Human trafficking is defined by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as the recruiting, transportation, transfer and harboring of individuals, by means of threatening or use of force or also other forms of coercion, of abduction, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability. Those trafficked include everyone from young children, teenagers, men, and women; victims can be domestic citizens or foreign nationals.
Two primary forms of human trafficking recognized by the United States is forced labor and sex trafficking, as stated by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. It can happen both within just a single country or across national borders, and is distinct from people smuggling, which involves the consent of the person being smuggled and typically ends upon the arrival of the destination.
Under federal law (18 USC § 1589), it is a crime to make people work by use of force, coercion, or fear. U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 1" in 2017.
On April 11, 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump signed the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act into law to close websites that enable crime and prosecute their owners and users. Beyond websites, tech companies have faced increasing challenges from the use of their social media applications as "human hunting fields" to find victims for human trafficking.
In 2023, the Organised Crime Index gave the country a score of 6 out of 10 for human trafficking, with most victims coming from Mexico, Honduras or within the U.S.
Terminology Human trafficking is a form of slavery that involves the exploitation of people for the purposes of sex or forced labor services. Trafficked individuals do not have to be moved from one location to be a victim of trafficking. Human trafficking is often confused with smuggling. Smuggling is a crime against a border or nation; trafficking is a crime against an individual. Human smuggling can lead to trafficking, but they are not necessarily linked crimes.
With an estimated 27.6 million victims worldwide at any given time, human traffickers prey on people of all ages, backgrounds, and nationalities, exploiting them for their own profit.human-trafficking/ unodc.orgwhat-human-trafficking Retrieved 6 October 2023 Human trafficking is not synonymous with forced migration or smuggling.
Slavery Slavery is a system which requires workers to work against their will for little to no compensation. The practices of slavery and human trafficking are still prevalent in modern America with estimated 17,500 foreign nationals and 400,000 Americans being trafficked into and within the United States every year with 80% of those being women and children.Human Trafficking. (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2014, from http://www.humantraffickinged.com/
Reports According to the Department of State 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report, the United States remains a Tier 1 country for trafficking. Tier 1 means that the government is in compliance with the U.S. government's minimum standards of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 to eliminate trafficking. The minimum standards as listed in section 108 of the legislation are
The government of the country should prohibit severe forms of trafficking in persons and punish acts of such trafficking. For the knowing commission of any act of sex trafficking involving force, fraud, coercion, or in which the victim of sex trafficking is a child incapable of giving meaningful consent, or of trafficking which includes rape or kidnapping or which causes a death, the government of the country should prescribe punishment commensurate with that for grave crimes, such as forcible sexual assault. For the knowing commission of any act of a severe form of trafficking in persons, the government of the country should prescribe punishment that is sufficiently stringent to deter and that adequately reflects the heinous nature of the offense. The government of the country should make serious and sustained efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons.
The U.S. is working to eliminate human trafficking in the U.S. and worldwide. Each year, the Department of State releases data compiled on the state of human trafficking in many different countries, including the U.S., in accordance with the Trafficking Victim Protection Act of 2000's standards. It also releases data on trafficking cases under federal prosecution and estimates of those trafficked; however, the report cautions that the data may not be representative of the number of individuals actually trafficked due to both the lack of cohesion between many states and agencies battling human trafficking and the inability to account for undiscovered victims. Below is a compilation of data from a variety of U.S. agencies and the United Nations.
2024 Department of State report The findings of the U.S. Department of State's 2024 report, Western Hemisphere Tier Placements and Regional Maps for Human Trafficking Incidents 2023, include: 50,815 total victims identified. 6,041 total prosecutions. No new or amended legislation
While the findings represent the government's best estimate, the authors caution that "the data described in this report reflect the information that was available to, and entered by, these state and local law enforcement agencies", and such data systems are still being established and are likely not recording all incidents.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement In 2024, ICE made 113,431 administrative arrests and 33,243 at large arrests. As a critical component in stopping human trafficking, HSI partners with law enforcement agencies to prevent and break down criminal organizations dedicated to trafficking activities.
Federal Bureau of Investigation The FBI is the lead federal agency in the US to fight human trafficking, with a focus on both sex and labor trafficking with a strong focus on victim protection.
FBI Approach
Specialized Task Forces: The FBI currently deploys Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Forces in almost every field office. These multi-juridical teams operate in cooperation with federal, state, local, and tribal authorities to detect victims, disrupt the trafficking networks, and punish the offenders.
Data Collection and Analysis: Subsequently, the FBI, through the Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR), collects and publishes information on human trafficking occurrences in order to help in combating rising trends.
Victim-Centered Approach: The FBI has adopted an evidence-based and victim-centered approach, focusing on the necessary support and treatment for survivors, such as medical help, psychological counseling or therapy, and legal aid.
Public Awareness and Education: Those involved in implementing the Bureau include performing ‘awareness creating’ activities aimed at enlightening the public, police, and service organizations on the signs of human trafficking and reporting potential cases.Trafficking Victims Protection Act
Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center The Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center is an inter-agency intelligence center that gathers information on illicit travel—including that of trafficking. The center coordinates with foreign agencies and diplomats to monitor and fight trafficking on an international basis. With the enactment of TVPRA 2008, the HSTC was also charged with the responsibility of compiling a comprehensive inter-agency database on persons identified as victims of human trafficking.
Prevalence Geographic distribution of forced laborers According to the 2011 Department of State report, victims are largely from Thailand, India, Mexico, Philippines, Haiti, Honduras, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic. Relevant to people being trafficked from other countries, are increasingly found in visa programs for legally documented students and temporary workers who typically fill labor needs in the hospitality, landscaping, construction, food service, and agricultural industries."
Human trafficking occurred consistently in high-population areas that serve as hubs for international travel and that have large immigrant populations. In the study, higher numbers of reported cases were found in California, New York, Texas, and Florida. This is consistent with the U.S. Department of Justice report that the largest concentrations of survivors of human trafficking were located in California, Oklahoma, New York, and Texas.
Criticism According to a 2007 Washington Post expose entitled "Human Trafficking Evokes Outrage, Little Evidence", human trafficking in the United States is described as essentially non-existent.
However, there are more victims than those who have applied for and been granted certification. First, certification requires that the victim be willing to cooperate with a police investigation. Following a police raid, some victims just want to go home, some victims do not cooperate with police and are deported, and some victims are afraid to testify against vicious traffickers. The application for certification requires support from law enforcement. If the victim is not seen as useful for a case, or if the police do not want to pursue a case, they have no support to stay in the U.S. and will not be counted as victims of trafficking.
Nevertheless, the number of identified victims (or convicted traffickers) is far less than the official estimate (by the U.S. State Department) that as many as 14,550–17,550 individuals are trafficked into the United States every year. A recent analysis by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics showed a gap between the claimed number of victims and the number of confirmed cases of victimization.
A gap between the alleged number of victims and the number of confirmed cases also characterizes the situation worldwide. The U.S. Department of State recently reported that 0.4 percent of the estimated victims of trafficking internationally had been officially identified. The State Department report provided no source for the number of either estimated or identified victims. Some critics, like Markon in the Washington Post, note that all such estimates are deeply flawed.
Types Sex trafficking Sex trafficking is defined as the transport for the purpose of sexual exploitation, procuring of a person for sexual activity by use of force, fraud or coercion, or in cases where the person forced to perform such activity is less than 18 years (22 USC § 7102).
In the early 1900s, the “White Slave Traffic” became prevalent. It involved the movement of young white girls who were kidnapped or tricked into being involved in some form of prostitution. The Mann Act, passed in 1910, made it a felony to be involved in the transportation of any person across state or international lines for prostitution or other immoral purposes.
Children who are considered runaways are at particular risk of prostitution or of being trafficked into the sex industry. Of the 1,682,900 children who were considered runaways for a period of time in 1999, 71% were considered at risk for prostitution. 1,700 of those reported actually engaging in sexual activity in exchange for money. David Finkelhor, a University of New Hampshire professor who is director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center, said "I wouldn't put any stock in these figures as indicators of what is going on today". According to the United States Department of State an estimated 20,000 women and children are trafficked into the United States each year by crossing the Mexico–United States border.
The Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others