Human Trafficking

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"An ounce of cocaine, wholesale: $1 ,200. You can sell it only once. A woman or child is

$50 to $1,000 but you can sell her each day, every day, over and over and over again. The

markup is immeasurable." (Human Trafficking) says David Sutherland who plays Bill Meechan

an ICE agent in Lifetime's movie Human Trafficking. The buying and selling of humans is an

age old issue that has dated as far back as 1750 B.C. Although slavery is illegal in the United

States, we still see it happening in our own towns and cities all through America. Each year there

are over 20,000 woman and children illegally imported across the United States borders for

domestic and sex slavery. Laws, some new, and many that have been around for hundreds of

years, have been passed and approved by congress to protect our natural rights. In order to

alleviate instances of human trafficking and sex slavery, society as a whole must demand that

government be harsher, more diplomatic and aggressive to fight this "special evil" (Landesman

1), as President Bush referred to it. There needs to be more money in the hands of immigration

and naturalization to control our borders better, and more government funding in education to

raise awareness of human trafficking for our own protection and for the protection of individuals

Kevin Bales, President of Free the Slaves (a nonprofit organization to support the victims

of human trafficking) estimates that today there are over 20,000 women and children annually

trafficked across United States borders. It is said that at any given time there are an estimated

30,000-50,000 people being held in captivity in the United States (Landesman 4). The women

and children that are bound into this sick and tw...

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...nd children trafficked across the world. At any

given time there are over 30,000 victims of this "special evil". Just the amount of women stuck

in captivity within the United States is more than the amount trafficked worldwide. This is an

unbelievable problem socially, economically, and morally. These women are tortured, mentally

and physically, daily for as long as they can last in this entrapment. Each year there is an

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estimated 7 billion dollars earned in shadow market. This money is used for drugs, gangs, mafia,

violence, and other types of domestic slavery. AIDS and many other diseases are also spread because of this issue. There is absolutely nothing positive that could ever come from human trafficking. Together citizens and authorities of government can combat this problem with the tools of education and government funding.

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