This month is Human Trafficking Prevention month, though there should never be a time limit on awareness. ICE reported that 291,000 unaccompanied migrant children (as of May 2024), and more than 32,000 received notice but failed to appear. The notice, of course, does not go to the child, but to the sponsor who was “vetted” to take charge of a child – or children. How many of those 32,000 children are now being trafficked? And where are all the others?
Sometimes it seems that the political parties are so busy arguing numbers and defending sides than working together to solve a monumental problem that is destroying thousands of individual lives. How many children were sent across the border in the hope of freedom and a better life and ended up slaves?
Too many. Now hidden away. Sold to be used and abused. Trafficked adults and children, male and female, are considered “product” easily replaced. There has been a steady stream of unaccompanied, vulnerable children being sent over our border –too many for ICE and the Department of Health and Human Services to handle. They are bogged down in the paperwork.
Imagine you are a mother or father stricken by poverty and desperate to find a better life for your child. You meet a coyote who charges an exorbitant price to take your child over the border to a new life with a future and hope. When (if) the child arrives, they are not turned over to a caring person looking out for their future but end up in debt bondage to a pimp who sells them 10 or more times a day to despicable customers eager to pay for sex with a child. The average sex trafficked victim lives six years. Cartel coyotes see human beings as merchandise for sale.
And this isn’t addressing the American children who are victims of sex traffickers. Many of these children are “groomed” on social media, and the average age is between 11-14.
What can we do?
We can educate our children that trafficking is real, and it is here. Talk with them and be open when they talk with you. Listen, don’t judge. Show an interest in what is going on in their lives and the lives of their friends. Know their friends. Remember that technology can be the way a predator enters your home. Have safe communication. Adults should have access to the password or a device shouldn’t be allowed. Your child’s privacy is important. Their safety is also. If a child is defensive, that may be a sign that whoever is in contact with them may be dangerous. GPS tracking devices can be placed on phones. Parents can use them to protect their child from a trafficker who would use the same method to control and hold a child in bondage. Encourage your children to invite their friends over. Make them welcome, get to know them. Involve your children in healthy, positive activities like church youth groups, sports, music, community service. Be involved in your children’s lives.
Keep your eyes and ears open!
How do you recognize a possible victim of sex trafficking?
Watch for —
A girl or boy who is romantically involved with an older man or woman, but not free to leave or talk to other people and is told what to do.
A person who appears to be soliciting for prostitution and checks in frequently with someone on a cellphone.
A person who seems to have a bodyguard or someone watching them at a distance.
A person who avoids normal eye contact, appears fearful, drugged or drunk.
A person who has signs of injuries, abuse or torture.
A child who tries to appear as an adult and has fake identification.
Men going in and out of a single hotel room or residence at all hours. (Victims are often hidden.)
Hotel staff notice an unusual number of condoms, lubricants, etc. in a hotel room.
Mini-mart bathrooms are often used by trafficked victims to clean up between “tricks”.
How to help a victim —
If you suspect someone is being trafficked, call the 24-hour National Human Trafficking Resource Center hot line – 888-3737-888
Text HELP to Be Free – 233733
Notify your local authorities.
Get to know local ministries who can contact a possible victim and give them safe shelter.
Sometimes we can feel overwhelmed and helpless to do anything. But one person can make a difference. You can give financial and/or volunteer support to vetted organizations who help sex trafficked survivors heal and build new lives. You can pray for survivors going through an intense program and for staff working with them. Survivors of complex trauma have a long road to recovery. There is hope. And there are many individual testimonies. Some survivors have become leaders in survivor ministries, and public speakers who educate and motivate the public to join the fight.
I’m in the fight against sex trafficking and a board member of the Redeeming Love Foundation. We give grants, after an intense vetting process, to ministries who help survivors heal and build new lives. Our website is www.redeeminglovesanctuary.org for what we do and the groups we have supported.
For more information, please access https://inourbackyard.org/