Human Trafficking
The prevalence of human trafficking, forced labor, and child sexual exploitation throughout the world is an urgent humanitarian issue with direct and far-reaching consequences on the United States. Within the United States, human trafficking and child sexual exploitation are grossly prevalent and affect diverse communities. These crimes threaten our physical and virtual borders, our immigration and customs systems, our prosperity, our national security, and are a direct attack on Americans’ personal safety and our country’s public safety.
Accordingly, the United States has declared it a national priority to end human trafficking, the importation of goods produced with forced labor, and child sexual exploitati.
IDENTIFYING HUMAN TRAFFICKING - ASK YOURSELF:
- Is the victim in possession of their own identification and travel documents?
- Is the victim coached on what to say to community members, workers, law enforcement or immigration officials? Does someone else communicate for the victim?
- Is the victim recruited for one purpose but forced to engage in other work?
- Are the victim’s wages being unlawfully garnished to pay off a debt or fee? (Paying off a smuggling fee alone is not considered trafficking.)
- Is the victim forced to perform commercial sex acts?
- Has the victim or their family been threatened with harm if they attempt to leave?
- Has the victim been threatened with deportation or criminal charges?
- Has the victim been harmed, deprived of food, water, sleep, medical care, or other life necessities?
- Is the victim free to contact friends or family without being coached or monitored?
- Is the victim under the age of 18 and engaged in commercial sex?
- Is the victim living in substandard housing?
TRAFFICKING VS. SMUGGLING
Human Trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act, or in which the person performing the commercial sex act is under 18 years of age.
Human Smuggling is the deliberate evasion of immigration laws by bringing undocumented noncitizens into the U.S. and the unlawful transportation and harboring of undocumented noncitizens already in the U.S.
These are not interchangeable terms
Smuggling is transportation-based and is a crime against a border
Trafficking is exploitation-based and is a crime against a person