In this article Holly Smith, a human trafficking survivor and activist, discusses the US Department of Transportation’s push to involve survivor input in helping train employees to recognize and prevent human trafficking. The Department of Homeland Security, Department of Transportation, and Amtrak joined forces in October to create and implement new training and educational programs for transportation employees to try and combat the use of the American transportation system in human trafficking. Truck stops and forms of public transportation are common methods of trafficking within the US. The author applauds their efforts to include input from actual survivors in the program. Smith explains the importance of survivor input, as they are most familiar with the avenues traffickers take, and thus can provide signs to look for in order to recognize potential trafficking. She concludes by providing several survivor’s stories of their experiences, which exemplifies the variety of ways in which humans are trafficked in this country.
What do you think about this plan? Does it come as a surprise to you to hear of instance of human trafficking in the US? Do you think human trafficking should get more press in our country?