top of page
Search

This Shouldn’t Be Political: Human Trafficking Is STILL Happening — and Children Are STILL at Risk

(Our Schools Should be Safe. *Image from Wix/Darkened school hallway of lockers.)


I want to say this clearly and calmly, without hype or political spin:


Human trafficking is real.

It is happening right NOW. Every Hour.

And children are still being targeted.

With every enforcement delay or interference, a new child is becoming a victim.


This isn’t a past scandal. It didn’t magically end when a couple powerful people were arrested. It didn’t stop because we wanted it to stop or people in power want it to "just go away."


Human trafficking continues because it is immensely profitable, deeply organized, and often hidden in plain sight.


Caring about this doesn’t require a political identity.

It only requires a human one.


Child/Human Trafficking is a $236 Billion a Year Industry


Human trafficking means using force, fraud, or manipulation to exploit someone for profit. That can include:

  • Sexual exploitation

  • Forced labor

  • Coercion through threats, debt, or psychological control


Despite how it’s often portrayed, trafficking does not usually begin with dramatic kidnappings by strangers.


Most trafficking — especially of minors — begins with grooming: a slow process of manipulation that often looks like care, attention, protection, or opportunity at first.


According to the International Labour Organization:

  • An estimated 27.6 million people worldwide are trapped in forced labor or sexual exploitation

  • Human trafficking generates roughly $236 billion in illegal profits every year

  • Sex trafficking produces a disproportionate share of those profits, even though it involves fewer victims than other forms of forced labor


The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reports that children make up roughly one-third of detected trafficking victims globally, with girls especially targeted for sexual exploitation.

Boys are also trafficked — often through forced labor and online exploitation — but are far less likely to be identified or believed.


These are not activist numbers. They are conservative, mainstream international estimates.

Profitable, global criminal industries of this scale do not magically "stop" because a couple people were put forth in the press and seemingly "made to pay."


Why the Focus on Children Matters — and Why It’s Not the Whole Story


Children are targeted because they are:

  • Easier to manipulate

  • Less likely to be believed

  • More dependent on adults

  • Often navigating poverty, trauma, or isolation


Many children are not taken by strangers.

They are groomed by someone who first appears helpful, protective, romantic, or trustworthy.


While minors face the highest risk, adult women, boys, and young men are also trafficked, especially when they face economic hardship, disability, immigration vulnerability, trauma histories, or social isolation.


This is one system. It harms different people in different ways — but it is still one system.


Why Trafficking Is So Hard to Stop


Here’s an uncomfortable truth that rarely gets said plainly:


Human trafficking can be easier and more profitable than drug trafficking.


Why?

  • There’s no product to grow or manufacture; they merely groom and take human beings

  • A trafficked person can be exploited repeatedly

  • The crime hides behind “relationships,” “jobs,” or “help”

  • Victims are often blamed, dismissed, or not believed


This is why trafficking doesn’t end with one arrest or one investigation.


It ends only when

  • systems change

  • accountability is consistent, and

  • victims are protected instead of ignored.


What Grooming Actually Looks Like (In Real Life)


Most people believe they would “see it coming.”

But grooming is designed so you don’t.


Grooming is a process, not an event. It works slowly, creating trust, dependence, and confusion.


Common grooming patterns include:

  • Excessive attention or flattery: “You’re different.” “You’re more mature than others.”

  • Gradual boundary erosion: Jokes or comments that slowly become sexual. Requests that start small and escalate, often involving others.

  • Isolation: Encouraging secrecy. Creating distance from family or friends

  • Offers of help, money, gifts, or opportunities: Especially during stress, loneliness, or transition

  • Creating emotional or financial dependence: Making someone feel they “owe” something

  • Normalizing discomfort: “You’re overreacting.” “It's not a big deal.” This is normal.”


The Polaris Project, which runs the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline, emphasizes that grooming works because it is psychological, not because victims are careless or weak.


Why Neurodivergent People Can Be at Higher Risk


This is especially important for neurodivergent communities.


Neurodivergent people are not inherently vulnerable, naïve, or incapable.What increases risk is how society treats neurodivergent people, not who they are.


Research consistently shows that autistic people, people with ADHD, and people with other neurodevelopmental differences experience higher rates of exploitation and violence — not because of deficits, but because of systemic barriers and lack of protection.


According to the World Health Organization, people with disabilities experience significantly higher rates of violence and exploitation than non-disabled peers, including sexual exploitation.


Several overlapping, system-level factors contribute to increased risk:

  • Social exclusion and targeting:

    • Chronic bullying, marginalization, and exclusion reduce protective social networks.

    • Abusers intentionally seek out people who appear less protected — not because they are weak, but because they are less likely to be defended or believed.

  • Conditioning toward compliance:

    • Many neurodivergent people are raised in environments that prioritize obedience, masking, and “not causing trouble” over bodily autonomy and self-trust — especially in schools, therapies, and workplaces.

  • Differences in communication styles:

    • Grooming exploits ambiguity and emotional confusion in all humans.

    • Neurodivergent people are more likely to be dismissed or misunderstood when something feels wrong, which emboldens abusers.

  • Punishment for not following social norms

    • Pressure to conform to unspoken rules can make it harder to challenge unsafe behavior, especially when authority figures or helpers are involved.

  • Structural vulnerability, not personal failure

    • Higher rates of unemployment, underemployment, poverty, and housing instability — driven by discrimination and lack of accommodations — increase exposure to exploitation.


Organizations such as the National Disability Rights Network and UNICEF have documented how lack of services and protections increases trafficking risk for disabled and neurodivergent people.


This Is About Systems — Not Deficits. Neurodivergent people are not “easy targets.” They are often targeted because systems fail to protect them — and because abusers assume they will not be believed. That is a failure of systems; not a failure of neurodivergent people.

What Actually Helps — And What Doesn’t


What helps:

  • Education about grooming and coercion

  • Adults who listen when something feels “off”

  • Victim-centered support and recovery

  • Independent investigations and real consequences


What doesn’t:

  • Turning trafficking into a political talking point

  • Assuming it only happens “somewhere else”

  • Focusing on only one type of victim

  • Looking away because it’s uncomfortable


Protecting children — and vulnerable adults — should never require a political identity.

It requires attention, courage, and care.


A Final, Grounding Reminder


Trafficking thrives in silence, confusion, and deflection.


It weakens when people:

  • stay informed

  • notice patterns

  • trust their instincts, and

  • refuse to look away — calmly, steadily, without panic or denial.


This isn’t about fear.

It’s about awareness. It’s about keeping our eyes open. It’s about protecting the most vulnerable.


And that is something we should all be able to get behind.



Sources & Further Reading

 
 
 

Comments

bottom of page