Fighting Human Trafficking

Fighting Human Trafficking

November brought some relief to the nation and the world with our new President Elect, Joe Biden. Hopefully this will help to bring an end to the bigotry, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia and blatant racism that has reached new heights over the last four years. America now has a chance to rebuild and unite.

At the same times, we continue the fight against human trafficking. We need to recognize that trafficking aligns with racial injustice. All the systemic discrimination related to homelessness, mass incarceration, the lack of equal access to jobs, health care and education that Black and brown communities, as well as immigrant communities, face means that they are also disproportionately victimized by trafficking. And that makes them more likely to be arrested and potentially abused by police. They are often treated as criminals instead of being offered community services.

As the second largest illegal activity in the world, the fight against human trafficking deserves more attention. At the end of this post, you will see the 51 places in the US where it was reported just in November 2020. 

There were 530 individuals arrested, suspected, or charged with human trafficking activities in the United States in October as well as 68 victims removed from entrapped trafficking, including 65 who were minors. There was one new law passed and 35 community initiatives that took place. 

Internationally in October, there were 37 individuals arrested, suspected, or charged with human trafficking activity, as well as 23 victims removed from being entrapped in trafficking, including 4 under the age of 18. There were eight new community initiatives.

What can you do? Learn more about the issue by reading. Volunteer for a local anti-human trafficking organization. Donate resources if you can. Most importantly, if you know someone who is a victim or see a suspicious incident that may involve someone being trafficked, call the 

National Human Trafficking Hotline

1-888-373-7888.

Below, I have listed the 51 U.S. cities where human trafficking was reported or addressed in a community initiative in November 2020:

Albany, Georgia 

Anaheim, California

Atlanta, Georgia 

Blue Ash, Ohio

Bowling Green, Kentucky

Cincinnati, Florida

Cincinnati, Ohio

Columbus, Ohio

D’Iberville, Mississippi

Dayton, Ohio

Durham, North Carolina

East Hartford, Connecticut

Flomaton, Alabama

Fort Worth, Texas

Gilroy, California

Grand Island, Nebraska

Greenville, South Carolina

Grenville, Texas

Hoover, Alabama

Huntington, West Virginia

Independence, Ohio

Lakeland, Florida

Las Vegas, Nevada

Lafayette, Indiana

Lincoln, Nebraska

Long Beach, California

McEnery, Illinois

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Odessa, Florida

Oxford, Mississippi

Ozark, Alabama

Palm Springs, California

Patterson, California

Pomona, California 

Portland, Oregon

Portsmouth, Ohio

Reno, Nevada

Richmond, Virginia

Ripley, Mississippi

Roanoke, Virginia

Sacramento, California 

San Francisco, California

San Jose, California

San Marcos, Texas

SLO County, Florida

Tallahassee, Florida 

Trenton, New Jersey

Urbana, Illinois

Visalia, California

Woodstock, Illinois

Youngstown, Ohio

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