Human Trafficking Prevention Program

Traffickers aim to profit from the exploitation of their victims and the myriad coercive and deceptive practices they use to do so. They prey on the vulnerable and on those seeking opportunities to build for themselves a brighter future. Many traffickers come from the same background but present themselves as successful. Just as there is no one type of trafficking victim; perpetrators of this crime also vary. There is no evidence that traffickers are more likely to be of a particular race, nationality, gender, or sexual orientation. They may be family members, friends, romantic or intimate partners, acquaintances, strangers, gang members, business owners, labor brokers, bosses, farm, factory, company owners or other workers with a managerial role. They can act alone or as part of an organized criminal enterprise. Traffickers can be aggressive or passive-aggressive and manipulative. People often incorrectly assume that all traffickers are males; however, the United States has prosecuted cases against female traffickers.

The International Labour Organization estimates that there are over 20 million victims worldwide. Some are compelled to forced labor and sex trafficking.

The International Labour Organization estimates that the illegal profits made from forced labor in the private global economy amount to $150.2 billion per year.

Human trafficking victims can be of any age, race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality, immigration status, cultural background, religion, socio-economic class, and education attainment level. In the United States, individuals vulnerable to human trafficking include children in the child welfare, juvenile justice, and foster care systems; runaways and homeless; unaccompanied foreign national children without lawful immigration status; individuals seeking asylum; Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders, American Indians and Alaska Natives, particularly women and girls; individuals with substance use issues; racial or ethnic minorities; migrant laborers, including undocumented workers and participants in visa programs for temporary workers; foreign national domestic workers in diplomatic households; persons with limited English proficiency; persons with disabilities; LGBTQ2S+ individuals; and victims of intimate partner violence, other forms of domestic violence or sexual abuse.

Human trafficking is a business with supply and demand:  The supply is the victims, and the demand is the customers.

Buyers may be anyone and may include the following:

• Business professionals
• Healthcare professionals
• Service providers
• Drug dealers
• Government employees
• Judges
• Law enforcement
• Legal professionals
• Professional athletes
• Sports coaches
• Tourists
• Transportation workers
• Truck drivers

Sex and labor traffickers make false promises and prey on the vulnerable. The top five recruitment tactics, according to the Polaris Project, for sex trafficking are:

• The promise of a loving intimate partner or marriage
• Familial recruitment
• Job offer or advertisement
• Posing as a benefactor
• Through other false promises or fraud

• Identifying and targeting the victim. Any child or teen may be a potential victim.
• Gaining trust and access through casual conversations.
• Playing a role in the child's life and filling a need - buying gifts, complementing, being a friend, starting a love relationship.
• Isolating the child from family and friends.
• Creating secrecy around the relationship – “don’t tell anyone”, multiple cell phones.
• Abuse begins.
• Introduction of drugs and/or alcohol - victim becomes addicted and dependent.
• Normalizing touch and sexualizing the relationship.
• Manipulating and controlling the relationship through threats, violence, fear and blackmail.

Some common vulnerabilities that traffickers look for and exploit include:

• Poverty
• Familial instability
• Homelessness and unstable living situation
• Runaways, throwaways
• Isolation
• LGBTQ2S+
• Low self-esteem or self-worth
• History of violence and abuse
• Family background in trafficking
• Risky sexual behaviors
• Lack of education
• Truancy
• Mental health challenges
• Disability
• Substance use
• Social minority
• Migrant status
• Language barriers
• Criminal records
• Involvement in the child welfare, foster care and juvenile justice systems
• Displaced by social/natural disaster

• Is restricted from coming and going
• Is under 18 and is providing sex acts for money or trade
• Is in the commercial sex industry and has someone who manages him/her/them, such as an exploiter/trafficker
• Is unpaid, paid very little or paid only through tips
• Employer is holding identity documents
• Works excessively long or unusual hours or is always available “on demand”
• Is not allowed breaks or suffers under unusual restrictions at work
• Owes a large debt and is unable to pay it off
• Was recruited through false promises concerning the nature and conditions of his/her/their work
• Living with an employer
• Poor living conditions
• Multiple people in cramped spaces
• High security measures exist in the work and/or living locations - opaque windows, boarded up windows, bars on windows, barbed wire, security cameras, etc.

• Is fearful, anxious, depressed, submissive, tense, or nervous and paranoid
• Exhibits unusually fearful or anxious behavior after bringing up law enforcement
• Disconnected from family, friends, community organizations or places of worship
• Increased school absences or not going to school
• Avoids eye contact
• Has no access to health care
• Appears malnourished
• Shows signs of physical and/or sexual abuse, physical restraint, confinement or torture
• Person has branding - tattoos on face or chest or tattoos about money or sex or trafficker phrases
• Has few or no personal possessions but could show signs of unusual wealth without explanation or without any known form of income – new jewelry, shoes, phones, hair and nails done
• Multiple phones or social media accounts
• Clothing is inappropriately sexual or inappropriate for the weather
• Overly sexual for age or situation
• Minor has an older “boyfriend” or "girlfriend"
• Individual may show signs of drug addiction
• Is not in control of their own money and has no financial records or bank accounts
• Is not in control of their own ID or passport
• Is not allowed or able to speak for themselves - a third party may be translating, victim may be deferring to another person
• Inability to speak to the individual alone - a third party may insist on being present
• Answers appear to be scripted and rehearsed
• Minor is unaccompanied at night or falters in explaining who they are with and what they are doing
• Claims they are just visiting but are unable to clarify where they are staying
• Lack of knowledge of whereabouts and/or does not know what city they are in
• Loss of sense of time
• Has numerous inconsistencies in their story

• Total reliance on the trafficker
• Lack of trust
• Hopelessness
• Stigma and discrimination
• Shame and self-blame
• Not seeing themselves as a victim
• False promises
• Previous and current trauma
• Fear for self and/or family
• Violence and threats to self and/or family
• Isolation
• Inside observers or captivity
• Lack of documentation
• Lack of support
• Lack of awareness of available services
• Unfamiliar places
• Debt owed to the trafficker
• Drug addiction
• Trauma bonds
• Language barriers
• Distrust of law enforcement or authority
• Lack of knowledge of legal system
• Fear of arrest, incarceration or deportation
• Prior unsuccessful attempts to escape