United States
Trafficking


U.S. Department of State

Trafficking in Persons Report: United States

The Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report is the U.S. Government’s principal diplomatic tool to engage foreign governments on human trafficking. It is also the world’s most comprehensive resource of governmental anti-trafficking efforts and reflects the U.S. Government’s commitment to global leadership on this key human rights and law enforcement issue. Ambassador Richmond briefs journalists on the 2020 TIP Report, and U.S. efforts to end human trafficking.

VIDEO > FPC Briefing on the Release of the 20th Annual Trafficking in Persons Report

LOOKING BACK ON TWENTY YEARS OF THE TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT
This year marks a major milestone—the 20th anniversary of the TIP Report. Twenty years ago, when the United States Congress passed the TVPA mandating this report, it signaled the U.S. government’s resolve to fight human trafficking and marked a pivot from indignation to positive action. Whether used to raise awareness, spark dialogue, spur action, or create a system of accountability, the TIP Report has served to reinforce global anti-trafficking norms and ideals. At a time when many governments denied the existence of human trafficking in all its forms, the TIP Report became a standard-bearer for the principles enshrined in the TVPA and the UN Trafficking in Persons Protocol (Palermo Protocol).

TRAFFICKING PROFILE
As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign national victims in the United States, and traffickers exploit victims from the United States abroad. Human trafficking cases have been reported in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Traffickers compel victims to engage in commercial sex and to work in both legal and illicit industries and sectors, including in hospitality, traveling sales crews, agriculture, janitorial services, construction, landscaping, restaurants, factories, care for persons with disabilities, salon services, massage parlors, retail, fairs and carnivals, peddling and begging, drug smuggling and distribution, religious institutions, child care, and domestic work. Individuals who entered the United States with and without legal status have been identified as trafficking victims. Victims originate from almost every region of the world; the top three countries of origin of federally identified victims in FY 2019 were the United States, Mexico, and Honduras. Individuals in the United States vulnerable to human trafficking include: children in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, including foster care; runaway and homeless youth; unaccompanied foreign national children without lawful immigration status; individuals seeking asylum; American Indians and Alaska Natives, particularly women and girls; individuals with substance use issues; 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; LGBTI individuals, and victims of intimate partner violence or domestic violence.
Advocates reported a growing recognition of trauma bonding in human trafficking cases, which occurs when a trafficker uses rewards and punishments in cycles of abuse to foster a powerful emotional connection with the victim. Some U.S. citizens engage in child sex tourism in foreign countries.
> state.gov/trafficking-in-persons-report

How many trafficked people are there in Greater New Orleans? lessons in measurement

Aug 17, 2019
In an effort to develop a model for estimating prevalence in a city or region of the United States, this study employed Multiple Systems Estimation, a statistical approach that uses data on known cases collected from individual agencies to estimate the number not known, with the ultimate aim of estimating the prevalence of trafficking in a region. Our estimate using this method is that there were between 650 and 1600 trafficked people in the New Orleans MSA in 2016.
> tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23322705.2019.1634936

Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women launches anti-trafficking campaign

Jul 10, 2018
On Monday, July 2, the Hawai‘i State Commission on the Status of Women at the Department of Human Services launched its first anti-trafficking campaign to coincide with RIMPAC. The “She is All Women” campaign aims to bring attention to the outsized demand for prostitution inHawai‘i — a demand met in part by sex trafficking, and that surges during RIMPAC.
> humanservices.hawaii.gov/blog/hawaii-state-commission-on-the-status-of-women-launches-anti-trafficking-campaign/

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