California has the biggest problem of human trafficking in the nation, judging from the number of calls to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline. In 2016, the hotline received more than 19,000 calls that led to 5,415 cases in the Golden State. That’s more than five times as many calls as in 2015, when the state had more than 3600 calls and nearly 1,000 cases. Managing editor Tami Roleff has more…
Jenna Novak, a spokeswoman for the human trafficking hotline, says that sex trafficking is everywhere.
“I think it’s happening under our nose everywhere, all of the time.”
A 2012 report from the state human trafficking task force found that sex trafficking, in the form of forced prostitution rings, are run by gangs that now use social media to lure victims and attract customers. It also found almost three quarters of the victims are American-born, not immigrants.
But human trafficking is more than just prostitution.
“Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery where an individual is compelled to engage either in commercial sex or some kind of labor through the means of forced fraud or coercion.”
Novak says the hotline also about 20 percent of the calls to the hotline are in the areas of domestic work, traveling sales crews, begging rings, health and beauty services and agriculture.
“Sex trafficking is talked about a lot more and it’s a lot easier to recognize those signs than it is to recognize the labor trafficking victim,” says Novak.
To request help or report suspected human trafficking, call the hotline at 888-373-7888 or text “HELP” to “BeFree” on your cell phone.
