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Miranda Suggs
ENC 1102
Professor McGriff
8/03/2014

Human Trafficking: A Criminal Money Maker
Human Trafficking is a crime all around the world, yet everywhere there are criminals
trafficking humans for their own greed. I never thought that human trafficking was that large of
an issue in the world, and especially in the United States, which is a Tier 1 country. However, as
it turns out, human trafficking is a serious issue that is occurring more often than anyone would
imagine. Human trafficking is becoming a larger issue than drug trafficking and firearm
trafficking. David Batstone says in his book Not for Sale, In terms of profits, its on a path to
overtake drugs and arms trafficking. It is shocking to know that human trafficking is a criminal
billion-dollar trade, where there are many criminal offences occurring and horrible acts inflicted
on humans; but there are also many fighting against this issue. The human trafficking trade is a
criminal trade full of greedy criminals that need to be stopped, so that modern day slavery can
diminish. Luckily there are many organizations working to stop human trafficking and help the
victims involved. Such as the Polaris Project, which is an organization that explains the
organization on the website as the following, Modern slavery is a multi-billion-dollar criminal
industry that denies freedom to 20.9 million people around the world. And no matter where you
live, chances are its happening right down the street. From the girl forced into prostitution at a
truck stop, to the man discovered in a restaurant kitchen, stripped of his passport and held against
his will.
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Polaris, named after the North Star that guided slaves to freedom in the U.S., disrupts the
conditions that allow human trafficking to thrive in our society. From working with government
leaders to protect victims rights, to building partnerships with the worlds leading technology
corporations, we spark long-term change that focuses communities on identifying, reporting and
eliminating trafficking networks. Our comprehensive model puts victims at the center of all that
we do -- helping survivors restore their freedom, preventing more victims, and gathering the data
to pursue traffickers wherever they operate. Unparalleled expertise. Relentlessness. And an
innovative spirit. This is how Polaris eradicates the slavery networks that rob human beings of
their lives and their independence. Freedom happens now. The Polaris Project is one of the
larger organizations in the United States that has a large outreach program with many sources to
help the victims of all types of human trafficking.
Let me start off by explaining what human trafficking actually is. The Polaris Project
website defines human trafficking as a form of modern-day slavery where people profit from
the control and exploitation of others. The people or traffickers who make the profits off of
selling other human beings are criminals of the trade. A criminal is someone who commits or
committed a crime. The criminals in the human trafficking trade commit many crimes. Some of
these crimes consist of violating the human rights of the victims. The traffickers and criminals
dont have any care or respect for human life; they only care about their own greed for making
money through any means. As defined under U.S. federal law, victims of human trafficking
include children involved in the sex trade, adults age 18 or over who are coerced or deceived into
commercial sex acts, and anyone forced into different forms of labor or services, such as
domestic workers held in a home, or farm-workers forced to labor against their will (Polaris
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Project). What this means is that human trafficking victims include both children and adults that
have to involuntary provide certain services that traffickers make them do. The services that
human traffickers force the victims to provide vary from sexual acts to farm work. As I
mentioned before, the United State is a Tier 1 country. An article on the Polar Project website
shared this information about the Tier ratings, In the Report, the State Department, under the
advisories of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and
Combat Trafficking in Persons Luis CdeBaca, categorizes governments into three tiers, with Tier
1 as the highest, based on their attempts to meet the minimum standards for the elimination of
trafficking as defined by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). Tier 2 also includes a
Tier 2 Watch List subset, for countries that have a significant number of victims and are in the
process of improving, yet show minimal development in their efforts, or whose rankings were
contingent on pledges to improve by next year. A Tier 1 ranking, however, does not necessarily
indicate that a country has eliminated trafficking or even that it has adopted the best practices,
but only that it continues to meet the minimum standards to eradicate human trafficking. So,
because the United States meets the requirements for the elimination standards of human
trafficking, it is a Tier 1 country. Hopefully we can all work together in this country to go above
the standards of trying to eliminate human trafficking. The Polaris Project is
The human trafficking trade is a billion-dollar industry for criminals. In the trade of
human trafficking, traffickers buy and sell men, women, and children. The FBI website states
that, The most vulnerable among us, including our children, are being exploited both online and
in person. Often targeted because of individual vulnerabilities, many have already experienced
abusive or troubled families, have disabilities, or come from families with very limited
resources. The traffickers prey on the vulnerable humans that they can control and use to their
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benefit for making money illegally. The traffickers go through extreme steps to collect human
beings to buy, trade, or sell to other traffickers or underground businesses. Crystal Freed wrote
about an act of human trafficking in her article Slavery is Alive in Jacksonville, There are
situations in sex trafficking where women are sold for $20 for 15 minutes of their time. E.
Benjamin Skinner wrote in his book A Crime so Monstrous, Others are involved in organ
trafficking, where young people sell their kidneys for $3,000. With 27 million victims enslaved
worldwide, the human trafficking trade has become a $31 billion-dollar underground industry
(Batstone). However, the traffickers can profit off of enslaving and selling other human beings,
they will. It is a very sad and awful issue that is occurring all around the world. Some human
beings are smuggled around the same country that they are captured in, while others are
smuggled into different countries. Traffickers are able to obtain the documents required to get
into other countries, such as passports. Passports that they use are sometimes forged but other
times are legitimate documents that they are able to get into their possession. There are four
basic categories of passport fraud. The first type of passport fraud is when there are portions of a
legitimate passport altered such when the photograph is changed on the passport. Other times,
there are whole unreal pages made into the documents. Another category of passport fraud is
when the traffickers use stolen identity documents or passports. Finally, there is when the
traffickers or criminals obtain passports illegally through purchasing them in the black market.
Sheldon Zhang included information in his book Smuggling and Traffikcing in Human Beings,
that there have been situations where female traffickers have targeted drug dependent women
and their children, paying them about $300 for each identity and then using the identities to
apply for passports. Then she turned around and sold the passports to illegal aliens for as much
as $6,000 each (43). There are so many ways that the criminals in the human trafficking trade
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make money illegally. Creating situations where the traffickers are able to make money is what
they do. When the traffickers prey on others to use for stolen identify, it is just one way that the
criminals make a profit. This is how the crimes they commit and the people they use and abuse
create a billion-dollar industry for criminals.
Criminals are criminals because they break the laws set in place to protect the citizens of
the United States, and the world. The governments of the United States, as well as the
governments in all of the foreign countries have many laws and sanctions set in place to protect
others from crimes. Unfortunately, there are so many people out there that do not respect or care
about the laws set in place. However, there are also many penalties and punishments set in place
for the criminals that commit crimes. Law enforcement is always working hard to catch
criminals in action, so that they can help to reduce and stop the crimes affiliated with human
trafficking. However, the penalty if someone is caught for smuggling illegal immigrants is not
as harsh as the penalty for trafficking drugs (Zhang 89). But the FBI has created special teams
and protocols to prevent human trafficking and enforce the laws, Over 1,300 law enforcement
officers across the country have been trained through the Protecting Victims of Child Prostitution
Course at NCMEC, which supports the ILNI (FBI). The FBI is working hard by training law
enforcement officers, so that the officers can properly protect the victims and catch the criminals.
The worst part of human trafficking is the horrible acts that are inflicted on the victims.
The victims are treated so horribly, and are forced to do unthinkable things. Many young women
and girls are forced to sell themselves at truck stops, residential brothels, hostess clubs, online
escort services, fake massage businesses, strip clubs, and street prostitution (Polaris Project).
These are all forms of sex trafficking because these women are forced to do sexual acts for
money to give to the traffickers through threats, physical violence, false promises, and
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manipulation. In June of 2006, Cambodia was one of the worst countries in the world for human
trafficking (Batstone 21). Some victims are even forced into marriage fraud to enter a county as a
citizen (Zhang 27).
Human beings are also used in human trafficking by the enslavement in child labor, and
organ trafficking. The criminals of the trade find any way that they can to sell human beings for
money. Even children are used to sell into child labor. Common jobs that there are children and
adults being forced to work are maids, farmers, and servants. Other places that are known to
have forced laborers are restaurants, food services, factories, hotels, salons, malls and strip clubs
(New4Jax). In the article Feds, strip clubs fighting human trafficking, published on April 5, 2014
Annie Sweeny discussed that in the Chicago area, there was even 100 employees of strip clubs
that came forward to work with the Department of Homeland Security to help stop all of the sex
trafficking crimes that were going on.
Many missing person reports have been linked to human trafficking. There are many
men, women, and children of all ages that go missing every day. Many are abducted or stolen for
the human trafficking trade. Traffickers prey on people who are vulnerable or in difficult
situations to convince that they can provide a better life. Some are drug addicts that are supplied
drugs in exchange for other services. However, there are many human beings who are just
taken away from their life and thrown into a nightmare. The traffickers violate their victims
human rights on so many levels.
Human trafficking is a huge issue that many are trying to correct in this world. The
United States is doing what they can to help to stop human trafficking from happening.
Unfortunately, statistics show that all fifty states in the United States have criminal human
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trafficking occurring. The top three states are California, New York, and Florida (Polaris
Project). In Florida, there is a huge problem with human trafficking in many cities, Jacksonville
being one of the largest having the crimes. Recently, there have been many criminal traffickers
arrested by law enforcement in Jacksonville, FL. There was a criminal named, Ian Sean Gordon
who enslaved a 15-year-old girl by keeping her naked in a hotel room and selling her
(News4Jax). Also, in Palatka, FL, a woman named Heather Kaminsky was arrested for selling
her newborn baby for a 1999 Dodge Dakota truck. She then sold the truck for $800 to purchase
methamphetamine (FirstCoastNews). It is heartbreaking to hear about these real life stories that
are happening everywhere just for others want and greed for money and profits.
The United States has safety set-ups in the country to prevent human trafficking. There
are many systems in place to check the humans that travel into and out of the country. There are
border patrol officers that monitor the border of the United States and Mexico. Also when flights
come into the United States there are Customs officers that thoroughly check the identity of
whom in arriving into the country.
Even though the current dilemma of human trafficking is so close to home, it is also so
far away. The trafficking of human beings also occurs in so many other countries. The United
States is trying to work with other countries, and most are cooperative in working to stop human
trafficking. Most countries try to implement action to prevent human trafficking except for the
countries on the blacklist. The blacklist countries are: Ecuador, North Korea, Venezuela, Burma,
Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone, Cuba, Guyana, Sudan, and Bangladesh (Akhter).
In this fight to stop human trafficking, we can all help. It is important to recognize
the signs of victims of human trafficking and sex trafficking. There are also many outreach
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organizations in the United States that help the victims of human and sex trafficking. Some of
these organizations to name a few are the Polaris Project, the Florida Coalition against human
trafficking, the Salvation Army, The Not for Sale Fund, Free the Slaves, and many others
(Batstone 287). The victims of sex trafficking and human trafficking dont know that there are so
many people out here to help. Human and sex trafficking is a sad situation because unfortunately
there are many people out in the world around us that do not care to stop human and sex
trafficking because they are the buyers of people. Public people can help to identify potential
victims though. The FBI has provided some very helpful informational tips for us to look out for:
Please keep your eyes out for the following indicators that suggest the possibility of human
trafficking:
Individuals who have no contact with friends or family and no access to identification
documents, bank accounts, or cash;
Workplaces where psychological manipulation and control are used;
Homes or apartments with inhumane living conditions;
People whose communications and movements are always monitored or who have moved or
rotated through multiple locations in a short amount of time;
Places where locks and fences are positioned to confine occupants; and
Workers who have excessively long and unusual hours, are unpaid or paid very little, are
unable take breaks or days off and have unusual work restrictions, and/or have unexplained
work injuries or signs of untreated illness or disease.
This information provided on the FBI website can be very helpful to others. I think that it is
important for everyone to know the signs to watch for in potential trafficking victims, so that
we have a better chance of helping them. So, we have the ability to look out and pay
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attention to others that could be involved in human and sex trafficking. If you or someone
suspects there is a victim of human trafficking, you can call the National Human Trafficking
Resource Center, the FBI, or even your local law enforcement office.
In conclusion, there are so many victims of human trafficking that need our help. The
modern day slaves need to be freed from the control of the traffickers. It is hard to believe that
the human trafficking trade is a $31 annual billion-dollar trade, but it is. Sadly, there are so many
victims in the world that are enslaved in the trade of human trafficking. Human trafficking is a
criminal office that has created many victims in the trade that have been through horrible events.
However, we can make a difference and reach out to help victims of human trafficking, and stop
the profits that the criminals gain from them.


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Works Cited
Akhter, Farida. "Global Sanctions Do Not Reduce Human Trafficking." Human
Trafficking. Ed. Christina Fisanick. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. Current
Controversies. Rpt. from "Bangladesh: Threat of Sanction Can't Stop Human
Trafficking." Human Rights Solidarity 14 (Sept. 2004). Opposing Viewpoints in
Context. Web. 13 July 2014.
Batstone, David. Not For Sale. New York: HarperCollins, 2007. Print.
Boyd, Danah. "Restricting Classified Advertising Websites Helps Pimps and Human
Traffickers." Human Trafficking. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013.
Current Controversies. Rpt. from "How Censoring Craigslist Helps Pimps, Child
Traffickers and Other Abusive Scumbags." The Huffington Post. 2010. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 14 July 2014.
Campbell, Joseph S. and Anne C. Gannon. "Testimony Combating Human Trafficking." The
FBI. FBI, 23 Sept 2013. Web. 14 07 2014.
Dumienski, Zbigniew. "Worldwide Human Trafficking Is a Myth." Gendercide. Ed. Noah
Berlatsky. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2014. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt.
from "Myth and Reality of Human Trafficking: A View from Southeast Asia."
Interdisciplinary Political Studies 2.1 (Mar. 2012). Opposing Viewpoints in Context.
Web. 14 July 2014.
First Coast News, News Source. Police: Woman Arrested After Trading Baby for Truck.
Firstcoastnews.com. First Coast News, 31 July 2012. Web. 15 July 2014.
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Freed, Crystal. Slavery is Alive in Jacksonville. News4Jax.xom. News4Jax, 24 Feb. 2014.
Web. 14 July 2014.
Polaris Project For A World Without Slavery. Polaris Project. PP, 2014. Web. 15 July 2014.
Skinner, E. Benjamin. A Crime So Monstrous. New York: Free Press, 2008. Print.
Sweeney, Annie. Feds, strip clubs fighting human trafficking. Chicagotribune.com.
Chicago Tribune News, 05 Apr. 2014. Web. 13 July. 2014.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
UNODC, 2014. Web. 13 July 2014.
Zhang, Sheldon X. Smuggling and Trafficking in Human Beings. Westport: Praeger, 2007. Print.