Seeing the signs of human trafficking

BY HANNAH HERNER

The phrase “human trafficking” probably brings a certain situation to mind. Maybe it’s a woman being kidnapped and forced to have sex for money. While that is situation is certainly possible, it accounts for a very small number of cases of human trafficking. End Slavery TN, a nonprofit serving victims of human trafficking, looks to educate the public on what human trafficking looks like, while offering supportive services for victims.

Human trafficking also includes labor trafficking, where workers are trapped and have to keep working for someone even if they don’t want to. Labor traffickers most often target immigrants in the United States, according to Freedom Network USA, a national coalition working to influence policy and to provide training and opportunities for those affected by human trafficking.

Sex trafficking is defined by a minor being given anything in exchange for a sex act, or any time an adult is forced into sex for money or other economic benefits by someone else. Traffickers can be family members, including parents and spouses, friends, and partners, too.

At End Slavery Tennessee in 2020, 70 percent of the clients were white, 97 percent were U.S. Citizens, and large majority were women. They do not have a staff member that speaks other languages. A resolution passed by Nashville’s City Council in 2019 estimated that there are 31,000 undocumented immigrants living and working in Nashville.

The 2020 report also shows that End Slavery provided after care to 140 reported cases of human trafficking in Middle Tennessee, and 86 of those were in Davidson County. Seventy five of them were referred by the victim themselves or their family, and 12 were referred by the state hotline. Most of the cases were involving sex trafficking, a spokesperson for the organization added. In 2020, End Slavery also opened a fourbed Safe House in partnership with Thistle Farms, another area nonprofit that serves victims of sex trafficking.

The prevalence of human trafficking is notoriously underreported in some places, and over-inflated in others. What we do know is that people experiencing poverty and homelessness are especially vulnerable to these types of exploitation, and those who have been trafficked are vulnerable to it happening again if they do not get stable housing. In addition, being a woman on the streets adds another layer of vulnerability. That is why The Contributor is training staff to spot the signs of human trafficking in the people we serve.

We talked with Leah Moyer, Director of Development at End Slavery Tennessee about what their work looks like.

I think that people probably have like a picture of like, just mostly women who are forced into sex trafficking, but I know that End Slavery also deals with labor trafficking. Can you tell me about that?

I will say the majority of our clients are women. Just I would say overall, men are far less reporting their victimization. And I would also say that speaking of demographics, as well, [people who identify as LGBT and women or girls of color] are definitely affected by this issue at a higher rates, but they are far less reported.

And I think, too with labor trafficking, because it can be more men that are affected, it’s probably less reported in general, versus sex trafficking, just because of that dynamic. When you’re talking about labor trafficking, you also could be talking about an entire family unit that’s being trafficked. So that’s a harder kind of dynamic to serve as well, because you have victimization going across different family members that are involved.

I see that 97 percent of the people you served last year were U.S. citizens. Do you see prevalence in trafficking in the undocumented immigrants here?

A lot of people still think that domestic trafficking is just not happening. At 97 percent — that’s our statistic of what we’re seeing our United States citizens — there’s a lot of people that think it affects more non-US citizens in this country. And that’s definitely not the case.

A lot of people think that in this country, more of the non U.S. citizens are affected by trafficking. And it’s definitely a misconception because we serve so many domestic clients that are being trafficked.

Your podcast Someone Like Me looks to bust myths about human trafficking. Is there a common one you hear?

There’s a lot of times people think that this issue looks a certain way based on movies or media or just things that are out there circulating. I can’t even tell you the number of people that referenced the movie Taken, which is not a depiction of what domestic trafficking looks like.

Also it just uses a little bit of fear as well of just that kidnapping situation of someone being snatched out of a parking lot and being forced into sex trafficking. I will say I don’t think I can think of a situation like that of a client we’ve served, where it’s been kind of a kidnapping situation. It’s been a really close relationship to this person, someone that has preyed on a person and taken months and months of time to groom them and to build their trust, and to find their vulnerability to turn around and exploit.

Do you find that like women who don’t have permanent housing to be more vulnerable to this type of abuse?

There are definitely vulnerabilities that make someone more susceptible to trafficking. And so a few of those would be former child abuse, or especially sexual abuse, just because that does distort that self esteem, body image, as well as just the overall mentality of sex. That is a big one. I think foster care, runaways, homelessness, poverty, [make people more vulnerable to human trafficking] for sure.

Can you tell me about the specialized groups to keep vulnerable youth safer that you mention on your website?

Fairly recently we have really ramped up our prevention programming. We obviously already partner with [the] Department of Children Services, law enforcement and then several other behavioral treatment facilities for youth just around town. And through those programs, we not only receive clients who have been trafficked, and we have confirmed that, but we also sometimes now will see prevention clients. It’s basically when these partners see someone, and they’re really nervous that they are participating in some behavior that could lead to exploitation, they will refer them to us.

It’s really just working on building that rapport with that client and that individual to hopefully be that positive influence, and a positive example in their life of what they deserve in their relationships so that they are less vulnerable to exploitation.

What would help stop some of this from happening as far as policy goes, like keeping people from being in a situation where they’re vulnerable to trafficking, beyond just awareness?

I think we have been really making the mark in Tennessee. Since we have been a 501(c)(3), we’ve [helped pass] over 40 laws that have been supportive of the victim and basically promoting that justice, and keeping and holding and traffickers and even purchasers accountable.

Our CEO is the former [Tennessee Bureau of Investigation] Assistant Special Agent in charge of the human trafficking task force. I think, working with the recovery of victims has definitely made this type of thing a big passion of hers because she has seen children being pulled out of the situation. I know that just overall, harsher consequences for purchasers is definitely something she wants to see because of the contributions they’re making to the trauma of these of these victims, especially the children.

So does your work in policy changes mostly focus on harsher consequences for those participating in it, or are there changes you’d like to see for victims and prevention?

We’re also talking about other things as well, as far as like expungement laws for someone who has been trafficked and has maybe committed a crime that’s trafficking related.

Just, for instance, last year, [we] worked on advocating for a law that mandated educators be trained in human trafficking and being a required profession that has to report if they suspect trafficking and having a specific streamlined process for what they do if they suspect trafficking. And so not only did we advocate for that law to happen, and it passed, but we also created the training for these educators, and over 25,000 educators in Tennessee.

How do we report suspected trafficking without bringing attention and making things worse for the person involved?

The first, the first thing to do is to call the human trafficking hotline. I always tell people to just put it in their phones. You never know when you might suspect that. I also tell people put Tennessee and put the national hotline in your phone because you could be traveling and see something suspicious. One thing is there is no repercussion if you suspect something and make a report and stuff ends up not being a trafficking situation. I would say usually people’s gut instincts are probably accurate, if something feels just off, the hairs are kind of standing up on the back of your neck.

I think the biggest thing that you don’t want to do is just making sure you’re not putting yourself in an unsafe situation. That is obviously first and foremost priority. And then just trying not to take responsibility of what the professionals need to do. Asking too many questions that the victim can be really triggering or traumatizing. And so just making sure you’re kind of leaving that to the professionals, whether it’s law enforcement, or just trained professionals that are trauma informed, to be able to work with a victim and kind of make sure that they’re feeling comfortable to disclose what they what they can at that point.

TENNESSEE HUMAN TRAFFICKING HOTLINE: (855) 558-6484