It’s hard to know how many victims of human trafficking there are in America. The U.S. State Department estimates that 17,000 women, girls and boys are sold through the human sex trade every year in the U.S. The Department of Justice’s estimates are higher — between 100,000 and 300,000.
Studies have found that Florida is among the three most highly concentrated states in the U.S. for human trafficking.
Judith Orihuela, spokesperson for the FBI, said many Americans are not aware that human trafficking occurs in the U.S.
“Human trafficking does happen here in the United States, which surprises a lot of people,” said Orihuela. “Most people go about their daily lives and don’t even think that someone they see or talk to might be a human trafficking victim.”
Human Trafficking in the U.S. occurs through various methods including luring victims from the Internet. Craigslist, a Web site where people search for jobs, apartments and roommates, has been the subject of a nationwide human sex trafficking investigation.
Orihuela said that every day citizens become targets.
“Most schemes advertise that they are looking for seasonal farm workers, nannies, hotel and restaurant workers and domestic servants,” she said.
Orihuela said traffickers’ recruiting online is an increasing issue. She warned people searching for jobs online to do careful research.
“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” she said.
Samantha Aguiar, freshman biology major, browses Craigslist periodically. She fears that she could be a target.
“It’s scary because it’s a site where you can look for jobs and normal things. And now it’s being corrupted,” she said.
Orihuela said that there are simple ways for people to protect themselves from online recruiters including performing basic Google searches to confirm legitimacy of advertisers, or to find red flags. She also suggests requesting referrals and pictures of housing, and seeking family advice before venturing to meet a seller.
Imelda Buncab, national con-stituency director for the Not For Sale Campaign, an organization that champions for the victims of human trafficking, said that although the numbers of victims can vary from the different sources, the overall conclusion is the same.
“But what we can say and all agree to, is that if one person is trafficked, enslaved, exploited; one person is already too many,” Buncab said.
