Many of us know Pennsylvania as the home of agriculture and tourism. In terms of our economy, they are our most stable revenue generators, and both are industries that shine and make us extraordinary within the United States. However, there is one industry that runs rampant in big cities and small towns alike — secretive in the manner it does business by exploiting and degrading human life for the sake of profit. It's the industry of human trafficking.
Human trafficking, including sexual slavery and forced labor, is one of the most heinous crimes committed across the globe and within the United States, plaguing both urban and rural areas. According to the United Nations, approximately 2.5 million people worldwide are forced into human trafficking, including 100,000 in the U.S. and often they are runaways. The U.N. also estimates the total market value of illicit human trafficking at $32 billion. That figure includes the "sale" of individuals ($10 billion) and the profits from the activities or goods produced by these victims.
The great majority of victims within this modern-day form of slavery are women and young girls. Many are forced into prostitution or otherwise exploited sexually. It is virtually impossible for them to get out. Young boys and girls are also trafficked into conditions of child labor within a diverse group of industries, such as textiles, fishing or agriculture. This is just one reason why Pennsylvania is a valuable target for trafficking practices.
In previous years, the Department of Homeland Security has warned that trafficking is becoming more and more prevalent in small towns and that Pennsylvania is a destination due to our many interstate highways that connect Ohio, New Jersey and New York. We who reside in eastern Pennsylvania, in very close proximity to New York City, Philadelphia and Washington D.C., should be particularly concerned.
What is disconcerting is that many individuals do not believe this to be a problem or an issue that could be happening right down the street from where they live. But reality tells us it can and does happen close to us.
According to state Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery, Upper Merion Township has been a hotbed for human trafficking. Law enforcement has been cracking down in Berks County over the past year with the raiding of local "spas." York County has also seen its share of problems. In recent years, Immigration and Customs Enforcement uncovered a network of brothels, including two in York County where women were being sexually exploited.
Since our federal and state governments have not passed much legislation or emphasized curbing this phenomenon, we should be doing our best to engage this issue at the county and local levels.
Just recently, the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape and the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association announced the formation of the first regional Human Trafficking Response Team in central Pennsylvania. The team is comprised of law enforcement agencies, social service networks, advocates, and professional trade associations. Discussing the benefits of the response team, Coalition Against Rape CEO Delilah Rumburg said it "will hold traffickers accountable for the crimes they commit within our neighborhoods and along our interstates, and extend crucial services to victims." This is a much-needed step in the right direction to fight this problem in Pennsylvania.
I hope leaders in Northampton, Lehigh and surrounding counties will follow suit and implement their own Human Trafficking Response Team. I challenge them to begin this process.
We also need to make sure that police throughout the Lehigh Valley receive enhanced training. Local law enforcement officers play an essential role, as many are the first to encounter potential victims of trafficking at the crime scene. Thus, police need to become more proactive rather than reactive.
It's no secret that the best way to successfully prosecute human trafficking is with collaboration among local law enforcement, federal authorities and social service providers. Let's begin to establish a stronger dialogue and solid plan locally to weed out perpetrators of human trafficking.
As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, "The problem of modern trafficking may be entrenched, but it is solvable. By using every tool at our disposal to put pressure on traffickers, we can set ourselves on a course to eradicate modern slavery."
Jeff Warren is a member of Easton City Council and chair of council's Public Safety Committee.
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