Human Trafficking also Known as Modern Day Slave Trade

A primary location for human trafficking is at truck stops. According to Lieutenant Kimberlin, there are 25 or more truck stops that can hold 20 trucks overnight in Oklahoma. There is a considerable presence at these truck stops. “But it is difficult to detect since the drivers generally assist in hiding the girls.” (Kimberlin2) Love’s Travel Stop, a well-known chain of truck stops, is also working toward the cause to stop human trafficking. Love’s is planning to sponsor a group called Truckers Against Trafficking later in 2014. Love’s plans to teach workers of their truck stops about trafficking through a training video. This video will show common signs of human trafficking. The purpose of Truckers Against Trafficking is to help the trucking industry recognize that human traffickers are taking advantage of the trucking industry with their trafficking efforts.

Human trafficking is a significant, but hard to spot problem in Houston – and across Texas. Houston is known as a hub for human trafficking, which involves young women brought here for prostitution because of our proximity to the Mexican border. One fourth of all trafficking victims rescued in the United States are found in Texas, mostly in Houston (McCall). In the year 2011 alone, there have been a number of arrests for Human Trafficking made in the Houston area as well as several brothels have been closed down. However, FBI reports at least two new brothels open monthly in Houston (Palmer). There are a number of ways to fight human trafficking including educating yourself, spreading the word, taking a look in your own community,

Women’s Foundation). The numerous entry points into Texas allow perpetrators to easily bring new victims into the state. Only 10 years ago, Dallas reported having 55 domestic minor sex trafficking cases (“Texas”). In 2007, multiple cases of both labor and sex trafficking were reported in Dallas. The Dallas Police Department identified “119 minors exploited for commercial sex,” (“Texas”) as well as, charging “33 people with sex trafficking” (“Texas”). Although Dallas only holds “26% of the Texas population,” the city accounts for “35% of the state’s commercial sexual exploitation cases” (“Texas”), proving Dallas to be a top city for human trafficking.

For my final research paper, I am going to discuss human trafficking in Houston. Houston is one of the largest hubs for human trafficking in the nation and I don’t know a lot about the subject past that, so it will be a very interesting topic to research. Also, I want to go into medicine and I believe this research will help in the future.

In the article, San Francisco identifies 291 human trafficking victims during six-month period in the San Francisco Examiner, written by Joshua Sabatini. Explains that "booming tourism industry and great business wealth" of San Francisco places the city into one of the top sites for human trafficking in California. However, San Francisco isn't the only city in California with this matter, "Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San Diego" also are top sites for human sex trafficking. (Sabatini). According to a city report, San Fransisco reported nearly 300 females victims of sex trafficking during the last six months of 2014 (Sabatini). This article reveals an ongoing profitable industry within neighborhoods that no one seems to end.

Polaris Project fights to do away with slavery of the modern age. They focus on responding to victims efficiently and without delay. They provide communities and stakeholders the resources to address and prevent human trafficking. Doing so, disrupts the criminal enterprises network of human trafficking business. Polaris offers national hotlines, global hotlines, client services, texting hotlines, government relations, advisory services, data analysis, and strategic interventions (Polaris, 2017). Overall, this organization is dedicated to eradicating human trafficking and all avenues in which it operates.

Seghetti, author of “Border Security: Immigration Inspections at Port of Entry”, stated that in 2013 there were an estimated 362 million travelers entering the U.S (2014). These travelers can enter the United States by sea, air or over land. Within the United States, there are over 300 different areas for entry. Of all the ports in the United States, Texas is the most used ports for trafficking. Houston is the most popular in Texas for a port of entry. Houston is a popular spot due to the fact that it is closely located to the border of Mexico. It is also believed that interstate 10 is the primary route for trafficking. This is because it runs from Houston to El Paso, which is another border city (Ngwe and Elechi 2012). Other ports used for entry are located in Arizona, California, and New Mexico. These states all border Mexico. It is easy for traffickers to get these people across the border of Mexico because as Seghetti states, the personnel were hidden in vehicles or used fraudulent documents because they were unlikely to be caught (2014). A Justice Department FBI Press Releases titled “Texans Unite Against Human Trafficking: Local, State, and Federal Agencies Launch Statewide Campaign” released June 2014, stated that Texas was second, California is first, to receive calls about those who are being used for trafficking purposes. It further states that roughly 450 calls were made to report trafficking and of those

The impact of human trafficking can be felt all throughout the United States in all 50 state including Washington, D.C. There is no identifiable pattern for human trafficking victims; the victims can be adult and minor from rural, suburban, or urban communities. According to the national human trafficking resource center (NHTRC) the most vulnerable victim of these human trafficking rings are usually runaway and homeless youth. Even individuals who experienced violence and trauma in the past are more susceptible to being primed into human trafficking. Since human trafficking is so diverse the impact is felt across the board and the manipulation of adults and minors no matter their socio-economic background or education they are still being

181-187). Although this theory of human trafficking only goes back to the 19th century, this is something that has gone on for a a long amount of time. If one was to think about history and how slaves were traded from Africa to the United States, the theory of “Human Trafficking” still applies. The slaves from Africa would be traded to someone who bought them. At times the slaves would be bought to work in fields, raise the children, and to provide sex for the “master” whenever summoned. If the person was to buy them to be a worker, or to nurse the children, even to have sex with. The definition of human trafficking is the illegal movement of people, typically for the purposes of forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation (Unknown,

Human/sex trafficking is the exploitation of men women and children, within national and across international borders, for the

The impacts trafficking has on victims is what decides what kind of treatment victims will be provided, the intensity of treatment, the components of treatment, as well as if they will complete treatment. The larger the impacts of trafficking, the more intense the treatment will be, the more services will be needed (housing, clothing, education, medical treatment, therapy, etc.). To start, the scope will look at law enforcement personnel who come into contact with trafficking victims as a result of drug and gun raids, and undercover operations they take part in. They are the individuals who have the most initial contact with victims, along with emergency or clinic personnel. Law enforcement will be able to provide insight into their experiences with trafficking victims, how they identify them, what protocols they follow and who victims are put in touch with next for

The Polaris website over human trafficking gives good insight on the worldwide epidemic of sex trafficking, and labor trafficking. One might learn how the traffickers pursue their victims, were the most trafficking is present, and teaches people to recognize the signs of trafficking. This website source gives personal stories of victims, the struggles, and hard times they have faced in their trafficking story. Polaris explains the organizations that try and prevent the crime and what kind of efforts they set forth in stopping trafficking. The information is recently updated as you can see in the citation. So I know I’m getting the most recent and accurate results. The Website provides percentages explaining the amount of victims trapped into

Approximately 80% of trafficking involves sexual activity, and 19% involves labor exploitation.“ According to the U.S State Department, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year, 80% are females and half are children.¨ Most of the victims are runaways who were sexually abused during their childhood. 14,500-17,500 people are trafficked into the U.S each year.

In 2010-2012, there are 40,177 cases of trafficking were reported and these are only the known cases, of course there are more cases we didn’t know. 13,392 people were trafficked a year, 36 trafficked

Michigan has seen a sixteen percent increase in reported human trafficking cases. Polaris, an organization that helps fight human trafficking across the globe, released the data from the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, stating that there were 152 Michigan Human Trafficking cases reported in 2015. They included 122 of sex trafficking and 18 cases of labor trafficking. In 2014, 131 cases were reported were reported since 2007, the NHTRC has