What is Human Trafficking? 

When one hears the words ‘human trafficking,’ people often think of criminal organizations selling and shipping women and children out of the U.S. Although we are not wrong in thinking the previous thought is true, sadly that is just part of a much larger picture. According to The State.gov Policy Issues for Human Trafficking, trafficking in persons and modern slavery are umbrella terms that are used to refer to both sex trafficking and compelled labor. 

In the article What is Modern Slavery we get a more in-depth look at exactly what falls under the umbrella of human trafficking as a whole, such as the following: 

Sex Trafficking- When a person is misled, forced, and/or threatened to engage in prostitution.  Child Sex Trafficking- When anyone under the age of 18 is baited and forced to perform a commercial sex act. Forced Labor-The use of physical and psychological threats, dishonesty, and/or abuse of the legal process (migrants are targeted) to force people to work.  Bonded Labor or Debt Bondage-The debt of a family member imposed on a person or the exploitation of an initial debt a person incurred Domestic Servitude-When a domestic worker (housekeeper, nanny, cook, and etc.) is not allowed to leave, not given a day off, is abused, not paid minimum wage and/or not paid at all.  Forced Child Labor-Forced labor of children in the custody of non-family members for the financial benefit of persons outside of the children's families. Unlawful Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers-Children recruited by force, deception, or coercion to be soldiers, porters, cooks, messengers or spies. Both boy and girl soldiers are sexually abused by the perpetrators (rebel groups, paramilitary organizations, and some government armed forces). 

The above list breaks down the different areas of trafficking and what it in-tells. 

Traffickers Lure Unsuspecting Victims into a Life of Modern Slavery 

Homeless girl standing against a wallPhoto by Eric Ward on Unsplash

In episode 2 we talked about the face of homelessness in America. Sadly, among those persons are a large number of youths. There are a number of reasons those young people find themselves on the street. Some run away from abuse in the home or foster care placements. Whereas others are forced out onto the street because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or both.

Innocence Bound in Chains Photo by Alexander Krivitskiy on Unsplash

Quite often those young people are targeted by human traffickers camped outside of homeless shelters. The traffickers lure the teens by offering food, shelter, and a job; then they are indebted and trapped into a life of slavery; when all they wanted was to have a meal, rest in a safe place, and make some money to live.

According to the June 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report in the U.S., a large number of child sex trafficking victims were in the foster care system at one time or another. Another method some traffickers often use is to place ads (modeling, dating, or acting) in the newspaper, magazines, and online--to lure innocent victims, such as in the case of two men in Miami.

In the NationalReview.com article, the men lured 50 women over a five-year span into sex trafficking by offering modeling jobs. Those young women obviously wanted careers in modeling but they were deceived. The women were drugged and raped. The criminals filmed the rapes and sold the videos to porn stores all over the country as well as the internet. The men were later charged for the crimes.  

In the Fortune.com article, Human Trafficking Is an Epidemic in the U.S.