The 2018 Global Report on Trafficking Persons from the UNODC (United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime) was released this month. According to the report human trafficking has an appalling increase that looked at data from 142 countries between 2014 and 2016. An increase in number of girls forced into trafficking (mostly for sexual exploitation) is...
Author: Jordyn Abrigo (Jordyn Abrigo)
Phoenix, AZ Sex Trafficking Survivor Speaks Out
She was just 14 years of age when she got caught into trafficking. She recalls a bad, unhappy home situation; feeling like she had no other choice, she left. “I was very naive and unaware of what was going on,” she says. “I was trafficked from the time I was 14, until I was 23.” ...
Child bride auctioned on social media
Social media has changed drastically over the past 10 years. While it started off as a way to stay in touch with family and friends and to make new connections it has now turned into many things; some of them sinister. Backpage was recently shut down after people were being sold for sex and money...
“He couldn’t deal with the torture and the shame..”
“Like many victims of a Connecticut sex trafficking ring that preyed on troubled young men and teenage boys for more than 20 years, Samuel Marino never told his family or police about being coerced into sexual relations with much older men. “He couldn’t deal with the torture and the shame of being prostituted and also of...
Arizona 3rd in Human Trafficking Offenses in U.S.
According to the FBI in 2017 Arizona ranked 3rd in human trafficking offenses and had the highest number of arrests. “It is anybody. Businessmen, junkies from the street, anybody looking for sex,” said an 18-year-old sex trafficking survivor, who spoke to ABC 15 they have concealed her identity for her privacy and safety. “Like 28th (Street) and Indian...
“What’s the Code Word?” – Arizona 11 year-old girl
Just outside of Phoenix in the San Tan Valley last Wednesday 11/7/2018 an 11 year-old girl and her friend were approached by a man in a white SUV. The man told her that her brother’s had been in a bad accident and that she needed to go with him immediately. This happened in the middle...
Child sex trafficking found in every county of Wisconsin
Morgan Young, a victim services training officer with the Wisconsin Office of Crime Victim Services notes, “Child sex trafficking has been identified in every Wisconsin county.” She lead a two hour presentation on recognizing and reporting the signs of human trafficking. ” “There’s a lot of imagery out there about human trafficking that shows young, blonde...
Operation leads to 75 arrests and 5 rescues in Texas
In the last two weeks of October a two week operation in Texas 75 arrests were made in a human trafficking sting. Complaints of prostitution and other activities related to sex trafficking were made to the multi-jurisdictional task force dubbed Operation Cross County. The goal was to eradicate areas that where deemed human and sex...
“Happening in our backyards.”
Halton Police of Canada, are seeing an increase of human trafficking arrests. It’s hard to say whether or not it is becoming worse or they are just identifying it more often. Halton, with a populous a little over 545,000 has made nine arrests this year. While it may not seem like a lot, for...
Internet, Minors and Human Trafficking
Crystal Blanton, co-chair of the Marion County Human Trafficking Task Force, explained ” it’s not like the movies (“Taken” 2008)”. This misconception of what human trafficking can be is widespread. Human trafficking takes many forms, whether it be huge rings in foreign countries, street prostitution in bad parts of town, or neighborhood run operations, even...