Human Trafficking

By Rebecca White

A panel of local experts assembled at WSU Tri-Cities on Friday to discuss the issue of human trafficking in the Pacific Northwest.

The panel was organized by Mark Mansperger, a clinical professor of Anthropology at WSU Tri-Cities.

“It’s modern day slavery,” Mansperger said. “It could be agriculture workers, bus boys, little kids going door to door or a person making beds in a cheap hotel.”

Panel member Betty Adams, one of the original directors of the Tri-Cities Coalition Against Trafficking and president of the Faith Justice Network, stated that Tri-Cities is a major hub for human trafficking.

Its location, close to both Oregon and Idaho borders and freeways heading across state lines and Canada, makes it an ideal hub for traffickers to move victims through.

“If there weren’t customers here it wouldn’t be happening. Unfortunately there are always those who are willing to supply something illegally for a price,” Adams said.

Gangs often participate in human trafficking, moving people along the same routes that drugs and weapons are moved along. Known as the circuit, Tri-Cities, Yakima, Seattle, and Portland are heavily trafficked, he said.

“Many of the victims are from the Pacific Northwest area,” said Adams, “although some have come from other parts of the country, the demand is from local citizens in our community.”

Kay Olson, clinical instructor for community healthcare at the college of nursing, addressed the medical community’s response to human trafficking.

“Right now, my goal is to raise awareness as healthcare providers and what is our role in this,” Olson said.

Olson discussed red flags that medical providers should watch out for. Red flags include: older men with younger girls, an older person handling all the paperwork and doing all the talking on behalf of another person, signs of abuse, paying for the entire visit in cash, or some sort of brand or ownership tattoo.

Trafficking victims are often given a brand, such as pimps name or something similar to ‘daddy’s girl’ or a bar code, put in a place that’s easily visible to the victim.

According to the Polaris Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing human trafficking, the two largest forms of human trafficking are sex trafficking, 71 percent and labor trafficking, 16 percent.

“We have statistics nationally that put the trafficking industry in the USA at $9.8 billion dollars, with at least 100,000 kids exploited in trafficking annually,” Adams said. “Worldwide it’s the second largest criminal activity according to the International Labor Organization.”

People are rescued from human trafficking. The Polaris project identified over 17,000 human trafficking victims and survivors last year through their helpline and website.

“Many will not look for help until they’ve been out of trafficking for many years–there is a lot of shame associated with being a trafficking victim,” Adams said. “Usually they will seek assistance or someone will let them know what they are experiencing isn’t ‘OK’ and that there are resources for trafficking victims.”