Human trafficking is the second largest criminal industry in the world after drug dealing, and is the fastest growing. Many victims of trafficking are made to engage in prostitution, pornography or exotic dancing. But trafficking also occurs in forms of labor exploitation, such as domestic servitude or restaurant work, sweatshop factory or migrant agricultural work.

Force, fraud and coercion are the methods used by traffickers to press victims into lives of servitude and abuse:

• Force - Rape, beatings, confinement
• Fraud - False offers of employment, marriage, better life
• Coercion - Threats, debt-bondage, psychological abuse

Identify victims of human-trafficking

Victims of trafficking may look like many of the people coming to your organization for assistance everyday. Victims are young children, teenagers, men and women. By looking beneath the surface and asking yourself these questions, you can help identify potential victims:

• Is the person accompanied by another person who seems controlling (possibly the trafficker?)
• Is the person rarely allowed in public (except for work?)
• Can you detect any physical or psychological abuse?
• Does the person seem submissive or fearful?
• Does the person have difficulty communicating because of language or cultural barriers?
• Does the person lack identification or documentation?
• Is someone else collecting the person's pay or holding their money for "safe keeping"?

Victims of human trafficking who are non-U.S. citizens are eligible to receive benefits and services through the TVPRA to the same extent as refugees. Victims who are U.S. citizens are already eligible to receive many of these benefits.

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