Trafficking in persons, also known as human trafficking, is the modern practice of slavery. It is the third largest criminal industry in the world today, after arms and drug dealing, and is the fastest growing.

Victims of trafficking are forced or coerced into labor and sexual exploitation, with approximately 50% of all victims being children. Sex trafficking is the most lucrative sector of the trade in people, and involves sexual exploitation in prostitution or pornography, bride trafficking, and prostitution and pornography victimizing children.

Millions of women and children are victims of trafficking each year, with an estimated 20,000 foreign nationals trafficked annually into the United States alone. The number of US citizens trafficked within the country are even higher, with an estimated 200,000 - 400,000 American children prostituted each year.

But in terms of the statistics, there are an estimated 50,000 women and children who are trafficked each year into the United States. That's a CIA figure, used by the State Department. Not all, but most of the women and children are trafficked into the sex industry. So sex trafficking is a booming industry, and we are only at the beginning stages of addressing the problem here in the United States.

Taken from Polaris Project