KNOW Human Trafficking - L.A. Metro Task Force on Human Trafficking

Resources

Human trafficking has become a $9 billion a year global industry and is increasingly an activity of organized crime and the clandestine nature of human trafficking makes it enormously difficult to accurately track how many people are affected. The Los Angeles Metropolitan Task Force on Human Trafficking developed this website to be a resource of information regarding trafficking in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

The US government estimates about 600,000 to 800,000 victims annually are trafficked across international borders worldwide and between 14,500 and 17,500 of those victims are trafficked into the United States. These estimates include men, women, and children. Victims are generally trafficked into the U.S. from Asia, Central and South America, and Eastern Europe. Many victims trafficked into the United States do not speak or understand English and are therefore isolated and unable to communicate with service providers, law enforcement and others who might be able to assist them.

California specifically is a major point of destination for traffickers because of the state's significant immigrant population, its position as an internationally accessible port of entry and its large manufacturing, agricultural and service sector industries. A study released in February 2005 by the U.C. Berkeley Human Rights Center, Freedom Denied, Forced Labor in California documents the scope of this problem. The report identifies 57 forced labor operations in almost a dozen California cities between 1998 and 2003, involving more than 500 persons. Research has documented major industries in California that can often be hosts of forced labor abuses, with a special focus on Los Angeles.

In 2003, the U.S. government devoted nearly $74 million to combat the worldwide trafficking in human beings, but the United States is equally committed to combating trafficking inside its borders.

The keystone of the U.S. government's response to modern-day slavery is the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), enacted into law in October 2000. Designed to intensify the fight against trafficking and increase penalties, the TVPA requires federal agencies to combat trafficking domestically and to work with other nations to address this problem internationally. Prior to 2000, no comprehensive law existed to protect victims of trafficking or to prosecute traffickers. The TVPA made human trafficking a Federal crime. The goals of the law are:

Prevent human trafficking overseas.
Increase prosecution of human traffickers in the United States.
Protect victims and provide Federal and state assistance to victims.

The President reaffirmed the administration's commitment to this issue when he signed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act in December 2003.

The TVPA declares trafficking to be a crime and calls on the U.S. government to prosecute and punish traffickers, protect and rehabilitate the victims, and prevent these criminal activities.

In 2005, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) was reauthorized with amendments further identifying all minors under the age of 18 as sex trafficking victims when engaged in a commercial sex act. This eliminates the need to prove force, fraud or coercion to obtain victim status. According to the TVPV 2005, the data reflects that "as many as 300,000 children are at risk of commercial sexual exploitation, including trafficking, at any time." In response to this human rights crisis, the U.S. Department of Justice issued grants to forty-two Human Trafficking Task Forces in cities across the U.S.

Under the TVPA, victims of trafficking may apply for a T-Visa, which were established to allow victims of severe forms of trafficking to become temporary residents of the U.S. The Act recognizes that returning victims to their country of origin is often not in the best interests of victims, and that victims need the opportunity to rebuild their lives without facing the threat of deportation.

T-visas are granted if the victim is physically present in the U.S. on account of the trafficking, have complied with any reasonable request for assistance in the investigation or prosecution of the acts of trafficking, and would suffer extreme hardship involving unusual and severe harm upon removal from the U.S. Victims are entitled to privacy, physical protection, and other forms of assistance while their cases are prosecuted. The T-visa signifies a shift in the immigration law policy, which previously treated victims of trafficking as illegal aliens subject to deportation.