If you’re in the US (or planning to be) this year, and you know you’ll be struggling to make a living, it would be the best if you stayed away from these 16 top US cities for human trafficking in 2019! The USA is definitely a home of the brave, but as for the “land of the free” part, we can’t say we can vouch for it anymore. At least not for the cities on our list.
The US is considered to be the most developed country in the world, with human rights secured and defended (it does belong to the Tier 1 group – countries which are successfully dealing with human trafficking, according to Trafficking in Persons Report). However, it is still struggling with modern day slavery. The answer to the following question gives you an idea about the situation. How many trafficking victims are in the US? According to the Global Slavery Index, there were 403,000 slaves in the US in 2016 (it takes a while to collect and analyze the data, so we are still waiting for 2018). Basically, there are almost half a million people in the states who are barely surviving. They are not free to live their lives. Instead, they are limited by fear, exhaustion, violence, and all kinds of abuse.
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The most common victims in the top 10 states for human trafficking in 2018, as it is the case with the rest of the world, are unprotected women and children. Due to the migrations on a global level, it is often assumed that migrants make the most of the victims, too. Nevertheless, this does not have to be the case. There are plenty of American citizens suffering in top US cities for human trafficking, but what can be said with certainty is that the lack of language fluency is a limiting factor in fighting for one’s rights and negotiating freedom.
As for the most common type of crime in the worst states for human trafficking, our data shows sex trafficking is the most common reason for reporting criminal activities. Still, labor trafficking is not to be neglected either. A lot of people don’t realize they are the victims of human trafficking, which is absolutely shocking. This is probably the reason how we got so many top cities for human trafficking. A huge number of people is working in unsafe conditions, with meager salaries and in fear of leaving the employer as their chances of finding proper employment in these top cities for human trafficking are minimal.
In order to find out the top cities for human trafficking, we first checked which states have had the highest number of calls reporting human trafficking, as reported by the National Human Trafficking Hotline statistics. However, since only individual cities are being mentioned as having high numbers of trafficking victims, and there is no overall, complete data about every city in America, we had to rely on the assumption that the most populous cities are also the most tempting for both potential victims and traffickers. The information about population was collected from World Population Review.
As for what the top 10 states for human trafficking are, we answered the question in our article about 12 states for human trafficking in 2018, and for greater details, you can also take a look at 15 top US cities for human trafficking in 2018.
Without further ado, here is our list of 16 top US cities for human trafficking in 2019. You’ll also find some extra information on the cases.
16. Charleston, South Carolina
The most recent news tells us South Carolina officials have firmly decided to undertake extra measures against human trafficking in the state.
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15. Phoenix, Arizona
One of the recent exploitations was labor trafficking in a bridal shop. The victims were Vietnamese.
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14. Virginia Beach, Virginia
At the moment, a fashion show is being planned in Virginia Beach to bring awareness to human trafficking. This is particularly interesting since the fashion industry is notorious for labor trafficking.
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13. Newark, New Jersey
The state of New Jersey is currently preparing for a new anti-trafficking law.
12. Seattle, Washington
Last year, a new website was launched to help the victims, but Washington is still one of the top states for human trafficking.
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11. Charlotte, North Carolina
Officially, Charlotte is the city with the highest number of sex trafficking cases.
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10. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Apparently, opioid addiction is one of the reasons why Pittsburgh has made it to our list of top US cities for human trafficking in 2019.
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9. Chicago, Illinois
It seems that Chicago is going to be one of FBI top cities for human trafficking, as the FBI has already dealt with some illegal massage parlors, and the year 2019 has just started.
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8. Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is to hold its third Super Bowl in February. Unfortunately, this is also an excellent opportunity for increased human trafficking. As reported, Atlanta is the worst US city for sex trafficking.
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7. Las Vegas, Nevada
Sex trafficking is a huge issue here, and the victims’ age can range from 10 to 60.
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6. Detroit, Michigan
Michigan officials have announced new initiatives against child trafficking, but the time will show if they are to be successful.
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5. New York, New York
The latest news about NY human trafficking is about a 12-year-old girl who was kidnapped and later rescued from a motel. She was supposed to become a victim of sex trafficking.
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4. Columbus, Ohio
A little bit over a month ago, 12 women were found in one house while the police was looking for drugs.
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3. Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is undoubtedly one of the worst US human trafficking cities. Last year, police arrested a woman who was sex trafficking a blind woman. The victim initially trusted the trafficker since they used to go to the same high school.
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2. Houston, Texas
Houston is waiting for new laws on human trafficking to be passed, in hope of decreasing it this year. It comes down to putting signs next to sinks in sexually oriented businesses, which would show information about the human trafficking center in English and Spanish.
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1. Los Angeles, California
If we take a look at the headlines from the last year and all the arrests, it seems strange that LA tops our list of 16 top US cities for human trafficking in 2019. The state leads ahead all the others by 15% when it comes to hotline calls, and the major entertaining city seems to be a hub for sex trafficking, too.
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