Know the Signs and Take Action Against Human Trafficking

January 11th is Human Trafficking Awareness Day. For many years, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange have worked with local, national, and international organizations that fight against human trafficking. They are a part of the Alliance to End Human Trafficking, a collaborative faith-based network founded by Catholic sisters in 2013. According to Polaris, there were a total of 10,359 trafficking situations in the United States in 2021. Out of those situations, there were likely 16,554 victims involved. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange collaborates with organizations, other congregations, and community leaders to promote awareness and engage people to become involved through advocacy, prayer and education.

A common misconception about human trafficking is that it exclusively takes the form of strangers violently kidnapping people for sexual purposes. The reality is that many victims of human trafficking are lured in through psychological manipulation and threats, sometimes by people whom they know and trust. Sometimes trafficking survivors have been trafficked by spouses and family members, including parents. The recruitment process for victims often involves subtle manipulation and grooming. Traffickers befriend their victims either in real life or through digital means, like social media and online gaming. They then lavish their targets with gifts, attention, and/or promises of employment that sound too good to be true. Once the target is emotionally ensnared, it is just as likely that they can be exploited for their labor as well as commercial sex. One does not even need to be moved from one location to another to be trafficked, as a person can be trafficked within the confines of their own home.

While it is true that anyone can be trafficked, certain demographics of people are made more vulnerable due to systemic discrimination against them. People of color and people who identify as LGBTQ+ are at a higher risk of being trafficked. In 2021, only 4% of human trafficking victims were identified as white while 14% were identified as Latinx. Polaris also records that there a 19% increase in trafficking victims that identified as LGBT+ in between 2020 and 2021. People who live in poverty and/or immigrants (regardless of documentation status) are especially more vulnerable to being trafficked, as 54% of trafficking victims reported to have recently migrated and 8% of trafficking victims came from unstable housing situations in 2021. Other risk factors include having a history of domestic violence or sexual abuse, pre-existing addictions to alcohol/drugs, and/or running away from foster care or the juvenile justice system.

Many establishments utilize enslaved labor but there are warning signs you can watch out for if you know where to look. If an “employee” sleeps on the premises of their workplace or appears to be monitored while interacting with others, it is highly likely that they are a victim of labor trafficking. Victims are also forced to work in subpar conditions with inadequate equipment and/or protection. Documents and passports that belong to the victims are often taken away to further entrap them. Labor trafficking can occur anywhere, including the United States where it is under-reported. It can manifest in all kinds of businesses, from restaurants to nail salons to massage parlors to agricultural farms to textile factories.

Regarding sex trafficking, victims are lured in by recruiters with promises of jobs in modeling or entertainment. Recruiters also establish deep emotional ties to the people they exploit, often by making them fall in love with them. They then force the victims to become financially dependent on them, so it’ll be much harder for the victims to leave. According to Polaris, 44% of sex trafficking victims had a familial relationship with their trafficker while 39% were intimate partners with their trafficker. If you see someone with an older romantic partner or guardian that doesn’t allow them to engage in conversation with others alone, the older person in question might be a trafficker. And in a world where social media is rapidly evolving, it’s only easier for traffickers to contact and groom victims, especially if they’re children.  

If you witness something that matches these scenarios or something similar, you can call the National Hotline for Human Trafficking at 1-888-373-3888 or text 233733.  It only takes a little suspicion.

To combat human trafficking, we need to bring awareness to the systemic issues that allow it to flourish. Human trafficking is a lucrative industry because the “product” can be sold repeatedly and there is a constant demand for commercial sex and cheap, exploitable labor. The Alliance to End Human Trafficking lists poverty and a lack of education and healthcare as common root causes for both labor and sex trafficking all over the world. We must provide the most vulnerable demographics in this country with access to housing, a stable income, and healthcare so they don’t fall into the hands of traffickers.

This month, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange encourage you to learn more to bring awareness and engage in advocacy surrounding human trafficking. One way you can do that is to contact your Senators and urge them to support H.R. 5856, the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act. This bill is nonpartisan and has already been passed by the House of Representatives. Find your Senators’ contact information here. You can also participate in the 2025 LA Walk for Freedom at the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Los Angeles by signing up here.  The event was scheduled for January 11, though is being rescheduled as a result of the extreme weather and fires in the region.

Of course, the best way to fight against human trafficking is through educating yourself and spreading awareness. If you want to learn more, you can sign up for the Alliance to End Human Trafficking’s monthly newsletter here.  You are also welcome to pray along with us via this resource. Cindy Nguyen is a member of the St. Joseph Worker Program (2024/25)