For most Americans, human and sex trafficking is a practice that evokes far-away lands of underdevelopment and need. But according to recent studies, it is a matter that is creeping in through the cracks of broken homes across the country and also through the porous Mexican border.
In an effort to curb the spread of this affliction, California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris and Mexico Attorney General Marisela Morales Ibáñez signed an accord last week to expand prosecutions of criminals—typically members of transnational gangs—who engage in the trafficking of human beings.
Most of the women trafficked into the U.S. are undocumented, recruited with false promises of marriage or a legitimate job. Data from the Polaris Project, a non-profit that runs the national human trafficking hotline, indicates that, especially if the woman has an initial smuggling debt or some other form of debt, they often face debt bondage and the revenues made from commercial sex acts are applied to pay off their debt.
Read Related: Keep Your Child Safe from Predators
Although it’s hard to establish a solid number of victims, or even define them—child victims of sexual trafficking usually don’t readily self-identify as victims, due to psychological abuses inflicted by their trafficker—the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates that at least 100,000 children across the country are at risk of being sexually exploited each year. The average age of entry into the commercial sex industry is between 12 and 14 years old. Read the full article on FOX NEWS Latino.
