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DEVELOPMENTS
Many people in the U.S. have still not heard of human trafficking, despite it being the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world. Those who are aware of it often still see it as a problem that happens only in far away Southeast Asian countries. The reality is that human trafficking occurs in virtually every country in the world, including in the U.S. In the Americas, like other parts of the world, the rich countries in the north (like the U.S.) act as “destination” countries that provide the demand for services provided by trafficking victims, while poorer countries to the south serve as “source” countries, which provide the victims. Within the U.S., human trafficking has been reported in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with the majority of trafficking victims who are brought into the U.S. coming from Mexico.
Just this week, a New Jersey woman was convicted of human trafficking for tricking young women and girls from Africa into coming to the U.S. based on promises of work opportunities and then confiscating their visas and forcing them to work in hair braiding salons without pay. Also recently, the FBI has been combating trafficking schemes along the east coast, including in Charlotte and D.C., in which teenage immigrants from Mexico are being forced into prostitution, including underage girls who have been forced to have sex with as many as 100 clients per week.
Unfortunately, while startling, these stories are not at all unique in the U.S. An estimated 17,500 people are trafficked from other countries into the U.S. each year, according to the State Department’s recently released 2009 annual report on Trafficking in Persons.
BACKGROUND
Human trafficking is defined in U.S. law by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act as using force, fraud, or coercion to induce another person to commit a commercial sex act or to subject the person to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery. Essentially, human trafficking involves forcing or tricking another person in order to exploit them for profit, most often as a servant, slave, or prostitute.
Human trafficking should not be confused with human smuggling. With smuggling, the person being smuggled has not necessarily been tricked, forced, or coerced, but has asked to be smuggled from one place to another or from one country to another. However, people being smuggled are often at the mercy of their smugglers once transported and therefore are vulnerable to being trafficked against their will.
One challenge to combating human trafficking is that many people have a difficult time believing that people who are trafficked are actually unwilling victims of a crime. It is easier to see the victims as criminals engaged in prostitution or as illegal immigrants who are guilty of a crime. It can be difficult to see how someone can come to be living and working in the U.S. against his or her will because it is hard to imagine, without knowing how trafficking works, how a person could end up in such a situation or why the person cannot somehow get out of it.
To understand how trafficking happens and why it is so difficult for victims to leave the situation once in it, one must understand that traffickers are often skilled professionals who target the weak and who use ploys, ruses, and false promises to gain the trust and confidence of their victims. Often, after befriending the victim, the trafficker tells him or her about a job as a nanny, housekeeper, or some other opportunity for economic advancement. People living in poverty or who have few opportunities are targeted for these schemes.
Once in the U.S., the victim may not know the language, where he or she is located, what immigration laws he or she may have knowingly or unknowingly violated, and is often completely dependent on the trafficker for food and shelter. The trafficker can then easily control victims using threats, force, or coercion and restricting the victim’s access to the outside world. A commonly used threat is that the trafficker will beat the victim, have them deported, or will bring harm to the victim’s family.
Why are criminals willing to go to such lengths to traffic other human beings? The answer is simple. Human trafficking is one of the most lucrative criminal activities in the world. The practice generates nearly 10 billion dollars a year. With minimal risk of detection and prosecution involved, the incentive to engage in such low-risk, high-profit schemes is strong. As one might imagine, the current global financial crisis is likely to exacerbate the problem. When people are unable to find work, they become more vulnerable to the schemes of traffickers. This is particularly true when social safety nets, both governmental and private, have strapped resources as a result of the downturn in the economy and therefore are unable to help those in need. Additionally, when businesses struggle to make a profit, the demand for cheap or free labor increases and therefore so does the demand for the services that human trafficking can provide. And, for some who may not have considered engaging in the trafficking business before, hard economic times and the greater need for lucrative employment opportunities may make human trafficking a more appealing business opportunity.
ANALYSIS
Many advocate groups refer to the practice of human trafficking as “modern day slavery,” which makes for a good slogan and draws attention to the issue. However, the difference between institutionalized slavery, such as that existing in the U.S. prior to the civil war, and modern day human trafficking is that human trafficking occurs underground. Human trafficking today is not the open, lawful (albeit abhorrent) practice that pre-civil war “slavery” was in the U.S. Thus, if we are to really understand human trafficking today, we need an image of slavery other than that of the pre-civil war southern plantation. To understand what “modern slavery,” looks like, one need only look to victim testimonials or movies about human trafficking. Once you see the faces and hear the stories of real trafficking victims who have experienced horrific exploitation and enslavement right in your own city, you will not soon forget.
Having a clear image of what human trafficking, or “modern day slavery,” looks like is important because it allows people to watch for the signs of trafficking in their communities and makes it easier to identify and sympathize with trafficking victims. Taking this important step to understand how trafficking happens and what it looks like when it does is just one of several steps that you can take to help combat human trafficking in your own community.
In addition to educating yourself and others about how human trafficking works and what it looks like, you can help your local jurisdiction with passing anti-trafficking laws that allow for the effective prosecution of perpetrators and protection of victims. Also, on a national, local, and private level, there is a need for funds to help rescue, rehabilitate, and reintegrate victims of trafficking who need the assistance of trained professionals who can help them with their psychological trauma as well as with practical aspects of reintegrating in lawful society. You can also report trafficking crimes or get help by calling the Department of Justice Trafficking in Persons and Worker Exploitation Task Force Complaint Line at 1-888-428-7581. To learn more about the U.S. government’s efforts to combat human traffic within the U.S. and abroad, visit: http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/reports/2009/125631.htm. There are a number of private nonprofit organizations that work to combat human trafficking that can provide more information and volunteer opportunities. Rita Siemion is an attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of Kator, Parks & Weiser, P.L.L.C. where she litigates civil rights cases. She graduated with honors from The George Washington University Law School where she served as a student attorney in the GW International Human Rights Law Clinic where she litigated cases involving torture, targeted killing, and human rights abuses related to the War on Terror. She also studied international human rights law at Oxford University.
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Trafficking and Displacement - October 2009 
