Editor’s Note:
This article has been updated to remove an image containing a chart whose data source is no longer available or able to be substantiated. In its place, relevant data from WhiteHouse.gov and the Trafficking In Persons Report from 2018 has been included, and the headline has been updated.
The 2016 Global Slavery Index estimated that, including U.S. citizens and immigrants, 57,700 people are victims of human trafficking.
Despite the scale of the problem, and the sinister reality that it’s mainly children affected, the federal government had done little to crack down on the problem. After President Donald Trump took office and began enacting pro-law enforcement policies to “make America safe again,” arrests of human traffickers began to take off like a rocket. (RELATED: Democrats Filibuster Bill to Protect Sex Trafficking Victims).
According to the Washington Examiner: “With California leading the way, human trafficking, especially in the sex and labor trades, jumped again last year and has surged 842 percent since the creation of a federally-supported hotline for victims. “Reported cases of human trafficking continue to increase each year. In 2017, 8,759 cases were reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline and BeFree Textline. This number compares to 7,737 reported cases in 2016. The overall figures represent an 842 percent increase over the 10 years Polaris has operated the Hotline,” said the hotline operator which receives federal funding.”
According to WhiteHouse.gov, the Trump administration has made the fight to eradicate human trafficking a top priority.
In addition to DHS funding to support the National Human Trafficking Hotline and DOJ grants to help victims of human trafficking, the Trump White House reported the following for October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018:
“In FY 2018, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) made 1588 Human Trafficking arrests while identifying and assisting 308 victims of the same heinous crime. ICE-HSI also made over 4,000 criminal arrests for human smuggling violations.
1543 of the 1588 arrests HSI made in FY 2018 for human trafficking were for sex trafficking violations.”
According to the 2018 Trafficking In Persons Report published in June, human trafficking prosecutions and convictions are up over the same time period in 2016.
Part of the success in cracking down on human trafficking has come from Trump’s war on MS-13, a gang composed primarily of illegal immigrants. Human trafficking is one of the many illicit activities that the ruthless gang takes part in.
The media has been unwilling to cover this story because there is no way they can spin it to make President Trump look bad. President Trump and his administration deserve tremendous credit for taking the dangers of human trafficking seriously and vowing to stop this brutal activity.
