Human Trafficking And The United States Essay

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.

Human trafficking is a prominent problem within the United States that is often overlooked. The definition of human trafficking is, “Human trafficking - the illegal practice of procuring or trading in human beings for the purpose of prostitution, forced labor, or other forms of exploitation” (“Human trafficking”). People in the United States believe that human trafficking is a problem that occurs in other less developed countries compared to the United States. What these individuals do not realize is that human trafficking occurs on American soil contrary to popular belief. The United States is one of the top three destination countries of human trafficking and human trafficking is a top criminal enterprise across the world (“WEAVE, Inc.”).

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 a form of modern-day slavery in which traffickers use force, fraud, or coercion to control victims for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts or labor services against his/her will. (“Human Trafficking.”) Differing definitions of sex trafficking in state laws make it difficult to know if the studies on sex trafficking are including consensual, adult sex workers, who are not victims of trafficking under federal or international law in their numbers. Vulnerable Native American women and youth are targeted by traffickers more than any other ethnic group. The data collected for the “Shattered Hearts” report from 95 Native women and girls suggest that the trafficking of Native girls into prostitution is a significant, though rarely discussed as a problem. Still, the studies do suggest that sex trafficking of Native women and girls, specifically, is present in the United States. (“Shattered Hearts.”)

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.

In today’s day and age human trafficking is a serious problem that is only getting worse as we become more technologically advanced. It is easy to transport human beings across the border, on ships, and into foreign countries. Women, children, and even men are the victims of these individuals. These poor souls stolen for the sex trade or for physical labor as a slave in modern world. As our enemies become more sophisticated in their evil craft, so must our law enforcement and investigation agencies. In order to stay up to par with the enemy these organizations make sure they stay up to date with the most advanced programs, tools, and systems in order to not only catch those responsible for mayhem, but to give a sense of justice to those who were wronged in the first place. We begin with a history of what human trafficking is, some current cases that were followed by the world, and way we fight the enemy and counteract their form of terrorism.

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.

Human trafficking is viewed as modern day slave exchange. It is a genuine crime under both global and national legal systems. It opens casualties to economic exploitation with a significant number of them being women and children less than 18 years old years. It is essential to know the way that human trafficking has raised critical human rights issues, particularly concerning women and children as stakeholders are beginning to reexamine their way to deal with this societal issue. Human trafficking has emerged as the third greatest criminal industry by drug trafficking and illicit arms. The human trafficking industry has helped in the expansion of different crimes, such as child abuse, prostitution and violence against women. With the assistance of existing research, this paper seeks to explain the different measurements of human trafficking and how it has influenced the general public at the individual, national and global level. The paper offers a few proposals with regards to the most ideal route concerning managing the issue of the current slave trade.

The trafficking of human beings for slave labor and sexual exploitation is one of the fastest growing global problems. It has been called the "dark side of globalization" because an enormous upsurge of human enslavement has accompanied a border-free world economy (Miller). Trafficking in persons is a transnational crime that touches people in every nation, and even neighborhoods in this country. The vast reach of human trafficking stunned my own community, when we learned that a 12-year-old Egyptian girl was imprisoned as a domestic slave in the garage of a family home in Irvine, California. Like many victims of trafficking, she was sold by impoverished parents and transported illegally across international borders. While in captivity, she

Unfortunately, these are not the only ways that people become a part of the sex trafficking industry. Another common way is to make fake colleges or fake study abroad programs. Parents give their approval for their kids to leave in the pursuit of a better career path, but sadly the end point is modern day slavery. In another situation, a girl could be promised a happy life with a businessman. There are even situations of when husbands sell their own wives (“The Freedom Project”). That is very hard to perceive, just like hearing about the shooting that happened from earlier in the paper. Sadly, nobody talks that much about sex slavery and the countless lives lost in it. Nobody really teaches people today of whom they should trust or not. Another popular way to get more victims is to become their boyfriend and traffickers are very good at it. Promises and presents from faithful boyfriends fool teenage girls very easily. When a pimp or a trafficker wins a girl’s trust; he can manipulate her and move her anywhere he wants in a promise of marrying her (Frundt). This way, a young innocent girl fails into a trap.

Human Trafficking is a horrendous crime that takes advantage of people through the illegal trading of human beings for purposes of forced labor, and commercial sexual/child exploitation. Traffickers tend to prey on the vulnerable, those who want a better life, have little or no employment opportunities, very unstable, and have a history of sexual abuse. With this being popular in society, anyone can easily become a victim. By being an undocumented immigrant, runaway and homeless youth, and a victim of trauma and abuse, you have already put a target on your back. The most popular victims are the undocumented immigrants due to the lack of legal status, language barriers, limited employment options, and social isolation. ("The Victims.")

Slavery is a modern, pervasive problem. Human trafficking has been found in every state in America (humantrafficking.org). It seems that most Americans likely live within a comfortable drive of someone who is being exploited through human trafficking. There is a growing trend in human trafficking toward sexual exploitation (Bennetts, 2011). The Information Age has helped to create new opportunities for sex trafficking to flourish.

At a global level, Human trafficking has two terms that are key to defining it: “[It is] trafficking in Persons as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or

Human Trafficking is one of the many horrors that occur across the world that is not spoken about enough in society. Human trafficking can include organ trafficking, prostitution, child pornography, forced labor, debt bondage, child labor and child soldiers. In all cases of human trafficking, human beings are controlled and exposed for profit the most common type of profit being money. People who are victims of human trafficking can be found working in a myriad of places such as massage parlors, sweatshops, brothels, fields, online escort services, and even in private homes. This horrific crime occurs all over the world. Many people never know that this is highly prevalent in the United States as well. Traffickers often have a separate language that they use when discussing their “business”. For example, some words can include bottom, cathouse, daddy, circuit, branding, pimp, trap queen, seasoning, john, madam, queen pin, stroll and trick.