valeriaosorio.files.wordpress.com  · Web viewThe issue of human trafficking is quickly becoming a bigger issue in Kentucky and without anybody to stop the pr. oblem it will continue

Valeria Osorio

Professor Scalise

Human Trafficking

December 13th, 2013

The Relevance of Human Trafficking in Kentucky

December 2nd, 2013: A Subway restaurant is busted for having illegal immigrants

working there. The problem is that owners Amrutlal Patel and Dakshaben Patel had

brought these people into the country from India to work at their restaurants and were

even forcing three of them to live in a hidden room in their home. This sounds like a

story from a distant place, a different country or maybe even a different city, a more

dangerous one where midnight pizza runs are completely out of the question. That is not

the case though, this story happened right here in Lexington, Kentucky. So close to where

we go to school, hang out with friends, and support the Kentucky Wildcats. The issue of

human trafficking is quickly becoming a bigger issue in Kentucky and without anybody

to stop the problem it will continue to grow. In this state alone there have been over 25

cases of human trafficking with twice as many child victims alone, this is excluding the

adult victims. Authorities have been unable to successfully slow the spreading of the

issue. Some of the reasons for there being such an issue are the lack of knowledge in the

community, hardly no training for law enforcement and the community, and not many

serious long-term ways to help victims. Kentucky will become a hot spot for human

trafficking if nothing is done to help stop or at least slow the problem.

As previously stated, there is a serious lack of knowledge given out to

members of the community. The people are uninformed about the issue and therefore

cannot help themselves or others. People, especially women don’t know they are targets

because they don’t see themselves as such. In a survey conducted by myself, 84% of the

girls in my sorority’s pledge class did not believe that human trafficking was a problem

in Kentucky. Another 10% of the girls chose to skip the question of defining what human

trafficking meant, stating lack of information as the reason why they were unable to do

so. This means that 65 girls out of my 78-person pledge class don’t believe that we have a

problem and 10 girls don’t even know what human trafficking is. This is a scary number

when one begins to notice that many times a person’s own trustworthy nature is what gets

them into trouble. The victims look at their helpful neighbor and don’t suspect that their

friend who is almost always over could actually be his or her pimp. They don’t look for

the signs that are so clear once pointed out. The signs include, but are not limited to being

paid very little, long and unusual hours, high security in order to visit that person, a

victim avoiding eye contact, victim appears malnourished, few personal possessions,

inconsistencies in stories, loss sense of time, and showing signs of physical abuse. While

these sound minor, they are actually very easy to recognize once you know what to look

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for. Another way to keep an eye out for these victims is to think about places where a

person can be snatched. A lot of times, people believe that it’s going to be in parts of

town where are a lot of immigrants and at-risk teenagers, but it can happen anywhere

even in the most expensive gated communities. Most likely women will get taken, but it

could also be men.

Another way to recognize a victim of human trafficking is to notice if that person

is always on the go. This doesn’t include if they have work or four kids with intense

soccer schedules, but if the same person is always picking them up at unusual hours of

the day, after a normal shift of work would be over then it’s time to speak up. Don’t play

police to these people, while citizen’s arrests can be useful the best way to help is to

simply notice what they are doing and what’s going on. If it appears shady, then call the

police and let them handle it. Here in Kentucky, local law enforcement agents are being

trained to deal with human trafficking. Kentucky is one of only 12 states in the United

States to have a law requiring the training in this area. The state encourages training on

topics related to child trafficking victims. However, Kentucky only requires the police

force and state attorneys to receive this training. They fail to do what other states such as

Minnesota does. In Minnesota the local trafficking cases they use must be used not only

to train the law enforcement agents, but must be also used in public awareness campaigns

to “train” the public. This would be extremely useful because states would be killing two

birds with one stone. They would be showing police officers how to deal with human

trafficking as well as showing the public how dangerous the issue is. If Kentucky were to

adopt this practice into their training then the state would be using resources well and

they would be learning from past cases so they could be prevented in the future.

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By Albert Einstein’s definition insanity is doing the same thing over and over and

expecting different results. So when there is no

progress made in the area of human trafficking

because nobody believes there needs to be change we

are by definition insane. This is why there needs to be

a serious change in the way Kentucky deals with the

issue. Representative Overly from Paris, Kentucky

stated that, “the incidence of child trafficking is growing at an alarming pace in

Kentucky.” While Governor Beshear has taken steps to alleviate some parts of human

trafficking, there is still a lot of work to do. Just this past March, Governor Beshear

signed a bill into action that would increase protections for victims of trafficking

specifically child victims. The bill also strengthens the punishments of the criminals who

commit these crimes. This is will hopefully make strides in bettering the situation.

Another big problem that needs correcting quickly is the lack of help provided to

the victims. There are organizations like Restore and Rescue, and Catholic Charities, but

there is only so much that these organizations can accomplish. After victims are taken

into safety the first thing that needs addressing is the possible language barrier. In most

cases the victims will speak another language. After this there is not much available to

victims. Kentucky has many counselors in all areas of the state, but long term there is

virtually nothing. The Center for Women has much to offer women and families who

have fallen victim to domestic violence, rape/sexual assault, or economic hardships. They

also host training for people who wish to help victims of human trafficking, even an

award winning curriculum titled, “Human Trafficking and Slavery: Tools for an effective

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Response.” The Center for Women does not however, have anything serious to help

victims. This is highly disrespectful to victims though. This is equivalent to the Good

Samaritan giving his money to someone else and having him or her help the man who

needed help instead of doing it himself. When someone has time, money and resources to

help another person out then that person has the responsibility to do that. Kentucky can’t

just be put down for its lack of long-term help, especially when there are so many

counselors here to help victims.

There has been an increased number of human trafficking cases since the last

formal report in 2009. A recent study conducted by Restore and Rescue shows alarmingly

large numbers in the amount of minors being trafficked. There has also been a huge

increase in the number of boys being taken as opposed to girls. Most people think that it

is only girls being taken for sexual reasons, but in reality 55.9% of victims are male.

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Another shocking number is the amount of people being recruited right here in Kentucky.

Professionals who work with victims stated that 79.5% of victims were recruited in

Kentucky and 95.7% lived in Kentucky while being trafficked. This means that the pimps

are coming into our state, taking our people and selling them to people right here in our

states. We have a responsibility as citizens of this state to stop this. We should not be the

reason that pimps can live luxurious lives. So many people think that the pimps are

selling out of state only, or that they are selling the people to drug addicts and people

generally thought of as “bad people.” The people that your mom said to stay away from

when you were a kid, but most times it’s people one would never suspect. For example,

in Louisville, Kentucky a wealthy family took a 10 year old girl from her home country

and brought her to the east end of Louisville. They promise to give her a life of fulfilled

dreams and an education, but instead she was locked in a basement and forced to be the

family slave until she escaped at age 20 while her captors were on vacation. Nobody

would have suspected that a wealthy, upper class family with kids of their own would do

this. Being naïve about who is capable of what causes so much harm.

Kentucky is a state full of promise, full of rich natural resources, racehorses and a

growing social and economic scene. With all this growth come negative side effects. All

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around the world Kentucky is known for the Derby. Celebrities and millionaires from

around the nation and the world are known to fly in on private jets to watch the

festivities. With all the excitement and flow of booze and alcohol comes the added

danger for possible trafficking victims and added business for pimps. There are more

customers to please therefore a pimp will acquire more employees. A prestigious event in

our city meant for everyone to enjoy is turning into a dangerous time of year for women

and men who can no longer go out and enjoy this time of the year. Family events such as

Thunder Over Louisville are now so dangerous that parents don’t take their kids out to

enjoy the show. Human trafficking has damaged Kentucky traditions and has especially

put kids in great danger.

There have been 44 child human trafficking victims in Kentucky, but there is little

to no work or true information available. Authorities have allowed the children in the

state to slip through the cracks. In some instances, this is understandable. There are 6,872

children in the foster care system, of these only 842 will be adopted. That is a lot of

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children to watch out for and take care of, there is no human way possible to keeps tabs

on these kids at all times. While this is a big number, the number of neglected and abused

children is even larger. In 2011 there were 17,470 kids that fell under this category. Some

of these kids will fall into trafficking. Restore and Rescue’s report on minors trafficked

included a child who trafficked himself in order to feed his drug addiction. Other times,

parents will sell their children to provide for their own drug addiction. Such was the case

of a woman in Bowling Green who charged men to come into a 16 year old girl’s

bedroom and do whatever they pleased with her. She even started to charge the men to

make videos to sell to potential customers. In order to correct this specific part of the

problem, there should be harder screenings for Foster parents. While there may not be

many people willing to take in a troubled teenager, if all the foster parents are going to do

is neglect and ignore the child then they should not have them in their home. There

should also be harsher punishments for people who commit these crimes against children.

The seriousness of the problem also calls for more help to be provided to children.

Counseling for these victims should be more available and targeted specifically to them.

A child will not respond to the same kind of counseling that an adult will respond to so

their counseling needs should be more tailored to how the specific person will react and

heal the most effectively.

In conclusion, there is a serious lack of support for human trafficking in

Kentucky. There are plenty of cases and evidence showing how big and widespread an

epidemic it is becoming in our state. If we as citizens do not control it then it will

continue to grow and put more lives in danger. There are many, clear and simple

solutions to the issue at hand that include, but are not limited to: creating a home for

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victims to receive long term help, provide more training for not just law enforcement

agents, but for everyone, make stricter rules for those wishing to take a foster child,

provide information in schools to all kids on how to protect themselves, have more

counselors, and inform the public on how to catch victims and capture pimps. If there

was a home where victims could live and heal until they were ready to face society then

the chance of them falling back into trafficking would significantly decrease. In this place

victims would have counselors tailored specifically to their needs and situation. The

training here in Kentucky is nationally recognized so it should be put to good use. The

state should train not just the people who are most likely to run into the issue, but

everyone. The Juvenile Justice panel is severely lacking in information so when a child

gets into trouble or falls back into trafficking the people responsible for their punishment

show no mercy, which only makes the child more likely to continue in their path. When a

child is growing up, they are formed and molded by experiences and the examples of

adults around them. There needs to be a better way of screening foster parents. There

may not be many people willing to become foster parents, but that doesn’t mean that as a

society we can allow just anyone to take on the job. It would be better for a child to be in

an orphanage with other kids than in a foster home where the parents do not care what the

child is doing and where the child can fall into serious danger from being ignored.

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If everyone

knew the simple

symptoms of a

trafficking victim then

many lives would be

saved. In order to teach

people these signs, there should be school programs dedicated to teaching the state’s

children about how common and easy it is to fall victim to this billion-dollar industry.

School programs would be very easy to implement into the system, there are plenty of

people that could teach the program. Anyone from a social worker to a volunteer can

learn the information necessary to teach these kids and the results could potentially save

many lives. These programs could also be altered to teach other citizens of Kentucky. A

simple way to teach everyone would be to have a short 4 minute segment on local news

channels during the news or shorter clips in the commercials of popular TV shows. Also,

by making the national hotline number common knowledge people would be more likely

to step in. At times people are simply too lazy to look up the number and because they

have no real knowledge of what to look for they just brush it off.

Kentucky has so much to offer like a growing music scene and better quality of

life, but the state’s positive growth is marred by the negative growth of the human

trafficking industry. Now more than ever the problem has increased to the highest it has

ever been and if more steps are not taken soon, the problem will not improve. In order to

prevent the state from becoming just another hot spot with big numbers everyone’s help

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is required. The state’s legislature cannot do it alone, and the people of the state are

needed to combat the issue. Everyone has a responsibility to protect their fellow man

from falling into this terrible fate. With solutions as simple as they are, there is no excuse

not to help, not anymore. Not when numbers are increasing as high and as quickly as they

are. They say it can’t happen to you until one day it does. Then what?

Translation: “I asked God to help me get out of my country and the devil answered.

Don’t fool yourself. You can be a victim of human trafficking.”

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Works CitedAnti-Trafficking in Persons. Digital image. Office of Refugee

Resettlement. US Department of Health and Human Services, n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2013.

Children' s Defense Fund Statistics. Jan. 2011. Raw data. Kenticky, n.p.

Cole, Jennifer, Ph.D. Sex Trafficking of Minors in Kentucky. Rep.

Rescue and Restore, Aug. 2013. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.

Governor Steve Beshear's Office. Communication. Governor Steve

Beshear's Communications Office. Kentucky.gov. N.p., 26 Mar.

2013. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.

"How Much Do You Know About Human Trafficking?" Interview by

Valeria E. Osorio. n.d.: n. pag. Print.

Hughes, Donna M. Hiding in Plain Sight. Rep. N.p.: n.p., n.d. University

of Rhode Island, 2003. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.

Human Trafficking - Spanish. Digital image. Domestic Human Services, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2013.

Osorio, Valeria E. How Much Do You Know About Human Trafficking Survey. 22 Oct. 2013. Raw data. N.p.

Raymond, Janice G., and Carol J. Gomez. SEX TRAFFICKING OF

WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES. N.p., Mar. 2001. Web. 22

Oct. 2013.

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"Training for Law Enforcement." ThePolarisProject.org. The Polaris

Project, 2013. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families. N.p.: U.S.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families, n.d. 17 Aug. 2012. Web.

22 Oct. 2013.

<http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/orr/child_explotation_e

nglish.pdf>.

"Violent Crimes Against Children." FBI. FBI, 31 Aug. 2010. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.

Williams, Bethanni. "Human Trafficking Allegations at Subway in

Lexington, Ky." Whas11.com. N.p., 3 Dec. 2013. Web. 11 Dec.

2013.

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