Human trafficking, sexual exploitation has invisible victims

It’s a modern form of slavery, the third largest criminal industry in the world after drug and weapons dealing, and the fastest growing.

“The number of victims for human trafficking and exploitation is incalculable. Some organizations suggest that at least 350,000 kids are being exploited in the U.S. but there are no real surveys to prove it, because most of the time the victims are invisible to us,” she said.

Child pornography, sexual and labor exploitation, sex tourism, and panhandling, are some of the issues happening in Baja California and California frontiers, said Ugarte.

Many American teenagers and young women are victims of human trafficking and exploitation, said Anna Rodriguez, founder and CEO of the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking.

“We have a law that punishes Americans that commit these crimes in another country, but we are not seeing more cases of this kind,” Rodriguez said. “Then where are we failing?” Read more at www.sdnn.com