What is Human Trafficking?
The 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act (22 USC §7101) defines “severe forms of trafficking” as:
Sex Trafficking
Sex trafficking is a commercial sex act that is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act is under the age of 18.
Labor Trafficking
Labor trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage*, debt bondage*, or slavery.
*Debt bondage or peonage is a system by which laborers are bound in servitude until their debts are paid in full. Victims of trafficking are often subjected to debt bondage, usually in the context of paying off transportation fees into the destination countries. In many cases, the victims are trapped into a cycle of debt because they have to pay for all living expenses in addition to the initial transportation expenses.
Online Resources:
Womenslaw.org T Visa Laws and Trafficking
National Human Trafficking Resource Center
Call 1-888-373-7888 or text BeFree (233733). The National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) is a national, toll-free hotline, available to answer calls and texts from anywhere in the country, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year.
- Get help and connect with a service provider in your area;
- Provide information on potential human trafficking activity; or
- Learn more by requesting training, technical assistance, or resources.
The NHTRC is not a law enforcement or immigration authority and is operated by a nongovernmental organization.