The United States passed the 13th amendment in 1865, effectively abolishing slavery in all forms. The constitution states, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude. shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." One would think that in this day and age, slavery would be completely eliminated. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery that affects over 20 million people worldwide. It generates multiple billions of dollars for criminal enterprises and is the fastest growing business of organized crime. This form of modern-day slavery is prevalent in our country today, and shows no signs of slowing down. .
The term "trafficking" is defined in three separate parts which depend on the type of work and the means of obtaining or maintaining that work. First, there must be a process in which people are either recruited, harbored, moved, or obtained. This must be done through a means of force, fraud, or coercion. Lastly, it must be for the purpose of involuntary servitude, debt bondage, slavery, or sexual exploitation. Trafficking is also categorized into severity because of its vast prevalence. There are two main types of trafficking that are considered to be "severe." The first is sex trafficking in which victims are trafficked for the purposes of commercial sex acts such as prostitution. This also applies to persons under the age of 18 that are influenced to perform these acts. The second severe form is labor trafficking in which victims are used as slave labor, involuntary servants, or for debt bondage . .
Traffickers lure approximately 14,000 to 17,500 individuals every year to the United States, most of them being women and children . Victims are often taken advantage of because of their poor socio-economic status, and are enticed by the ideas of employment and a better life. Many victims lack support from local governments in the forms of welfare and unemployment benefits, which prevent individuals from falling into poverty.
