Human trafficking is the action or practice of illegally transporting people from one country or area to another, typically for the purposes of forced labor or sexual exploitation. That is the literal definition. However, a physical system of human trafficking is so much more complicated and diverse.

Trafficking is everywhere–the biggest systems existing being in Thailand, China, Ghana, Uganda, Nepal, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Haiti, and Brazil.

A common form of human trafficking is sex trafficking. More commonly, women are taken and enslaved for sexual favors. Currently, they are trained and then sold to buyers on the black market. Sex trafficking is a very big problem, however, it is the one being dealt with the most by government officials.

One of the less well-known forms of human trafficking is fight trafficking. It is a smaller fraction of trafficking but results in a large number of deaths. Black market merchants will occasionally use stronger men and women to sell them to arenas and illegal fight clubs. Typically, the fights are to the death, which is why they are illegal in the first place.

Unfortunately, Americans are not any safer than slaves from anywhere else. Texas, Florida, New York and California are all main hubs for trafficking.

Dealing with these kinds of situations has become more of a priority for a lot of people in modern American society. Those who can afford security are typically those who would be sold higher on the black market, but that simply leads human traffickers to turn towards an easier solution: immigrants and the impoverished.

The one place where large populations of desperate people can be found is in the immigrant community. Immigrants are constantly being abused or scammed because they are unable to escape poverty or before testing the signs that normal citizens would not experience. Safe houses that are said to be safe for immigrants end up turning out many sexual assault victims, abuse victims, and dead bodies.

The switch to immigrant supply has caused the human trafficking market to boom. The government did not neglect immigrants as much as they did perhaps they would be a safer environment for those experiencing immigration problems.

If one manages to escape a human trafficking ring it would be expected that they could cause the system to collapse. However, traffickers often install many backup plans. Emotional, and physical abuse are common mechanisms used by those involved in the system. Most victims who make it out are not able to talk about their experiences in great detail because of the resulting trauma.

Another common form of manipulation that has kept the market from shutting down is the use of “The Company.” The Company is a concept planted in victims minds that dictate that there is a company controlling, and monitoring them at all times. After long periods of forcing the idea into victims heads, people managed to keep victims from speaking or revealing their situation by instilling the fear that the company will harm them or the people that they are close to.

Today 24.9 million people are being trafficked globally, and though the government has installed task forces to attempt to take the system apart, that is an impossible task without the awareness of the general population. One should always be aware of the issue and pay attention to signs of abuse or trafficking including, avoiding eye contact, social interaction, using scripted style speech, branding physically injuries etc. For more information, check out www. ag.nv.gov