“Latinas, African-Americans and indigenous women are disproportionately affected by human trafficking,” Norma Ramos, Executive Director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) a non-profit organization dedicated to abolishing modern day slavery, told those attending the Hispanic National Bar Association’s 2nd Annual Human Trafficking Conference at the University of Miami last Friday. While there are 15,000 to 18,000 people trafficked in the United States each year, Ramos stated, the “overwhelming majority” are the country’s own citizens.
“The worse thing about the movie Taken,” said Miami Springs Councilman Dan Espino, referring to the 2008 film starring Liam Neeson in which his on-screen daughter is abducted in France “is that it created the impression that human trafficking is something that happens over there.” The truth is that Miami is third in the nation in the human trafficking, behind New York and California.