Breaking Trafficking Myths: Human Trafficking occurs only across borders
PHOTO CREDIT: Polaris.
The map above only reflects cases reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline in 2016 where the location of the potential trafficking was known. Some cases may involve more than one location. Map image powered by Palantir Technology.
When we think about human trafficking, the United States may not be the first place to come to mind. Of course, why would it? With Hollywood’s celebrity-hyped, action-packed movies, and idealistic book thrillers that try to imagine the truth of the trafficking world, it’s easy to assume that trafficking only exists outside the U.S.
For example, you may recall the 2009 action film, Taken. It tells the fictional story of a determined father who is an ex-government operative as he tries to recover his daughter, Kim, after she is kidnapped on her trip to Paris. The movie is filled with surprising twists and turns that plant a fictional idea of trafficking and doesn’t fail to give the audience its desired happy ending, in which the daughter is rescued by her father.
Although the storyline has every opportunity of happening in real life, it misses one key point, which ends up painting unrealistic pictures of human trafficking when ignored.
The movie shows Kim and her parents resuming their normal lives back in America, after she has endured trafficking overseas. This portrayal implies that the U.S. doesn’t have a problem with human trafficking when, in reality, it does.
What often becomes misunderstood by these types of movies is the notion that trafficking only exists when movement across borders is involved. The truth is that it happens all throughout the U.S. Not all victims are kidnapped like Kim; thousands of people are trafficked while in the U.S., never once crossing a border.
“Last year alone, over 10,000 individuals were trafficked inside the U.S., and that only accounts for the reported cases.”
Human trafficking is defined by the National Human Trafficking Hotline as a crime involving the exploitation of someone for the purposes of compelled labor or a commercial sex act, through the use of force, fraud or coercion, can affect anyone regardless of age, gender, socioeconomic status, or location. Whether a person is in Paris, France or Washington D.C., the opportunity for traffickers to do their business is the same.
It may sound surprising, but supply and demand in human trafficking is high in the United States. With the rise of technology, recruitment of victims for exploitation in the sex trafficking industry has become easier for traffickers. They don’t need international transportation when they can connect with potential victims through cyberspace. Last year alone, over 10,000 individuals were trafficked inside the U.S., and that only accounts for the reported cases.
It is important, as a community of advocates, that we don’t indulge ignorantly in everything the media shows us, and instead keep a watchful eye on the world surrounding us. As common as it may seem that victims are transported across borders, it’s even more common that they aren’t transported at all. It can and does affect the lives of both men and women all around the world.
Human trafficking happens right here in the U.S., and together we can break the myth by acknowledging trafficking as a crime that requires no movement at all whatsoever.
About the Author
Danyella Wilder is a senior at California Baptist University studying Journalism and New Media with two minors in Public Relations and Global Justice. She's thrilled to work alongside Dressember in their advocacy to spread awareness about modern-day slavery. Danyella is also an admirer of travel, an online-shopping enthusiast, and she loves going to the beach just as long as she has a great book in hand.