Sex trafficking is rooted in the cults of gender, race, class, and profit- and they flourish here, too. Here is a quote:

There is proof of regularly organized kidnapping . . . and deportation of girls, not only abroad, but to the . . . lumber camps of Michigan and Wisconsin . . . . In January, a Representative appeared before the House Judiciary Committee of the Michigan legislature, confirming . .. that a regular trade in young girls existed between Milwaukee, Chicago and the mining regions of the Upper Peninsula . . . the punishment is totally inadequate to the crime . .. The freedom, innocence and lives of such women are of less account in law than … property. If these girls were robbed. . . the law would punish the theft – but robbed of themselves, enduring such brutal outrages that [they may live] only from two to twelve months, there have yet been passed no laws . . . policemen, judges and sheriffs are found aiding and abetting . . . the traffic in girls from one part of the American continent to another is … a well-organized plan. . . The number of women and girls constantly reported “missing” is startling….

I know that none of that quote surprises the many here who worked hard for four years to finally achieve New York State’s first ever law against human trafficking. It won’t surprise those who know that a sex trafficking survivor is far more likely to be arrested as a prostitute than her captor is to be arrested for trafficking her.