Human Trafficking

“Trafficking in persons, 'human trafficking,' and 'modern slavery' are umbrella terms – often used interchangeably – to refer to a crime whereby traffickers exploit and profit at the expense of adults or children by compelling them to perform labor or engage in commercial sex.  When a person younger than 18 is used to perform a commercial sex act, it is a crime regardless of whether there is any force, fraud, or coercion involved. The United States recognizes two primary forms of trafficking in persons:  forced labor and sex trafficking."

https://www.state.gov/what-is-trafficking-in-persons/

"Victims frequently do not seek help due to language barriers, fear of their traffickers, or fear of law enforcement. Because human trafficking is considered a hidden crime, several key indicators can help people recognize potential endangerment and notify law enforcement. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has a list of indicators you can use to help identify victims. These indicators include:

• Appearing malnourished
• Appearing injured or having signs of physical abuse
• Avoiding eye contact, social interaction, and law enforcement
• Responding in manners that seem rehearsed or scripted
• Lacking personal identification documents
• Lacking personal possessions

A common misconception about human trafficking is that it does not happen in the United States. This is false, as the United States is ranked as one of the worst countries globally for human trafficking. It is estimated that 199,000 incidents occur within the United States every year."

https://www.state.gov/what-is-trafficking-in-persons/

 “As you mentioned in your testimony, in 2022 alone immigration authorities encountered 152,000 unaccompanied minors, an all-time high. Many of these children who enter the U.S. illegally will be put at risk of sexual exploitation. In fact, it’s estimated that 72% of those trafficked in the U.S. are immigrants. My colleagues across the aisle regularly use words like safe, compassionate, and humane to describe their border policies. Do you think that the children being sold into sex slavery would agree that these policies are humane?” 

https://homeland.house.gov/2023/09/14/the-border-is-open-border-patrol-wife-child-trafficking-expert-fentanyl-mom-testify-on-human-cost-of-border-crisis/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CAs%20you%20mentioned%20in%20your,in%20the%20U.S.%20are%20immigrants.

"Congress passes the Mann Act, which was ostensibly aimed at keeping young women from being lured into prostitution, but really offered a way to make a crime out of many kinds of consensual sexual activity.

The outrage over sex work began with a commission appointed in 1907 to investigate the problem of immigrant prostitutes. Allegedly, women were brought to America for the purpose of being forced into sexual slavery; likewise, immigrant men were allegedly luring American girls into prostitution.

The Congressional committees that debated the Mann Act did not believe that a woman would ever choose to be a prostitute unless she was drugged and held hostage. The law made it illegal to 'transport any woman or girl' across state lines 'for any immoral purpose.'"

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/congress-passes-mann-act

"The White-Slave Traffic Act, also called the Mann Act, is a United States federal law, passed June 25, 1910.  It is named after Congressman James Robert Mann of Illinois.

In its original form the act made it a felony to engage in interstate or foreign commerce transport of "any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose". Its primary stated intent was to address prostitution, immorality, and human trafficking, particularly where trafficking was for the purposes of prostitution. It was one of several acts of protective legislation aimed at moral reform during the Progressive Era. In practice, its ambiguous language about 'immorality' resulted in it being used to criminalize even consensual sexual behavior between adults. It was amended by Congress in 1978 and again in 1986 to limit its application to transport for the purpose of prostitution or other illegal sexual acts."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mann_Act

"The CDA prohibited any individual from knowingly transmitting 'obscene or indecent' messages to a recipient under the age of 18. It also outlawed the 'knowing' display of 'patently offensive' materials in a manner 'available' to those under 18. This provision potentially included any individual providing content without a mechanism for verifying the age of the viewer, potentially requiring commercial and noncommercial content providers to institute costly screening procedures in order to avoid criminal prosecution.

The penalties for violating both provisions included fines, imprisonment, or both.

Immediately after President Bill Clinton signed the statute into law, the American Civil Liberties Union and numerous other organizations challenged its constitutionality". 

https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1070/communications-decency-act-of-1996

"Congress passed the Child Online Protection Act of 1998 (COPA) with the intent of preventing minors from accessing obscene material on commercial Web sites.

President Bill Clinton signed COPA into law in October 1998. Narrower than the CDA, the Child Online Protection Act targeted the Internet transmission of material harmful to minors distributed for commercial purposes.

"The 1998 Child Online Protection Act made it a crime for commercial Web sites to knowingly place material that is 'harmful to minors' within their unrestricted reach. The American Civil Liberties Union claims the law violates the First Amendment guarantee of free speech." 

https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1066/child-online-protection-act-of-1998

"Modern prohibitions of human trafficking in the United States have their roots in the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which barred slavery and involuntary servitude in 1865.  Prior to 2000, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed human trafficking cases under several federal statutes related to involuntary servitude and slavery, but the criminal laws were narrow and patchwork.  In the last two decades, Congress has passed a number of comprehensive bills designed to bring the full power and attention of the federal government to the fight against human trafficking."  

Follow the link below for a summary of these laws.' 

https://www.justice.gov/humantrafficking/key-legislation#:~:text=The%20Trafficking%20Victims%20Protection%20Act%20of%202000%20(TVPA)%2C%20Pub,of%20slavery%20domestically%20and%20internationally.

"The FOSTA (Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act) and SESTA (Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act) are the U.S. Senate and House bills that became law on April 11, 2018. They clarify the country's sex trafficking law to make it illegal to knowingly assist, facilitate, or support sex trafficking, The bill was signed into law by President Donald Trump on April 11, 2018." 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FOSTA-SESTA

"The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), and the Mann Act. Members of Congress claimed FOSTA would fix loopholes in those statutory schemes through which they believed websites such as Backpage.com had avoided liability for sex trafficking."

https://hrlr.law.columbia.edu/hrlr/fosta-in-legal-context/