By Carol A. Cates, MSN, MBA, RN
Chief Nursing Officer
Odessa Regional Medical Center
There are some topics that I feel are so important to discuss that I bring them up regularly. Lat week I did that with drownings and kids left in hot cars. This week, I am going to revisit another important topic, human trafficking. Human trafficking is a modern term for one of the worst crimes that human beings can perpetuate against another. Human trafficking is slavery.
As much as I would love to think that slavery was eradicated in this country nearly 160 years ago with the Emancipation Proclamation, it wasn’t. it just became illegal at that point. The abomination of slavery continues to exist, we just call it by a different name. Human trafficking is something we all need to be aware of and fight against to stop. We have laws, but laws alone aren’t enough.
The markets for human trafficked victims need to disappear, the victims need to be rescued and the perpetuators need to be brought to justice. For that to happen, we all need to understand human trafficking at a level that allows us to recognize and report it. I hope by reminding you today of what human trafficking is, the numbers of people enslaved each year because of human trafficking and the ways you can recognize human trafficking, and report your suspicions, we can put a stop to human trafficking here in the Basin and eventually the world.
The statistics on human trafficking are frightening. I’m sure you understand most of these statistics are probably under-estimates because the statistics rely largely on estimates from reports of trafficking survivors and arrests and convictions for trafficking. According to a 2024 statement by the U.S. Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, an estimated 27 million people are victims of human trafficking across the globe. Human trafficking is not an issue that is getting better, it’s getting worse.
Human trafficking has quadrupled since 2008. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, there was a drop in identification of human trafficking during the pandemic, but experts feel that was not because of a decrease in actual trafficking, but because the pandemic made detection by law enforcement more difficult.
Since the pandemic, volume has quickly increased back to pre-pandemic levels and is again increasing. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates 18,000 people were trafficked in the U.S. in 2023. Fewer than 4,000 arrests were made for human trafficking in 2023, and worse only 638 people were convicted for this appalling crime last year. It is estimated that 1 in 6 of the children reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 2023 are victims of human trafficking.
The U.S. Department of Justice categorizes human trafficking into two categories: Sex Trafficking and Labor Trafficking. I think most people think about sex trafficking when they think about human trafficking, but labor trafficking is a significant issue as well. The U.S. Department of Labor has actually identified 148 goods from 75 countries that were made by forced labor of adults and children. Please remember while females are the majority of victims, there are a significant number of men and boys that are victims as well. 43% of human trafficking victims are adult women, 23% are adult men, 18% are girls under 18, and 17% are boys under 18.
Human Trafficking Search, an organization dedicated to eradicating human trafficking states that California leads the nation in human trafficking, followed by Texas and Florida. In Texas most of the rescued victims are used for forced labor. Child sex trafficking is the second most common reason people are trafficked in Texas. The good news is Texas is fighting back. We have the highest reporting rates in the nation, and our state law enforcement and justice systems have been aggressively addressing human trafficking in planning and policy making.
There are several things we can all do to recognize and stop human trafficking. Teachers and school administrators need to watch for children with long strings of unexplained absences or sudden behavioral shifts, which can include dressing in expensive, provocative clothing, showing off expensive gifts, and talking about much older “boyfriends.” In hotels, traffickers won’t have luggage, will decline to have housekeepers’ clean rooms, will pay in cash, and tend to ask for rooms near exits.
I am so aware of trafficking, because hospitals are one of the places that traffickers are most often discovered, and it is health issues that lead to those discoveries. Victims often suffer from violent abuse, have poorly maintained health including malnutrition and hygiene issues, and have a lack of prenatal care and family support during childbirth.
Human trafficking victims are often tattooed by their captors with mottos, symbols, or barcodes. Transportation hubs like bus stops, train stations and airports are also places you may encounter human trafficking victims. Trafficked individuals generally behave in the same manner. They are fearful, avoidant, and overly reliant on someone who is domineering and very defensive of them.
If you suspect human trafficking, please call the National Human trafficking hotline at 888-373-7888, you can send the text HELP to BEFREE (233733), or you can email [email protected]. Slavery was banned in this country nearly 160 years ago. Reporting human trafficking is the way we make sure that ban is real for every person in our community.
