Trafficking in persons is modern-day slavery, involving victims who are forced, defrauded or coerced into labor or sexual exploitation. Annually, about 600,000 to 800,000 people -- mostly women and children -- are trafficked across international borders worldwide which does not count millions trafficked within their own countries. Within the United States, the U.S. Department of State estimates that between 15,000 and 18,000 people are trafficked into the United States every year for the purposes of sexual and labor exploitation. Contrary to a common assumption, human trafficking is not just a problem in other countries. Cases of human trafficking have been reported in all 50 states, in Washington D.C., and in some U.S. territories. Victims of human trafficking can be children or adults, male or female, foreign nationals or U.S. citizens. Organized prostitution rings in the United States recruit, groom, and exploit countless American teenagers for commercial sexual exploitation (i.e., prostitution). An unknown number of U.S. citizens and legal residents are trafficked within the country primarily for sexual servitude and, to a lesser extent, forced labor.

Sex Trafficking:Victims can be found working in massage parlors, brothels, strip clubs, escort services, online.

Labor Trafficking: Victims can be found in domestic situations as nannies or maids, sweatshop factories, janitorial jobs, construction sites, farm work, restaurants, panhandling.

Sex traffickers target children because of their vulnerability and gullibility, as well as the market demand for young victims. The average age of entry into prostitution is 12 to 14 years old and traffickers are known to recruit at schools and after-school programs. Recruitment can take multiple forms, including: 1) kidnapping; 2) solicitation by other women or girls recruiting on behalf of the sex trafficker; and 3) the “loverboy” approach of appearing genuinely interested in a romantic relationship while gradually coercing the victim into prostitution.

Human trafficking is a multi-dimensional threat: it deprives people of their human rights and freedoms, it is a global health risk, and it fuels the growth of organized crime. After drug dealing, human trafficking is tied with the illegal arms trade as the second largest criminal industry in the world, and it is the fastest growing.

Human trafficking has a devastating impact on individual victims, who often suffer physical and emotional abuse, rape, threats against self and family, passport theft, and even death. And the impact of human trafficking goes beyond individual victims; it undermines the safety and security of all nations it touches.

WHO ARE THE VICTIMS?

Many victims in the U.S. do not speak English and are unable to communicate with service providers, police, or others who might be able to help them. They are often kept isolated and their activities are restricted to prevent them from seeking help. They are typically watched, escorted or guarded by traffickers or associates of traffickers and traffickers may “coach” victims to answer questions with a cover story about being wife, student or tourist. They may be confined to one room or small space to work, eat, and sleep. Victims comply and don’t seek help because of fear of what the trafficker will do to them or they may fear for the safety of their family in their home country. They may distrust health providers, the government and the police. They may not speak English and are unfamiliar with U.S. culture so they tend to believe what the trafficker tells them about what the government will do to them if found. They fear being jailed or deported and may be unaware that what is being done to them is a crime. They may not consider themselves victims or may blame themselves for their situations. They may even develop loyalties & positive feelings toward the trafficker as a coping method and may try to protect the trafficker from authorities. Sometimes victims do not know where they are, because traffickers frequently move them to escape detection.

Sue Kiley, M.S., LMHC; Clinical Director, The Women’s Center