What is Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain labor or a commercial act. Every year, millions of men, women, and children around the world are victims of human trafficking – including right here in Washington. Human trafficking can occur in any community, and victims can be of any age, race, gender, or nationality. Traffickers may use violence, manipulation, or false promises of good-paying jobs or romantic relationships to lure victims into the trafficking situation.

Human trafficking is the exploitation of men, women and children for forced labor or sex by third parties for profit or gain. In Human trafficking, there must be force, fraud, or coercion. Action, Means, and Purpose are three tools commonly used to understand human trafficking federal law.

Human trafficking is a global criminal industry that deprives an estimated 27 million people of their freedom through forced labor, with the broader category of modern slavery—including forced marriage—affecting around 50 million people worldwide. The illicit profits generated by forced labor now total approximately $236 billion annually, a sharp increase from previous estimates. In the United States, Polaris reported that in 2024, the National Human Trafficking Hotline received over 32,000 signals, identifying nearly 12,000 trafficking situations involving more than 21,000 victims. Since the hotline’s inception, it has identified over 218,000 victims. Human trafficking remains severely underreported, meaning these numbers likely represent only a small fraction of the true scope of the crisis.