Introduction 

It is no secret border security has grown stricter at the United States-Mexico border recently. The U.S. has roughly 700 miles of fencing along the border, record levels of immigration and customs staff, and exponential growth in immigration spend.¹ Current immigration policies have been touted by supporters as beneficial, including through their prevention of human trafficking. However, key immigration policies such as increased border security and the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) have had the opposite effect–making traffickers’ jobs easier. 

Human trafficking, the “crime of using force, fraud, or coercion to compel an individual to work or to engage in a commercial sex act,”² is the world’s second-largest criminal industry, generating an estimated $150 billion annually.

Reuben Rankin, 36, of Cleveland, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Pamela A. Barker to 40 years in federal prison and ordered to pay special assessments of $5,500 following his convictions at trial of sex trafficking of a minor, production of child pornography, assaulting a federal agent with a deadly weapon, discharging a firearm during a crime of violence and felon in possession of a firearm.

The 2021 Federal Human Trafficking Report was released today on our website. The Report, a project of HTI, is a continuation of HTI’s efforts to provide comprehensive data about every criminal human trafficking case filed in the federal courts each year. 

This year the Report features additions like more data on victims identified in federal cases and more information about defendants, as well as new data fields like locations where victims are commonly recruited, how victims are transported, pre-existing relationships between traffickers and victims prior to recruitment, and methods through which human trafficking cases are referred to law enforcement.

In exciting news, we are also launching a new website with interactive data dashboards from the Report.

The congressman from New Jersey said up to 30 million people a year are trafficked.

U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Joshua Lankford a/k/a “20-20”, a/k/a “Light Bright”, a/k/a “Yellow”, age 33, of Federalsburg, Maryland, to 17 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for kidnapping in relation to a sex trafficking conspiracy.

BUDAPEST, Hungary (CNS) — As thousands of refugees from Ukraine continue to cross over the Hungarian border, Budapest’s Keleti train station has become a central hub on their paths to escape violence and search for some sense of normalcy amid the chaos.

For the past two weeks, religious and other charitable organizations such as Caritas Hungary, the Knights of Malta and the Red Cross have distributed food, clothing and other items to the continuous waves of refugees coming through the station, which is always crowded.

The hustle and bustle at the station was no different March 12, as the various charities distributed much-needed food and basic materials not only to refugees from Ukraine, but also to the city’s poor and homeless who arrived at the station seeking help.

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Some familiar brand names were put on the newest “Dirty Dozen” list of companies by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation for enabling exploitation.

Those names include Google Search, Netflix, Twitter, Meta and Visa.

Netflix and Twitter are repeats from 2021, as are Reddit and OnlyFans. Others making the list, released March 8, are Etsy, Kik, Verisign and Kanakuk Kamps.

“We oppose all forms of sexual abuse and exploitation,” said Lina Nealon, director of corporate and strategic initiatives for the center, during a video call announcing the 2022 version of the Dirty Dozen.

“Last year, the majority of the list were tech companies,” Nealon said, as they “reap soaring revenue without making substantive changes” to deter exploitation.

MACON, Ga. – Two defendants guilty of trafficking a runaway Middle Georgia teen, forcing the victim to engage in sexual acts for food and shelter, have been sentenced to federal prison for their crimes. Demetrius Hunter aka Red, 39, of Albany, Georgia, was sentenced to serve 240 months in federal prison to be followed by 25 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to sex trafficking of children and co-defendant Tamara Taylor aka Coco, 30, of Albany, was sentenced to serve 60 months in federal prison to be followed by 15 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to use of facilities in interstate and foreign commerce to transmit information about a minor.