Slavery: Human Trafficking In The United States

In 2010, there were almost 30,000 Latino immigrants in Durham, ninety percent of which were undocumented immigrants (Johnson). Initially, most Latino immigrants arrived in the southwest, but since the turn of the century, more have settled in new destinations, such as Durham, and other parts of the Southeast, due to opportunities to work in low-skilled jobs.

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;

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.

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.

Human trafficking is one of the largest growing criminal activities. The commercial sexual exploitation of children, also known as CSEC, is often perceived as a hidden atrocity that occurs in an international setting. However, this manifestation of sexual abuse has increased and has become a recognized health issue in the United States. You may hear this problem to be known as domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST). Domestic minor sex trafficking is defined as the “recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act” where the person is a citizen younger than the age of 18 years by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. This includes sexual acts like survival sex, prostitution, and stripping, where the child is the victim of criminal exploitation in exchange for remuneration in the form of money, food, shelter, or other valued entity. Approximately twenty-eight percent of US minors living on the streets are reported to exchanging sex for drugs or money. The estimation so far is that 150,000 to 300,000 children are falling at risk of being victimized each year, and the average age at which they are recruited is twelve to fourteen years of age. By raising awareness we are avoiding children suffering from long-term health consequences such as severe sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. By raising awareness a family may not lose their little boy or girl to human trafficking. Consider how many young women have been kidnapped, drugged, tricked or even sold by

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.

Each year, “600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders;” half of those people are children (“11 Facts”). Human trafficking is a criminal act and violates human rights; it is especially devastating to children. Countless innocent children and families are impacted by Child Trafficking

Looking the other way while close to 50% of the human trafficking in the United States end up in prostitution, what is going on in these states. The over sexed country does not help to stop it when we constantly promote sex in almost every aspect of life. People are losing their life to find a way to get to the United States through different forms of smuggling. Are these the people that we should be letting get in this country?

The Purpose- this defines the reasons behind human trafficking For the purpose of exploitation, which includes exploiting the prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery or similar practices and the removal of organs.

Human trafficking is where humans are taking against their will and forced to participate in tasks that are demoralizing and are in horrible conditions that pose sexual and mental health risks. Thus, making human trafficking modern day slavery because individuals are forced into labor where they don’t get monetary compensation and are unable to leave their atrocious circumstances. Human trafficking can affect both genders; however, women and children are used for domestic servitude and in the sex trade, whereas, men and boys are used for more laborious positions. Human trafficking is not just a United States problem it is a global problem as well. Human trafficking is a major problem here in Florida, because Florida is the third highest state for human trafficking. Humans are being trafficked within countries and across international borders, and human trafficking happens in our own neighborhoods

A $28 billion trade is human trafficking, not to be confused with smuggling. This can take place in many forms such as modern day slavery, sexual exploitation, or even worse, organ harvesting. Human smuggling is when persons pay just to be brought into a country and do not get forced into all the terrible things that a ‘trafficked’ person gets forced into doing. Trapped with no way out many are forced to work as migrant workers or prostitutes. This is one of the fastest growing criminal activities around the globe. (Vardi, 2010). “It is estimated that 800,000 to 900,000 victims are annually trafficked across international borders worldwide and between 14,500 and 17,500 victims are trafficked into the United States annually.” (2012).

Where does your mind wander when someone talks about child trafficking? Do you think of children from third world countries being kidnapped or sold into the black market of human trafficking? Most of us probably think of human trafficking as being an issue that poor countries just have but, that isn’t the case. Human trafficking is alive and sadly thriving in the United States. According to Trafficking Source Center, 5,544 cases of human trafficking were reported in the United States in 2015. With human trafficking being around for so long, nations have to find ways to create tougher laws, find a way to focus on the issue, and create better safe havens for the victims of the crime.

When people think of human sex trafficking, they are unaware that females are still being trafficked. Investigators have discovered that about 600,000 females are victims of sex trafficking every year and being profited on for about $30,000 each (Orme, Julie and Fariyal Ross-Sheriff 288). The traffickers see this as a business. Just like any other business, the traffickers have a supply and demand. The demand is the purchase made by the buyers or “Johns.” The victims are, of course, the supply. But without any demand, there would be no need for customers; therefore, no need to trafficked women (Utley). Sex trafficking can be diminished through teaching

Human trafficking is a continuous issue in the United States. Trafficking affects millions of lives every day. This so called modern day slavery has become a complete inhumane activity. This practice is unfortunately as old as ancient times. We live in a society that knows little about trafficking and the amount of activity of this crime is still super alive today. Human trafficking is gaining momentum every day around the world but specifically in the United States. Human trafficking revolves around sexual and economic exploitation. This modern day model is based on competitiveness that stresses a supply and demand. In the past, slaves were caught by groups and held as a commodity. Today, poverty forces people that are socially vulnerable

I personally feel that social classes do still exist among our society (rich, middle class and poor); family values are still strong among some families (this has changed some because of society); honor and shame (this has definitely changed); morals (people that want to be leaders and role models in society). I do feel that we still have some form of slavery and prostitution (Human Trafficking). Human Trafficking is a huge topic in our society right now. We don't often see or hear about it in the news. As a law enforcement officer, I have attended training classes on stopping vehicles and being able to read non-verbal communication among passengers. People will always try to take advantage of the weak and vulnerable. I felt that it was