Human Trafficking In The United States

Often victims pay to be smuggled into the US and are told that they would have legitimate jobs. Once they arrive, however, they are forced into prostitution such as what occurred in April when people were arrested (30 of which were from Winston Salem) for sex trafficking (Hinton). Law enforcement officers discovered a brothel that formed part of an organized prostitution ring that moved women and girls

Human trafficking is a public health problem within the United States and Internationally. The victims subjected to the lifestyle of human trafficking can have sexually transmitted disease, HIV virus, and AIDS. It is an estimated 30,000 victims of human sex trafficking dying each year from abuse, disease, torture, and neglect. According, to U.S. government an estimates, of 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders annually, and up to 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year (Hodge, 2008). “According to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), over the past 30 years, over 30 million children have been sexually exploited through human trafficking” (Random Facts, 2015, para. 24).

There are multiple types of human trafficking that occur in the world, but the most common heard forms of trafficking are sex trafficking, forced labor, and organ trafficking. Many people are taken each year and are enslaved into human trafficking. Women are the most affected and the average age is 12 to 14 years (“WEAVE, Inc.”). There are many common uses for humans that are being trafficked in regards to forced labor such as farmworkers to harvest crops, factory workers that are put through terrible working conditions, and put in homes as domestic servants (“Labor Trafficking in the US”). Workers that are victims of forced labor work for little to no pay and they often work long hours (“Labor Trafficking in the US”). The

Human Trafficking is in America, it’s in backyard and most don’t even know it. Many Americans believe that this horrible action only takes place in countries such as China, Japan, India, and Ghana but no; it happens in the United States also. The definition of human trafficking is the “illegal practice of procuring or trading in human beings for the purpose of prostitution, forced labor, or other forms of exploitation” (dictionary.com). Slavery was abolished in 1865 in the 13th amendment in the constitution but it sad to say, it still exist. “60,000 people in America in November 2013 could safely be called modern day slaves” (Slavery isn’t a thing of the past). Today human trafficking is counted as immigrant workers who are smuggled into the country and forced to work under the threat of violence. And also men and women, forced to sell their bodies for sex and give all their money to their pimps (Slavery isn’t a thing of the past). Pimps are the ones who usually run the human trafficking business. Approximately75-80% of human trafficking is for sex (55 little known facts about human trafficking). Many believe that only adults are being worked but children and teens are too, matter of fact the average age is between12 and 14. The number of human trafficking in the United States will continue to increase because it is too difficult to find and prevent.

Each year about 17,500 individuals are brought into the United States and become victims of human trafficking. Every country has this problem and it has become the 3rd largest illegal industry worldwide.

The United States has always been known for sticking their nose in places where it does not belong. America has been part of wars that could have been avoided, scandals that had nothing to do with the United States. Millions of lives over the years could have been spared if America would have just simply stayed where they belong. What if though, America feels like they have to get involved in forging affairs if they think it can cause or is causing a problem on American soil or with the Americans themselves? Human trafficking is issues that most people do not necessarily knows about or even really think about. There are several different types of human trafficking and smuggling crimes that are in today's society. The number one kind of human trafficking is sex trafficking. The handlers usually kidnap someone, ninety percent of the time, a girl under the age of eighteen, and sell them to different people all over the world for sexual reasons. The girls they kidnap and sell can be from the area or just passing through and get in the wrong place at the wrong time. Forced labor is the second most common type of human trafficking in the world. This is where a person takes advantage of a worker and changes labor laws to make them work longer hours or harder, more tiring jobs with very little pay. Victims of forced labor most of the time do not even know what is happening to them. Most of the people that get sucked into the forced labor trade are very vulnerable;

Human trafficking is an issue that no one really wants to talk about. The media portrays this horrible crime as something that only happens in foreign lands. Americans do not want to believe that something so heinous could happen on our own soil. However when survivors of human trafficking come forward, people are forced to confront the reality that this issue is not that far from home. Some individuals still choose to deny that this is a real issue. However the facts make it extremely hard to deny that human trafficking happens on American soil.

However a majority of the girls are abducted or forced while many are attracted in other ways. Fake agencies sometimes posing as massage agencies lure in women into the trafficking industry. These women are offered money, free transportation to these agencies to work, with an agreement that the costs will be paid back through the woman’s earnings for her work (Hodge, D. 2008). Other girls are lured in through brothels, escort services, hostess clubs, and strip clubs (Kotrla, K. 2010) where they are abused, manipulated, and have been forced to participate in sexual acts against their will.

Human trafficking doesn’t happen in third world countries only. It doesn’t just happen to poor people and it certainly doesn’t solely happen to women. It is present here in the USA but it is hidden, and even worse, so are their victims. They are everywhere yet invisible. They are silently crying for our help through their eyes and smiles. According to Polaris, “…the prevalence of sex trafficking in the United States is still unknown, we do know that women, children, and men are being sold for sex against their will in cities and towns in all 50 states”. Human trafficking can happen to anyone even to Theresa Flores, the author of “The slave across the street”(“Sex trafficking” 2015). An average 15 year old American girl, coming from a privileged background and a respected family became a victim of sex trafficking and through her book, she convinces us that human trafficking doesn’t have a specific demographic.

In 1865 the United States passed the thirteenth amendment of the constitution which formally abolished the practice of slavery in the United States. Over a century has went by since this day, and yet somewhere behind the mask of freedom that our country holds with such pride lingers a hidden trade. This is the trade of modern day slavery that remains prevalent in our country. Despite the freedoms we are granted as a citizen of the United States,- human trafficking is an enormous issue that is often overlooked. In fact very little light is shown on this topic, but the awful reality is there. Every day women, children, and even men are kidnapped, taken from their families, and forced into free labor and sexual exploitation.

Human trafficking has been in existence in several states for many years. It is a form of slavery where people can be transported from one place to another for exploitation in farms, being forced into criminal activities such as terrorism, forced marriages, sexual abuse, prostitution among other forms of illicit activities (Butler, 2015). The trafficked individuals are often oppressed through violence, threats or coercion which forces the individuals to be involved in various things which they could not be willing to conduct. Majorly, members of the African continent have been widely bound to human trafficking. However, the ordeal has expanded even to trafficking within members of the same state.

When looking at today’s society we look at America as the land of the free, but we forget to recognize the fact that some people such as women, and children are still writhe from brutalization and imprisonment at the hands of others. These victims are becoming commodities, sold to the highest bidder and sometimes for little as pennies. When thinking about the situation it’s a form the presents as slavery, but the act of slavery ended when Lincoln signed in 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation stated that all the people who are held as slaves within the confederate states should be free. Now in modern day human trafficking continues to cultivate in the United States. Millions of women, and children are thrown into the human trafficking market

The trafficking of human beings has evolved and become more universal and serious over the years. Trafficking of people is equivalent to modern day slavery. The duties and expectations of these people are outrageously irrational. The victims are forced to do unthinkable tasks for people they may or may not know. Anyone can be a leader or a victim of human trafficking. Victims of trafficking programs span from an extensive variety of women, children, and men ranging widely in age. There are two very diverse trafficking programs: sex trafficking and labor trafficking. Sex trafficking, the most common of the two trafficking programs, can also be referred to as sex slavery. The sex trafficking occurs when the unwilling are being forced to

The services provided to victims of human trafficking are inadequate and inappropriate and they lack coordination and consistency (Gabriele, Sapoznik, Serojitdinov & Williams, 2014).

Human trafficking can take many forms, as well as many victims. One form of trafficking is slavery. Slavery is having a worker who is unpaid and who works by force using coercion, fraud or threat of bodily harm. “According to the United Nations, there are between 27 and 30 million modern-day slaves in the world (Jesionka, “Human Trafficking: The Myths and the Realities”).” “By 1860, the nation’s black population had jumped from 400,000 to 4.4 million, of which 3.9 million were slaves.(Henry Louis Gates).” That means there are nearly ten times more slaves today than there were in the late 1800’s.