The fight to end human trafficking must be bipartisan. Here’s why.
This past fall, U.S. citizens once again participated in voting for the president. While it’s an honor to have the right to vote, this campaign season was particularly divisive.
The way you feel about a range of political topics may indicate where you land on either side of the great partisan divide: Affordable Care Act? Gun rights? Pro-life? Climate change? Republican? Democrat? It can all be very overwhelming and, honestly, divisive and disheartening at times.
If you're here, you may be wondering where human trafficking lands in the world of politics. There are so many layers to understanding human trafficking. To raise awareness and advocate for the cause, we must be knowledgeable about labor laws, sex work, child welfare, drug addiction, labor laws and so much more.
However, the bigger picture is that human trafficking is about human rights, and that is something we cannot afford to be divided about politically. We must truly come together and fight to raise awareness about the realities human trafficking victims are facing.
Can you imagine a candidate asserting that a person should not be freed from a trafficking situation or that traffickers should not be penalized for their crimes? Sounds crazy, right? At the heart of the matter is the mistreatment of humans, an affront to basic rights and traffickers are thriving on disagreement and undisciplined combating efforts. Can you even think of other topics on which political parties agree? Still, there are some things that are so clearly wrong, so unjust that they shouldn’t be used for political gain or advantage.
What is working against anti-trafficking efforts in our current system?
In some states, bills can get stuck in the process of becoming law for up to two years while politicians negotiate over its details, and in some cases, if they don’t make it through the whole process, these bills just disappear. Sometimes, with some re-working, a bill can start the process from the very beginning again.
Let’s look at South Carolina, for example, where 848 victims were identified in 2018 by the National Human Trafficking Hotline, according to Polaris. Hundreds of South Carolina proposals that same year died that same year because they weren’t approved by either the House or the Senate by the “crossover” deadline. Bills that fail to pass one chamber cannot be considered by the other without a two-thirds majority vote. That means complex bills that miss the crossover date die for the year. And when the legislative session ends, bills that don’t pass will have to begin the legislative process from scratch again in January.
If these bills are related to human trafficking, what happens? During this long two-year process, the victims are still being trafficked, and the traffickers are profiting and getting away with their crimes. It is the infighting on major issues that cause a lack of progress, lack of funding and lack of change.
The biggest impact can be made when all parties make this their cause, because all humans do matter. With 11,500 cases of human trafficking in the U.S. reported by Polaris in 2019, it is clear this is not an issue that can be ignored or debated. This country needs all party affiliations coming together to raise awareness and advocate for victims of human trafficking.
What can we do as citizens?
Bring it up. Candidates should have a position on trafficking and should be asked about it. Have open discussions about human trafficking—and not just with those who lean the same way in politics. Demonstrate that people can learn from each other on this subject, that we can’t be divided among political affiliations on this subject. Write letters to your elected officials asking them to improve human trafficking policies in your state. Sign petitions. Follow anti-trafficking organizations. Be informed. Participate in Dressember and tell people about it.
The subject of trafficking goes beyond Democrats or Republicans, left or right—it’s a human rights issue. Liberty and freedom are principles upon which this country was founded, and we have to fight for that for people everywhere. Victims have been exploited enough. All politicians—and all sides—should agree on the eradication of human trafficking and exploitation and make a focused, urgent effort to end it.
About the Author
Amanda Therrell grew up in the Charleston, SC area and is currently residing in the capitol of Columbia, SC. She works at the University of SC, and is also studying there in the Master of Public Administration program. She is a mom of two boys, 13 and 3, and a lover of dogs, beaches, Gamecocks, and all things purple.