In 2004, the Department of Justice released the shocking statistics that "each year, an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States. The number of U.S. citizens trafficked within the country each year is even higher, with an estimated 200,000 American children at risk for trafficking into the sex industry". A horrifically high number for a heinous crime that plagues our society's most vulnerable members; women and children.
Many children and women are sold into work shops, slavery, and most often than not, sexual slavery. Once sold, these victims are starved, beaten, raped, and tortured repeatedly; day after day, month after month, year after year. Many perish under these circumstances.
The United States government in recent decades has been taking steps to protect victims of human trafficking once found. However, the hard part is finding these victims and preventing others from becoming a victim. This type of solution and prevention takes more than just the federal government. For unbeknownst to most people, there are often human trafficking and sex trafficking rings right in their own backyard, sort to speak. An example of that is the bust of a sex trafficking ring outside of Escondido, California, an area heavily populated and right outside of Sunny San Diego.
However, news and information of this nature are not to scare families from taking their children outside or have women stay in doors for the rest of their lives. Rather, information of these nature are informative on a large scale to raise awareness for a heinous crime that happens everyday, everywhere.
Simultaneously, other grants and opportunities provided by the federal government aim to coordinate actions and information exchange between local, state, and national agencies in locating and rescuing victims of human trafficking.
I believe that with enough manpower, resources, and funding, governments and communities can learn to see signs, prevent human trafficking, and decrease the number of individuals who are being subjected to human trafficking. However, can this problem be eradicated? Will citizens from other countries stop soliciting services from red light districts known to be filled with unwilling victims of human trafficking? How can we make sure perpetrators caught for this crime be put away for good? All these questions have yet to be answered.
