HUMAN TRAFFICKING: The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons, employing the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, the abuse of power, or a position of vulnerability, or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for exploitation.
Source: The United Nations Definition in its Palermo Protocol
Human trafficking is a gruesome problem faced by governments around the globe, with 25 million people currently being exploited. In the United States alone, roughly 17,000 men, women, and children are trafficked from different parts of the world, and the primary access to the US is through the southern border.
The term human trafficking is defined differently by various groups, but we understand the outcome: exploitation of people.
The United Nations recognizes three types of trafficking, (Labor, Sex, and Organ Trafficking). The US government includes only sex and labor trafficking under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.
One aspect of trafficking is international (southern border invasion). There is also internal trafficking, where victims are trafficked from one state to another. Both types happen in the US, and it has enormous socio-economic repercussions.
The US established the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking to combat human trafficking, including the National human trafficking hotline, anti-sex trafficking groups, and increased surveillance at the US-Mexico border.
The additional departments involved in combatting human trafficking include:
· U.S. State Department
· Department of Homeland Security
· Department of Defense
· U.S. Customs and Border Protection
· Department of Labor
· Department of Health and Human Services
· Department of Education
· U.S. Agency for International Development
· U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
· The President’s Interagency Task Force
· Department of Transportation
· Office of the Director of National Intelligence
· Federal Bureau of Investigation
· Department of Justice
Failure at All Levels
It is clear that the government has failed to achieve the desired results. Today, human trafficking is the fastest-growing criminal enterprise in the United States. The primary cause of the Federal’s government failure to address this pervasive problem is the inaction of the Federal bureaucracy, including the US Congress. The bureaucrats in Washington work to endorse the interests of the Federal government, which are often inconsistent with the welfare of the American people.
Cross-border human trafficking in the US mainly occurs at the southern border. Poverty, economic inequality, the lack of opportunity, influential criminal organizations, and the increased flow of labor and goods at borders are the precondition of human trafficking.
The inconsistency in Washington’s immigration policies plays a significant role in the illegal human movement on the southern border, leading to increased human trafficking activities throughout the U.S. In the past, the federal government sometimes relaxed or stopped enforcing the immigration policy to bring labor from the south's unemployed and poverty-stricken populations. This results in illegal migration across a porous southern border.
Human trafficking on the southern border is also flourishing because of the inability of Washington to apprehend the powerful organized criminal cartels. Law enforcement agencies only apprehend low-level smugglers, leaving opportunities for organized traffickers to smuggle, force, and enslave migrants.
The core issue with the failed policies of immigration and border management lies in the bureaucracy and Congress. Congress has been dominated by political peers and clumsy policies for decades. The prime aim of policies formulated by the political elite in Washington is to keep them in power rather than serve the interests of their constituents. In this case, to allow more people to be exploited.
Human trafficking has profound social, political, and economic consequences for U.S. citizens. Human trafficking has become a multi-billion-dollar business and is the second most profitable after drugs. The cartels are making $13 billion a year, according to a report by The New York Times, citing an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security. Women and children are the main targets of traffickers used in the billion-dollar prostitution and the pornography industry. The sex industry has a significant share in human trafficking. Of 10,583 reported cases of human trafficking in 2020, 7,648 were employed in the sex sector (National Human Trafficking Hotline Statistics).
Drugs, weapons, and pornography are associated evils with human trafficking. Lawlessness, gang violence, and homicide in border cities are directly proportional to human trafficking. As world economies decline, this situation at the southern border will grow. While the UN definition above includes the exploitation of many types, we have no data on human trafficking related to organ harvesting (which we know happens in other countries).
Human trafficking is also growing because of low risk and high profit compared to other criminal activities like the drug trade. The probability of prosecution is very low, encouraging traffickers to stay and expand their businesses. Human trafficking is mainly the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice (DOJ), but the DOJ has failed to eradicate or control the rising human trafficking business. The DOJ prosecuted only 56.9% of the total human trafficking suspects referred to them from 2011 to 2020, and it has managed to convict only 38.9% of the suspects. These figures are alarming, and a more efficient system with deterrence is needed. The following chart further illustrates the dire situation of our judicial system.
As the southern border become a growing source of illegals, the incidents of human trafficking will increase. Federal authorities have arrested more than 2 million migrants from Mexico in FY 2022. In 2021, the number of migrant encounters was 1.7 million at the US-Mexico border.
Migrants approach smugglers to transport them to the US when they fail to immigrate through the proper channel. Smuggling, however, is a different phenomenon. Smuggling only requires the smuggler to transport the clients across the border. However, it turns into trafficking when the migrants are forced into slavery or exploitation. The number of immigration-related arrests (in the following chart) by the federal authorities in the five federal judicial districts along the US-Mexico border demonstrates the magnitude.
There is no reliable, accurate data on how many people are trafficked into the US yearly because many incidents are not reported. The reported cases, therefore, do not represent the actual incidents of human trafficking. The picture presented, even with the reported cases, demonstrates the magnitude of the problem. Assuming that the real numbers are double those reported, the number of cases is staggering. These are exploited people coming into the US.
The federal government also spends billions on the border (e.g., the border patrol budget is $4.9 billion annually). There are allegations of corruption by federal employees, which facilitates human trafficking. Washington’s politicians and bureaucrats seem helpless against the power trafficking cartels.
The issue of human trafficking is chronic, and the inaction of Washington and its failed policies are contributing to making it worse. It is essential to bring awareness and knowledge to the subject. The impact is significant on our morality, our economy, and those being exploited.
More money and involving more bureaucrats are not the answer. We need to enforce our immigration laws, close the open border, and stop the cartels responsible for most human exploitation. The US Government has failed us so far. Our long-term bureaucrats and congresspeople need to be term-limited to address this issue.
We are calling for a Convention of States to put a term limit on the politicians and to bring new people with new ideas to address the issues of human trafficking. We are also calling the Convention of States to limit the powers of Bureaucrats in the Federal government and empower the people of Michigan to decide what is best for them.
Join the grassroots army to limit the power of Washington bureaucrats. SIGN the PETITION.
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Congress has failed. Human trafficking continues to permeate our borders. It's time for The People to hold them accountable.
If not now, when?
