DHS warns human trafficking runs rampant on US soil

WASHINGTON (TNND) — It can start out innocently enough, with an offer for a job to work in a hotel, restaurant or casino, but within days or weeks, young people across the U.S. can become victims of human trafficking.

It's a $150 billion industry. Worldwide, it impacts 27 million people a year, according to the U.S. State Department.

In an interview with WEYI, Heather Pagan told her story of being a survivor of human trafficking.

I met my first trafficker at the age of 14 who took advantage of a lot of vulnerabilities that I had," said Pagan. "I had some childhood trauma, came from a very disturbed family."

Pagan told her story publicly as a way to help others, including in a new Fisher Films Documentary, "The Slave in your Backyard."

If they want to ship you in a container, they can and they will," she says in the trailer.

The documentary focuses on the subtle reality of human trafficking, that "predators hide in plain sight."

In an interview with Sinclair, Brandi Bynum, who is the acting unit chief,at the DHS Center for Countering Human Trafficking, said one of the biggest myths is that it only happens in other countries.

In fact, she said it's a big issue in the U.S.

Most people think about human trafficking -- they think about sex trafficking, so when somebody is exploiting somebody for commercial sex, but human trafficking also involves forced labor, and so that's when someone is being forced to work for little or no pay," she said.

Bynum added that the pay they do earn is often handed over to their trafficker, who has threatened or exploited them.

In other cases, the vulnerable fall victim to domestic servitude.

We have survivors in our network who were promised a job where they would come in, maybe babysit, go home. Now they're babysitting, they're working 19 hours a day, they're living in the house, they're cooking and cleaning. And some of our survivors were 12 and 13," Bynum said.

In West Virginia, a couple was recently found guilty of forced labor and human trafficking of their adopted children.

Video played at trial showed them locked in a shed, forced to stand all day, and sleep on the floor with minimal food or opportunities to bathe.

In its most recent "Trafficking in Persons" report, the U.S. State Department highlighted a disturbing trend by traffickers known as “forced criminality."

In other words, they coerce their victims to engage in or support criminal activities ranging from working as part of online scam operations to commercial sex, later threatening that if they seek help, they will be prosecuted for the unlawful acts.

The fear of this, experts insist, contributes to a vicious and often undetected cycle of trafficking in communities across the country.

There are a few signs to look for: a child or teen that’s stopped attending school, as well as a person showing signs of being denied food, water or medical care.

It can also involve dramatic changes in behavior or children who appear to be coached or conditioned on what to say or do.