Human trafficking hot spots
Human trafficking takes place every minute, every day, all over the world. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you stay. You could become a human trafficking statistic.
Just before this year’s Super Bowl, Florida officials have warned of the increased risk of being a human trafficking target. Florida’s Attorney General Ashley Moody leads Florida’s anti-trafficking task force. In 2019 Florida received the third-highest human trafficking calls in the United States.
Mega Events like the Super Bowl attract thousands of sports fanatics; there will, however, also be human traffickers looking for opportunities to target victims. The more people there are, the more opportunities there are to make money if you are a human trafficker. Human traffickers will always choose busy places and events to try and lure their victims away.
Human trafficking only became illegal in the United States of America in 2000, when the Trafficking Victims Protection Act was passed, making human trafficking a federal crime. There have been human trafficking cases in all of the states of the United States of America.
In January 2021 – Human Trafficking awareness month. The FBI rescued thirty-three (33) children from human trafficking; eight (8) of these children were being sexually exploited. Two of these victims had been rescued multiple times during January. They kept returning to the traffickers; often, these victims don’t realize they are being exploited or even that they are human trafficking victims.
The FBI has several hundreds of pending human trafficking cases, and they lead 86 Child Exploitation and Human trafficking task forces. In the 2020 fiscal year, the FBI arrested 473 traffickers.
Human traffickers make over $9.5 billion annually in the USA, although human traffickers traffic men, women, and children. Women and children are more at risk for commercial sexual exploitation.
If you see something, say something. I would instead report it and be wrong, then knowing I might have been able to save someone’s life but did nothing.
Human traffickers make over $9.5 billion annually in the USA, although human traffickers traffic men, women, and children. Women and children are more at risk for commercial sexual exploitation.