Introduction
Sexual slavery, forced labor, isolation, deprivation, violence, physical and psychological terror, early and untimely death. These are the words to describe the experiences of victims of human trafficking. According to the US Department of State, between 15,000 to 18,000 individuals are trafficked into the US every year (Burke 37). These include men, women, and children, many of whom do not survive captivity and never see the light of freedom again. Around the world, approximately 12 million people are in captivity at any given moment (Burke 15). As it stands, the US Government’s policy towards human trafficking is based on three pillars: Prevent, Protect, and Prosecute. The position of this essay is that the state does not do enough in the prevention aspect of the crime. US government should prioritize border control as a means of preventing human trafficking, because a strong border creates a bottleneck of access, which makes it easier to spot victims, and those responsible for it can be easily detained.
Current Policy towards Human Trafficking
The US government seeks to prevent human trafficking, protect its victims, and prosecute the criminals. However, the crucial element of this system is prevention. Victims are in less need of protection if the deed is intercepted mid-way or dissuaded from happening entirely (Weitzer 42). As it stands, the prevention part of the policy focuses on public awareness, outreach, education, and advocacy (Weitzer 41). The prosecution part involves providing training and technical assistance to police, law enforcement, and judges. As it is possible to see, none of the motions currently in place explicitly mention border control.
One of the best places to intercept human trafficking into the US is at the border. While borders with its neighbors, such as Canada and Mexico, are extensively long, it is much easier to intercept a caravan filled with captured women and children being ferried into the country when it is passing a checkpoint (Farrell 40). The country area is much wider, and it is easier to find places there where victims can be isolated, exploited, and brutalized. Public awareness campaigns, outreach, education, and advocacy are useless when the victim is trapped inside a basement, or kept somewhere where people could not notice their dire situation. Most of human trafficking into the US comes through the US-Mexican border (Farrell 42). The likelihood of human trafficking interception is much higher when they are crossing the border rather than when they are already set-up inside of the country.
What Must Be Done?
Conversations about tighter border control are considered a politically-charged topic these days. That is largely because of the ongoing immigration issue and diametrically opposite position on it by the two major political parties that dominate the US (Burke 79). However, a bipartisan consensus can be reached when the issue is framed in terms of human trafficking. While the legislative landscape can be changed to make legal entrance to the US easier, the physical process of crossing the border has to be under a more vigilant watch. While the infamous “Wall” project is both physically and economically improbably, it must be made so that every bit of border with Mexico is under direct or indirect supervision by the border control agencies (Burke 83). The proposed improvements to the existing border control include better funding for physical supervision, selective construction of physical barriers, and a much tighter control over officers, to prevent corruption and collaboration with criminals (Milivojevic 26). All of these measures combined ought to reduce the amount of human trafficking coming into US.
Conclusion
Human trafficking is a serious problem in the US, with thousands of victims being imported into the country on a yearly basis. The state is not doing enough to stop the caravans filtering through the borders. The proposed solution is to increase vigilance and accountability of the border control, to help prevent the crime at the bottleneck, and dissuade would-be criminals to attempt the deed. This should help achieve the long-term goal of destroying the local slave trade market due to a lack of supply.
Works Cited
Burke, Mary C.Human Trafficking: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Routledge, 2022.
Farrell, Amy, et al. “Policing Labor Trafficking in the United States.” Trends in Organized Crime, vol. 23, no. 1, 2020, pp. 36-56.
Milivojevic, Sanja, et al. “Freeing the Modern Slaves, One Click at a Time: Theorising Human Trafficking, Modern Slavery, and Technology.” Anti-Trafficking Review, vol. 14, 2020, pp. 16-32.
Weitzer, Ronald. “Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking.” Great Decisions, vol. 1, 2020, pp. 41-52.