Human Trafficking

What is it?

Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world and the second largest behind the drug trade.¹ Commonly referred to as the modern day slavery trade, the victims of human trafficking are exploited for a myriad of purposes, including forced labor, prostitution, and pornography.

Who is at risk?

Victims are often poor, uneducated, and from rural areas. These characteristics make them extremely susceptible to human traffickers who offer promises of better jobs and improved living conditions.

How are victims controlled?

Victims are subjected to violence and brutality from their captors, who force them sell their bodies and abilities for the benefit of their pimps and traffickers. They are often denied medical care and experience extreme forms of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.

Labor Trafficking

What is it?

A subset of human trafficking, labor trafficking represents forced servitude, a type of slavery in which victims are at the beck and call of their employer for years on end.

What do victims do?

They toil on farms and in sweatshops for little or no pay with only the slightest chance of escape. In the US, victims often also work as domestic servants.

Are children affected?

Yes. Children subjected to labor trafficking are forced to work from very young ages. They are required to labor for long hours without schooling or proper care.

Sex Trafficking

What is it?

Sex trafficking is a subset of human trafficking in which victims are forced into sex slavery and prostitution. They are generally promised a better life, but enslaved upon arrival and forced to perform myriad sexual acts.

Who are the victims?

Victims can come from outside the US or from your own town. They are often underage and are physically and emotionally abused by their controllers. The two primary ways in which traffickers control their victims are either manipulating them with violence or with drugs

Why is it a problem in the US?

In the United States, law enforcement and legislation often classify sex workers as criminals, rather than victims. Consequently it is very difficult for victims to report their situation, making the fight to eradicate sex trafficking increasingly difficult.

Domestic Vs. International

Domestic trafficking occurs within the country and involves residents of the United States. Traffickers use fraud, coercion, and violence to obtain and control their victims and force them into a various forms of slavery. In the US, human trafficking incidents are most often classified as sex trafficking.

International trafficking refers to individuals that are trafficked across international borders, either coming into the United States or being transported abroad. Aliens are frequently smuggled into the US and forced into slavery in various cities across the country.