better at providing commercial sex transactions than non-sex workers. So they are the ones that get hired to do the work.
I think they knew what they were coming over for, and in fact jumped at the opportunity. They likely did sex work overseas in much worse conditions.
It is certainly not difficult to find an abundance of sex workers in Asia, and there living conditions are quite Spartan.
China and Asia are very male-oriented cultures with very libertine views towards sex. If you travel through China and Southeast Asia, you will see barbershops everywhere with many local girls. These girls will trim your hair, massage your back and give you a hand job or a blowjob for little money. Many times the girls sleep in back. They're in every town and city. The Chinese make sure they are not near cultural landmarks frequented by visitors.
A relatively more upscale version are KTV establishments where young, pretty girls are required to sing karaoke and drink with Asian men. The girls aren't required to go home with male guests, but often do. Again, many times they are living in a crowded living space on the premises. The more upscale KTV joints are in affluent cities and have the most beautiful girls. Smaller cities and towns will have a more simple version, but still will have a dozen or two cute, young girls.
In fact there are so many young girls available for hire in China, a woman in her late 20s and 30s doesn't have a lot of opportunity to make money in sex work. Thus the North American sex market can not only offer an Asian sex worker more money, it can extend her career by several years.
This is an area where many of us on this board have far more first-hand observations than some SJW reporter simply fed information from the police.
Now why would you force, extort or trick a woman to come to the U.S. and do something she doesn't want to do when there are literally tens of thousands that would volunteer?