Human Trafficking in Metro DC
The State Department estimates that each year 700,000 persons are trafficked across borders worldwide and that 14,500-17,500 are trafficked into the United States. These estimates do not account for trafficking of U.S. citizens or migrants who are trafficked once in the country. As a hidden, underreported, and unrecognized crime, the estimates of persons trafficked in the United States are indeed low. The providers working to find and serve victims in the metro DC area believe the number is much greater than we could all possibly anticipate. Every day in the metro DC area, people are forced into labor and prostitution.
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Few cases have actually been prosecuted in our area to date. The Washington Metropolitan area has seen a substantial number of domestic servitude and some prostitution cases. Click here to read some of these cases. Traffickers promise employment and housing to men, women and children in search of opportunities that for reasons of inequality, civil unrest and weak job markets they cannot find at home. |
Victims recount having had oppressive workloads, improper nourishment, negligible pay, and insufficient access to healthcare. Traffickers isolate them by confiscating their passports threatening physical harm if they attempt to escape or reach out for help. These intimidation techniques ensure that trafficking victims remain sequestered from the outside world and have little opportunity to be noticed or rescued.
Why Metro DC?
Certain factors make Washington DC a unique port city and destination for victims of human trafficking. On the broadest level, the large amount of commercial activity that accompanies Washington's dynamic population increases the likelihood of trafficking. Though trafficking occurs in both rural and urban areas, the city's abundance of restaurants, bars, nightclubs, hotels and factories creates a greater number of avenues by which traffickers can recruit and exploit victims.
Metro DC ranks seventh in the nation in the number of immigrant residents. In 2000, immigrants made up 17% of the region's population. This trend is especially noticeable in Arlington, Alexandria, and Montgomery Counties where some neighborhoods are as much as 61% foreign born. Such figures underscore the substantial increase in foreign-born residents these areas have seen during the last decade. While a growing immigrant population does not mean a greater incidence of trafficking, the resulting mixture makes networks harder to identify and victims harder to locate.
The large number of international organizations and institutions in Washington increases the potential for domestic servitude. Employees of these organizations are permitted to bring personal employees (domestic servants) from their country to work in their home. According to Women's E News, they have no protocol for overseeing the working conditions of diplomatic household staff or tracking the number of cases that have been brought against diplomats and organization personnel.
