Trafficking

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 Sept 4, 2024 -  Los Angeles city and county leaders, along with federal officials, briefed the public Wednesday on actions being taken on a three-and-a-half-mile stretch of road that authorities say is ground zero for human trafficking.  

At the downtown press conference, officials detailed their collective crackdown on the illegal activity on a three-and-a-half mile stretch of South Figueroa Street, from Gage Avenue to the 110 Freeway, where authorities found at least one victim as young as 11 years old.

 August 29, 2024 - The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics launched a new initiative to strengthen the state's ability to help human trafficking victims.

Victims of human trafficking now have another tool they can use to get help.

'You Are Not Alone' is a project from OBN's Human Trafficking Unit that's being displayed throughout the state with posters, billboards and stickers. State officials said it's meant to educate and empower victims with the resources and support they need.

  August 29, 2024 -  HELENA, Mont. – Reported human trafficking cases in Montana have more than doubled since 2021, according to the Montana Department of Justice.

In 2023, Department of Justice agents tracked 147 human trafficking cases in Montana. This is a 39 percent increase from 106 cases in 2022 and over double the 68 cases reported in 2021. 

Since 2015, when there were just seven cases, there has been a 1,400 percent increase in reported incidents.

  August 29, 2024 -  A sweeping crackdown on an alleged human trafficking operation in metro Atlanta led to the arrest of three individuals and the rescue of multiple victims last Thursday.

The coordinated effort involved Roswell police, neighboring police departments, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and Homeland Security, all of whom executed search warrants across several locations in the region.

 As detectives delved deeper, they uncovered a broader network of illicit activities, including massage parlors operating as fronts for prostitution and trafficking across multiple metro Atlanta locations. 

  August 23, 2024 - Former Republican presidential candidate, businessman and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is calling attention to human trafficking, a global human rights crisis, by telling a heartbreaking story, inspired by true events, of a young boy whose dreams were minced when he was betrayed and thrown into child slavery in the U.S.  

 "City of Dreams" follows Jesús, a Mexican boy who was shattered to find his soccer ambitions had ended when he was trafficked across the U.S. border into Los Angeles and forced into sweatshop enslavement. 

  August 20, 2024 - The FBI's southern region is made up of 16 states. Between 2013 and 2022, over 50% of the human trafficking cases in the U.S. were reported in those states. 

Last month, the FBI released its human trafficking and drug offenses special report. The report shows there were over 8,700 cases reported nationwide. 

And between 2013 -2022, 51.46% of reported human trafficking cases were reported in the 16-state southern region, which includes Georgia. 

  August 8, 2024 -  SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Attorney’s office in Utah is partnering with local law enforcement agencies along as they celebrate their Night Out Against Crime.

One particular crime federal prosecutors are really focusing on is human trafficking, calling it the modern day form of slavery; an international, multi billion dollar business for the traffickers.

Officials say it’s happening in Utah and they’re doing what they can to try and combat the problem.

 July 31, 2024 - More than a dozen people were busted for alleged sex trafficking at Comic-Con in San Diego last weekend in a sting operation that also rescued 10 victims, including a teen.

Undercover agents posing as sex buyers spent three days at the star-studded bash making contact with victims and working to identify their traffickers, California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said.

The operatives also posted advertisements soliciting sex to identify buyers.

Jul 29, 2024 -  In 2023, Spain identified 664 victims of sex trafficking, including 12 minors, primarily from Colombia and other South American countries. This figure represents an increase of 100 identified victims compared to 2022, suggesting the underlying activity is returning to prepandemic levels. 

Jun 10, 2024 -  An alleged multistate human trafficking ring forcing immigrant women into prostitution. The mysterious killing of a former police officer in South Florida. Attacks against police officers in New York. The arrest of a drug dealer in Chicago.

Local and federal officials say these apparently unrelated crimes have a common denominator: Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal gang that originated in a Venezuela prison and has slowly made its way south and north in recent years.

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May 31, 2024 - KCRA 3 Investigates spent a year talking to survivors, advocates, lawmakers and law enforcement about the problems they're seeing on the streets and what they think needs to change. 

May 19, 2024 As part of a growing push to raise awareness about human trafficking, the California Highway Patrol held training sessions Thursday to discuss the two types of human trafficking — commercial sex trafficking and labor trafficking — dispel myths, and highlight risk faced by vulnerable youth. 

  Jan 22, 2024 - With January designated as National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, Capitol Weekly is examining a little-understood plague on our society – sex trafficking. 

 Feb 28, 2024 - COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - Attorney General Alan Wilson is demanding answers from the Biden Administration on the “trafficking of migrant children.”

Wilson is demanding these answers with 22 other attorney generals from other states.

This comes after a recent report found that migrant children in the custody of the federal government are being released into unsafe situations, including human and sex trafficking.

Sep 18, 2021 - Decent people the world over are appalled when they learn that slavery exists today. Maybe they’ve heard the UN figure that more than 40 million people are trapped in slavery. Maybe they’ve learned that human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world.

Typically when a person learns these facts, they want to do something to combat this crime.

Dec 20, 2017 - “You just have to dance, we can make a little money like that.”

That’s what Shandel, then 13, said her boyfriend told her at a party he had taken her to some 12 years ago.

And that’s how it all began, Shandel, now 25, recalled. Gradually, the man she thought of as the only person who loved her or even cared for her, demanded more. Much more – and she said he would physically abuse her if she refused.

Sex trafficking is a type of human trafficking and is a form of modern-day slavery. It is a serious public health problem that negatively affects the well-being of individuals, families, and communities. Human trafficking occurs when a trafficker exploits an individual with force, fraud, or coercion to perform commercial sex acts or work. 

Human trafficking, also called trafficking in persons, has no place in our world. As both a grave crime and a human rights abuse, it compromises national and economic security, undermines the rule of law, and harms the well-being of individuals and communities everywhere.  It is a crime of exploitation. 

Human trafficking, also known as trafficking in persons, is a crime that involves compelling or coercing a person to provide labor or services, or to engage in commercial sex acts. The coercion can be subtle or overt, physical or psychological.  Exploitation of a minor for commercial sex is human trafficking, regardless of whether any form of force, fraud, or coercion was used. 

According to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, or TVPA, human trafficking is a crime involving the exploitation of someone for the purpose of compelled labor or a commercial sex act through the use of force, fraud, or coercion. According to federal law, “a commercial sex act means any sex act on account of which anything of value is given to or received by any person. Anything of value could include food, shelter, protection, gifts, or clothing. Where a person younger than 18 is induced to perform a commercial sex act, it is a crime regardless of whether there is any force, fraud, or coercion.”​ 

The 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report) introduction examines and highlights how governments and a wide range of stakeholders have used partnerships to advance anti-trafficking priorities and goals. The introduction also shares innovative approaches and specific examples of partnerships that have complemented and supported the success of prosecution, protection, and prevention efforts. 

Free online training -  OnWatch™ is a survivor-led training designed to empower you to spot, report, and prevent sex trafficking where you live, work, and play. Through true survivor experiences, industry experts explain the key indicators of trafficking, as well as how you can support a survivor’s path to freedom.