Muehler
English III H-4
29 April 2012
Human Trafficking in the United States Human trafficking is the illegal act of forcing people, commonly women and children, to perform slave actions. Everyone knows human trafficking is a global problem, but most people do not realize it happens in the United States as well. Thousands of people are affected by this awful crime in the U.S. every day and most of the people that commit it are never caught. Sadly, most trafficking cases occur in massage parlors and spas while the customers are completely oblivious to it. The worst part about human trafficking is that kids, who are forced to commit these awful actions, are often caught and arrested for prostitution, vandalism, or curfew …show more content…
The sex slaves, who tend to be women, work in spas or massage parlors and do whatever sexual favors their customers or bosses, ask them to do. These women and children have no say; they are loaded up and shipped to another spa or massage parlor almost every week, doing the same routine with little pay. The conditions for victims of human trafficking only get worse because they are often arrested for crimes they are forced to commit, such as prostitution, vandalism, and curfew violation. According to the Department of Justice, 1,600 children were arrested for prostitution and violation of laws in 2006 (Carr 1). Police officers see the people as criminals, rather than victims because they do not grasp that there is a trafficker who is forcing them to do all of these crimes. Victims of trafficking are terrified of telling their situation, which only leads the police to believe they are criminals. Human trafficking can be found anywhere in the U.S., but the largest occurrence takes place in large cities. Some of the primary cities that deal with trafficking include Houston, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New Orleans, and New York City (Swartz 2). Houston is top of the list because immigrants, coming from Mexico, to look for jobs are taken advantage of. Most foreigners do not know the freedom they have in the U.S. and think they have no choice, but to obey the