Addressing the human trafficking crisis

Jenna McKaye was in high school when she was enslaved by a fellow student. This man   subjected McKaye to prostitution, rape, beatings and online advertisements that portrayed her as a commodity. During this time, she was married to her trafficker in an unassuming community in Southern California. Who could have guessed she was a slave?

Human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act,” according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Currently, there are approximately 27.6 million victims of human trafficking on Earth, as mentioned by the Department of State. While this number may sound large, it is barely over half of the total number of people in modern slavery. Walk Free is a human rights advocacy program that records the number of currently enslaved persons as just under 50 million. That is one in 150 people on Earth, with 29% of its victims being men and 71% being women. 

Those who are enslaved in 2024 are forced to work in industries such as textile manufacturing, commercial sexual services, agriculture, fishing, hospitality, maintenance and mining. Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, Eritrea and North Korea are the nations where the highest concentrations of slaves exist, with one-tenth of North Korea comprised of people categorized as slaves, which is 2.5 million people in North Korea alone, according to Walk Free. 

Even in the U.S., as McKaye’s story exemplifies, some are subject to forced labor. Andrew Forrest, co-founder of Walk Free said, “The United States is one of the most advanced countries in the world yet has more than 400,000 modern slaves working under forced labor conditions,” the vast majority of whom are trafficking victims.

Deliver Fund records that human trafficking in the U.S. occurs largely in California, Texas and Florida, as these states hold easily accessible ports of entry and exit into locations outside of U.S. jurisdiction. This does not mean human trafficking and slavery cannot occur elsewhere by any means; however, slavery does not simply come in the form of violent trafficking, as many believe.

“Traffickers employ a variety of control tactics, the most common include physical and emotional abuse and threats, isolation from friends and family and economic abuse.” These tactics noted by the Polaris Project are often subtle and not easily recognizable by most.  Most would agree that if any person still lives as a slave, the modern world faces a great tragedy that all should be hyperaware of. 

Slavery is just as present today as it ever has been, whether it be government-sponsored slavery or illegal events of captivity. For the most part, what has changed for the U.S. since holding a slave became a federal offense in 1865 is its appearance. In the U.S., the State Department notes that signs of a trafficked person can include one living with his or her employer, impoverished living conditions, the hesitation to speak to someone alone, untreated bruises or injuries, fear of others and engagement in prostitution or other illegal services.

Many who are enslaved in the U.S. enter into captivity willingly without understanding what they are doing. According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, traffickers “make promises aimed at addressing the needs of their target in order to impose control. As a result, victims become trapped and fear leaving for myriad reasons, including psychological trauma, shame, emotional attachment, or physical threats to themselves or their family.”

While there are a plethora of private and government organizations that exist to end human trafficking and aid those enslaved by bringing them out of bondage, there would not be 400,000 slaves in the U.S. if enough action was being taken against it. Clearly, holding slaves is an extremely profitable business, just as it was for Joseph’s brothers in Genesis 37. And because slavery is profitable, it will not go away on its own. It will require the changing of hearts through Christ and the advocacy and attention of society to heal this modern tragedy.

Kilker is the opinion editor.