Analyzing Common Myths About Trafficking in the US
By Meera Manoj, Contributing Writer
MYTH: Human trafficking does not exist in the U.S. and only occurs in third-world countries.
FACT: This is a very harmful myth since human trafficking (like most crimes) exists everywhere. In most country, in most cities, in most suburbs, in most rural towns, everywhere. This is largely since human trafficking is a “hidden crime” or a crime that is largely unreported and/or undiscovered.
MYTH: Human trafficking and human smuggling are the same. If someone paid or consented to be in a situation that resulted in trafficking, it is not actually trafficking.
FACT: Human trafficking and human smuggling are not the same. Trafficking involves exploitation of the individual (usually for sex or labor) and does not require the movement of the victim across borders. However, human smuggling often is the consensual moving of a person across a country’s borders in violation of immigration laws. However, human smuggling can become human trafficking if the smuggler uses force, fraud or coercion (or any other action which can turn smuggling nonconsensual).
MYTH: Only poor and/or foreign-born women and children will be victims to human trafficking.
FACT: Human trafficking victims can be of any age, race, gender, nationality or socioeconomic group. Analysis of countless trafficking cases indicates that traffickers often prey on vulnerable people, usually offering their victims a promise of a better life before trapping them in trafficking. Case studies of trafficking victims indicates that risk factors include a history of abuse or sexual violence, generational trauma, poverty, unemployment and unstable living situations, or homelessness (all of which can make someone vulnerable to most crimes in general). However, it is important to understand that these are only risk factors; someone who is not in these circumstances can still be a victim of trafficking.
MYTH: Victims of trafficking are only victim to sex trafficking.
FACT: Sex trafficking is but one type of human trafficking. Human trafficking also includes labor trafficking, which involve exploitation of victims through forced labor. Such victims can be found in “legitimate and illegitimate labor industries like sweatshops, massage parlors, agriculture, restaurants, hotels and domestic service.”
MYTH: Victims are always physically held against their will using restraints or bondage.
FACT: While these are tactics used by some traffickers, it is also very common for traffickers to utilize psychological means to control their victims. Fear, trauma, drug addition, threats against families and lack of other options because of poverty or homelessness can prevent victims from leaving their traffickers. Many victims are also manipulated by their traffickers, sometimes into believing that they’re in love with their trafficker, leading to them being less likely to seek help. Other more “subtle” methods traffickers use to trap and/or control their victims include:
Isolating them from family, friends and the public through limitation of contact by prohibiting or monitoring contact
Confiscating passports and/or other identification documents
Threatening to shame victims by exposing their humiliating situations to their families or friends
Threatening imprisonment, deportation or other undesirable consequences if the victims contacts authorities
Debt bondage via enormous financial obligations and/or an undefined or increasing debt
Controlling the victim’s money and/or other possessions
MYTH: True trafficking victims will always try to seek help in public.
FACT: Human trafficking is a “hidden crime.” As aforementioned, sometimes victims simply cannot come forward or seek help (i.e., their families and/or loved ones are in danger, they are not in possession of or have control over their identification documents, etc.) Psychological research and studies have found that victims of trafficking (and other “shameful” crimes like rape or abusive relationships) are often stuck in a vicious cycle of self-blame in which they believe they are to blame for the situation they are/were in. They are often scared to leave the situation due to threatening from their traffickers. Traffickers can also manipulate their victims so deeply that the victims do not believe that they are actually “victims,” similar to how individuals with abusive partners often do not see the signs of abuse and/or red flags while they are in the relationship. Most of the time, law enforcement and social services have to “take time to look beneath the surface” and build trust with individuals suspected of being victims of traffickers before they can accurately judge their situation.
MYTH: There is not anything common people can do to prevent or eradicate trafficking.
FACT: Anyone can help human trafficking victims by looking for the signs of trafficking when interacting with people in their community and using resources like the National Human Trafficking Hotline (1-888-373-7888) to report human trafficking. Another way to fight against human trafficking (in particular, labor trafficking) is to be a conscientious and informed consumer by making sure to buy groceries from corporations whose goods are not produced by child labor or forced labor.
Take part in anti-human trafficking organizations, like One Bread Foundation, and their events in order to raise funds to help human trafficking victims and raise awareness in your community.
Resources and Further Reading
20 Ways You Can Help Fight Human Trafficking in 2020