Politics & Government

Guest Column: Human Trafficking is a Crime Against Humanity

State Rep. Tom Murt weighs in on potential PA legislation to address the growing crime that exploits over 60,000 adults and over 100,000 children each year in the U.S.

Editor's note: The following guest column was submitted by State Rep. Thomas Murt (R-152).

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The trafficking of human beings is one of the most heinous of crimes imaginable.  It is frequently called 'Modern Day Slavery’ or ‘Dead Bondage.’ 

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Human trafficking occurs around the world in the most developed, as well as in third-world nations.  Despite our collective affluence as a society, human trafficking is sadly alive and well in our nation and also in our Commonwealth. Human trafficking is one of the fastest-growing criminal endeavors in the world. After drugs, humans are the second most trafficked item on the planet. 

It is a $9 billion dollar a year operation which uses force, physical restraint, violence, fraud, coercion, and threats to force victims into various forms of slavery. 

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In child prostitution, over 100,000 children are exploited each year in the U.S alone. Across the U.S., over 60,000 adults are enslaved as victims of human trafficking each year. The actual numbers are much higher due to a gross under-reporting of the crime.

This under-reporting is due to the victims being kept physically and socially isolated from the general public. Frequently, the victims are mistakenly believed to be prostitutes who have chosen the lifestyle, or simply illegal immigrants whom society has chosen to ignore. 

Victims are relocated frequently, and even when being rescued, are reluctant to cooperate with authorities. They have been taught to fear law enforcement and are unaware that they have rights under U.S. law. Sadly, the supply of human trafficking victims from around the world is seemingly endless. 

In our Commonwealth, victims of sex and labor trafficking include U.S. citizens and foreign nationals as well as children and adults. 

In sex trafficking, the activities in which the victims forcibly participate include criminal-controlled prostitution, massage parlors, closed network residential brothels, and mail-order brides. Victims are often advertised on Internet sites and placed in hotels or truck stops where they are made available to customers. 

A recent human trafficking case in Pennsylvania involved girls between the ages of 12 and 17 who were forced into sexual activity at truck stops. 

Traffickers usually withhold passports and immigration papers from foreign-born victims, requiring them to ‘work off’ debts as prostitutes or as slave labor.  Many women believe they are legally emigrating from their home country, only to find out when they arrive, they owe additional fees to the trafficker and must work off their indenture as prostitutes. 

Victims of labor trafficking are usually found in settings such as domestic servitude, agriculture, nail salons, factories, and in travelling sales crews selling candy and magazine subscriptions. In western Pennsylvania in Armstrong County, 20 males from Thailand were recently discovered slaving away in the mushroom industry.

Pennsylvania, although primarily a 'pass through' state for human trafficking, is also a destination.  In addition to commercial front businesses and agricultural operations, traffickers utilize the many highways of the Commonwealth to move victims between locations in Ohio, New Jersey, and New York, and to connect with the I-95 corridor where victims are easily moved along the Eastern Seaboard from New York to Maryland, DC, Georgia, and Florida. 

In Pennsylvania, truck stops, especially along the 'Miracle Mile' are well-known for playing host to sex trafficking. 

A legislative effort is gaining momentum in Pennsylvania to address the crime of human trafficking, but more importantly, to reach out and save the victims.  These bills are designed to give our law enforcement professionals more weapons to use in their efforts to find and stop traffickers, and to rescue victims. 

It is tragic and heartbreaking that in a civilized nation such as ours, forms of slavery still exist. It is appalling that we have not done more to stop it. It is past time to stop this crime and rescue the victims. A human selling other humans into slavery is a crime against humanity and it must be stopped.

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Rep. Thomas P. Murt serves the 152nd Legislative District.  The 152nd Legislative District includes the townships of Lower Moreland, Upper Moreland, as well as the Boroughs of Hatboro and Bryn Athyn.  The district also includes portions of Upper Dublin, Horsham Township, and the Philmont Heights section of Northeast Philadelphia.


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