In commemoration of National Human Trafficking and Prevention Day, Saved in America’s own Stephanie Myers appeared on an episode of Good Morning San Diego to talk about the work that our organization is doing and the importance of human trafficking awareness.  The significance of awareness cannot be overstated because the problem as it exists today is growing to epidemic proportions.

Modern Slavery

Today’s human trafficking rings are considered the equivalent of modern-day slavery. They manipulate victims, trapping them within a horrendous industry to force them into various forms of labor and/or making them perform sexual acts. San Diego is second in the nation in terms of human trafficking numbers, making this city especially dangerous for this crime. The COVID pandemic created the perfect storm as it were to increase the instances of human trafficking by an astounding 40%, nationwide. Since kids who once went to school in person were now forced to work online, these predators were able to access kids via online means through social media and other avenues in greater numbers than ever before.

Awareness is Important

This date signifying awareness is vitally important as parents today have to fight against evils online. Instead of facing a bad guy head-on in person, many parents are unaware that their children are being approached online by these criminals under the guise of a friendship or peer-to-peer relationship. Parents today have to be much more diligent than those in previous generations as now much of the victimization and grooming process takes place online. This means parents need to know who their kids are talking to online, and what they are doing on their phones, and ask the hard questions. It means being nosy and getting in their business because it might just save their lives. 

Human Trafficking Extremely Profitable

At the time of airing this broadcast, human trafficking is bringing in more money as an industry than even drug trafficking. The fact that humans can be sold and resold again and again means that the predators who traffic humans instead of drugs can make an immense amount of money. Consequently, because it is so profitable, there are more criminals joining the industry and growing into the very real threat that it is today, even within American borders.