THE REALITIES OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING DR ALISSA STOEHR

THE REALITIES OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING DR. ALISSA STOEHR IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY

WHAT IS HUMAN TRAFFICKING? • Recruitment, harboring, transporting, obtaining, or maintaining of a person by means of force, fraud, or coercion, for purposes of servitude, debt bondage, slavery, or participation in the sex trade • Human trafficking occurs when a trafficker takes any one of the Actions, and then employs the Means of force, fraud or coercion for the Purpose of compelling the victim to provide commercial sex, labor, and/or services

THE A-M-P MODEL (ACTION-MEANS-PURPOSE)

BUYER Fuels the market with their money TRAFFICKER/PIMP Exploits to earn revenue from buyers VICTIMS People who are bought and sold for profit

HUMAN TRAFFICKING STATISTICS • There an estimated 21 million victims of human trafficking globally at any one time, with 100, 000 people trafficked each year in the United States (International Labor Organization). Forced labor and human trafficking is a $150 billion industry worldwide, with up to $99 billion generated by sex trafficking just in the United States alone (exoduscry. com). • 55% of all trafficking victims and 98% of sex trafficking victims are women and girls (International Labor Organization). • Human trafficking is second only to drug trafficking as the most profitable form of transnational crime. (Office of Homeland Security) • 88% of human trafficking survivors have journeyed through the child welfare system. (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children) • Approximately 5% of trafficking cases are ever reported (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)

HUMAN TRAFFICKING STATISTICS • 3 -6 pm and 4 -8 am are the most common times that trafficking occurs • On average, a trafficking victim goes back to their trafficker between 6 -8 times • The average number of customers that sex trafficking victims see per day is 15. • 46% of trafficking victims know their trafficker

HUMAN TRAFFICKING STATISTICS NATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING HOTLINE TOP 10 STATES FOR REPORTED HT CASES TOP 10 CITIES FOR HT ISSUES • California • Houston, TX • Texas • New York, NY • Florida • Los Angeles, CA • Ohio • Washington, DC • New York • Chicago, IL • Michigan • Las Vegas, NV • Nevada • Atlanta, GA • Georgia • Columbus, OH • Illinois • Dallas, TX • Pennsylvania • San Diego, CA

NATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING HOTLINE 1 -888 -373 -7888 • 5, 147 human trafficking cases reported between January 1, 2018 -June 30, 2018 • 4, 233 female victims, 629 male victims, 38 gender minority victims, and 247 unknown gender victims • 3, 718 sex trafficking, 602 labor trafficking, 310 sex and labor trafficking, and 517 trafficking type unknown cases • 2, 900 adult victims, 1, 399 minor victims, and 848 age unknown victims • Top 5 venues for sex trafficking Top 5 venues for labor • Illicit massage parlors/spas Domestic work • Residence-based commercial sex Traveling sales crews • Hotels and motels Agriculture • Pornography Restaurants/Food Service • Online ads Begging rings

NATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING HOTLINE 1 -888 -373 -7888 • 38 human trafficking cases reported in Iowa between January 1, 2018 -June 30, 2018 • 33 female victims and 85 male victims • 30 sex trafficking, 5 labor trafficking, 1 sex and labor trafficking, and 2 trafficking type unknown cases • 18 adult victims, 15 minor victims, and 5 age unknown victims • Top 5 venues for sex trafficking Top 5 venues for labor • Illicit massage parlors/spas Traveling sales crews • Residence-based commercial sex Begging rings • Hotels and motels Construction • Escort services Domestic work • Other venues Other industries

HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN IOWA • How can it happen here? • Upper Midwest is bracketed between Minneapolis, Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Omaha which are all known human trafficking hubs • Increasing seasonal, immigrant, and refugee population • Large metropolitan areas connected by network of interstate highways reaching all four U. S. borders; lined with truck stops, restaurants, hotels/motels, casinos, strip clubs, and massage parlors • Rural areas create “safe havens” for traffickers to operate undetected; described as the “the perfect hiding place” for trafficking

HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN IOWA • Imogene, IA • Missouri Valley, IA • Denison, IA • Urbandale, IA • Decorah, IA • Dubuque, IA • Fredricksburg, IA • Waterloo, IA • Wellman, IA • Des Moines, IA • Council Bluffs, IA • Runnells, IA • Cedar Rapids, IA • Nevada, IA (labor trafficking)

LABOR TRAFFICKING IN IOWA • Postville Meat Packing Plant-Postville, Iowa (2008) • 85 charges of labor trafficking; victims from Guatemala • Cases of sex trafficking • De. Coster Egg Farms-Galt, Iowa (2010) • Victims were from Central America • https: //www. pbs. org/wgbh/frontline/film/trafficked-in-america/ • Henry Turkey Farm-Atalissa, Iowa (2013) • Company held responsible was from Texas • Intellectually disabled men lived on the premises for over 30 years; deplorable conditions and substandard wages • Awarded $240 million in 2013; later reduced to $50, 000 person • Book-”Boys in the Bunkhouse”

PROFILE OF A TRAFFICKER • According to a study conducted by Breaking Free (St. Paul, MN): • • 30 -50 years of age 67% were White 66% had children; 49% had female children 52% were married 72% had college degrees 81% did not have a criminal history 61% admitted to buying sex before • Increase in females becoming traffickers; approximately 50% of traffickers and pimps are female • Sometimes run drugs, guns, etc. along with bodies • The scariest part is that anyone can traffick!

PROFILE OF A TRAFFICKING VICTIM • Pregnant women and LGBT youth-higher levels of exploitation which can lead to more money for the trafficker • Recruited from strip clubs, massage parlors, nail salons, restaurants, malls, schools, big sporting events, state fairs, social media, etc. • Youth in the foster care system • Ages of victims in Iowa have ranged from 3 months to 72 years old • Keep to themselves, most are dressed nicely, usually with their trafficker, some are tattooed • Vulnerable, young ages, mental health issues, addicted to drugs, poverty, immigrants • The scary thing is that anyone can be trafficked!

RACE AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING “Trafficking is inherently discriminatory. In the case of trafficking into the global sex industry, we are talking about men from relatively prosperous countries paying for the sexual services of women and girls—and sometimes men and boys—from less wealthy countries. This is more than a labor rights issue or an issue of unequal development. It is a basic human rights issue because it involves such a massive and harmful form of discrimination. ” ~Mary Robinson, Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

RACE AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING • Racial and ethnic women are likely exposed to trafficking due to structural poverty, marginalization, and sexual violence (Chong, 2014) • Of confirmed sex trafficking victims, approximately 40% identified as African-American and 26% identified as White or Caucasian. Of confirmed labor trafficking victims, approximately 56% identified as Latinx (Office of Victims of Crime) • Between 2008 -2010, children of color accounted for approximately 77. 8% of child sex trafficking victims, with the majority identifying as African. American or Latinx (U. S. Department of Justice)

WHY ARE PEOPLE OF COLOR OVERREPRESENTED IN HUMAN TRAFFICKING? • Economics-Demand for one race is higher than the demand for another race • Racial and sexual stereotypes-Women of color are usually deemed “sexually free or deviant” • Legal reasons-In an Urban Institute study, the majority of traffickers interviewed believed that trafficking White women would make them more money, but trafficking women of color would land them less jail time if caught.

WHY ARE PEOPLE OF COLOR OVERREPRESENTED IN HUMAN TRAFFICKING? • Vulnerabilities-The Polaris Project found that the majority of trafficked persons come from vulnerable populations, including undocumented individuals because they are easier to recruit and control. In trafficking situations, they may be first smuggled in to the United States to escape the poverty, politics, and violence in their home countries. • Racism-Human trafficking victims suffer from the abuse of trauma of being trafficked, but are also further victimized by a legal system that is less likely to see them as victims and stereotype them as criminals and sexual deviants; perpetuated in the media because they are not identified as victims • Intersectionality-Race intersects with other forms of subordination including gender, class, and age to push people of color disproportionately into prostitution and keep them trapped in the commercial sex industry (Butler, 2015). There also similarities in labor trafficking situations.

HOW IS SOMEONE TRAFFICKED? • Traffickers offer care, support, and companionship; take interest in their victims • Offer promises of modeling jobs, singing or television auditions, living the high life, opportunities to make quick money • Use other victims to lure new ones in to the “family” • Traffickers approach youth where there is no adult supervision (malls and schools); will try and look like students • Offer love and a sense of family • Glamorize sex

HOW DO TRAFFICKERS CONTROL THEIR VICTIMS? • Mental and physical manipulation and abuse • “I will kill you or your family if you try and leave and/or report. ” • Misrepresent U. S. laws when it comes to immigration-will take passports and any other important papers so victims have nowhere to go if they try and leave; keep victims uneducated about their rights • Tell them they have to pay off their “debt” before they leave, but the debt gets bigger and bigger • Moving victims around a lot; keeps them feeling unsettled, lost, and isolated • Some traffickers use drugs to control their victims • Language barriers • Shaming the victim-”No one will want you. ”

HUMAN TRAFFICKING LAWS AND LEGISLATION • 2000 -U. S. government recognized human trafficking and passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act • 2005 -Human trafficking became a federal offense in Iowa • 2006 -Iowa Human Trafficking Act was enacted (Iowa Criminal Code Chapter 710 A) • 2012 -The federal government made human trafficking one of its top five law enforcement priorities • July 2015 -Human trafficking was classified as a forcible felony in Iowa (any felonious crime in the first degree); pimps and buyers are charged the same and have to serve a mandatory minimum which is approximately 70% of their sentence

HUMAN TRAFFICKING LAWS AND LEGISLATION • Buying sex with an adult in Iowa is considered an aggravated misdemeanor, punishable up to 2 years in prison and a fine. Buying sex with a minor is considered a felony, and is punishable up to 5 years in prison. • There are no statute of limitations on human trafficking cases

WHAT CAN YOU DO? • National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline: 1 -888 -373 -7888 (24/7/365; more than 200 languages) • Polaris Project Be Free Text Line: Text HELP to 233733 (24/7/365) • Live Chat at https: //humantraffickinghotline. org/chat • Submit a tip online at https: //traffickingresourcecenter. org/report-trafficking • State of Iowa Human Trafficking Hotline: 1 -800 -770 -1650 (Text “iowahelp” to 20121; www. survivorshelpline. org) • You can always call 911. • If something seems wrong, then it probably is. It is better to be safe than sorry!

RESOURCES • Youth and Shelter Services-Teens Against Human Trafficking (www. yss. org) • Polaris Project (www. polarisproject. org) • National Human Trafficking Resource Center (www. humantraffickinghotline. org) • National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (www. missingkids. com) • ISU Network Against Human Trafficking and Slavery (https: //www. facebook. com/isu. naht) • Iowa Network Against Human Trafficking and Slavery (www. iowanaht. org) • WGS 450: Human Trafficking Fall semester 2: 10 -3: 30 pm TR/Spring semester 9: 3010: 50 am TR

QUESTIONS? • Alissa Stoehr, Ph. D • Department of Sociology & Women’s and Gender Studies Program • 330 Carver Hall • Iowa State University • Ames, Iowa 50011 • astoehr@iastate. edu