DHS says human trafficking prevalent in our communities

Unfortunately, human trafficking is prevalent in our communities, according to Honolulu Homeland Security Investigations special agent in charge John F. Tobon.

However, the U.S Department of Homeland Security is hoping to combat this epidemic through its Blue Campaign that aims to spread awareness about how to spot human trafficking instances, and who to report it to.

In a virtual interview with Tobon, he shared that Jan. 11 is Wear Blue Day which was established through the Blue Campaign which spreads awareness about human trafficking and shows support for victims and survivors of Human trafficking.

“Blue was chosen as the color in support of spreading awareness of anti-human trafficking efforts and to support victims of human trafficking. So once a year, DHS promotes Wear Blue Day around the world. Again, the color signifies our support for victims and survivors of human trafficking. The reason we started to promote Wear Blue Day and why the DHS started the Blue Campaign was to make sure that we had the public’s input and interest as well as make people aware of the different kinds of activities where people, as part of their day-to-day lives, could encounter a victim of human trafficking,” he said.

When asked the importance of promoting the campaign, Tobon said it;s because human trafficking, which takes form as labor trafficking and sex trafficking, has become prevalent in communities like the CNMI.

“Human trafficking in the U.S. primarily takes two forms; sex-trafficking or labor trafficking. Both are very prevalent in our communities and all throughout the United States,” he said.

The goal of the Blue Campaign is to make communities, even as small as the CNMI, sensitive to human trafficking instances.

Some of the human trafficking schemes seen even in the CNMI, as per local news reports, are illicit massage parlors and instances where individuals are not paid their wages or are withheld wages.

These are schemes that DHS hopes to make the local community sensitive to in hopes that more incidences are reported as human trafficking is the largest unreported crime nation-wide.

“Our aim and goal is to make people more sensitive, and more aware of those kinds of conditions so we can also count on the general public to help us identify individuals that may need help and assistance. When we are talking about labor trafficking; instances where individuals are not paid what they’re supposed to be paid, paid under the table, or people who work whose pay is withheld. Those are signs. Another sign is when you have individuals who are working but their travel documents are held by their employer, that’s also a sign of labor trafficking. When it comes to things like sex trafficking, the most obvious one in our communities are illicit massage businesses. These are businesses where a massage is advertised but there is actual sex work going on in the businesses. That’s a sign of both labor and sex trafficking,” he said.

“These things are happening, and people are becoming aware of these activities but unfortunately that information is not getting to us. In many instances, that information does not get to us because people are unaware of instances that should be reported, or they do not know who to report it to. Unfortunately, these are one of the crimes that go largely unreported. The individuals that are being exploited and victimized as part of these schemes often are unable to report, or do not have the ability to report so the number of cases and number of instances are hard to pinpointed because it is one of the most underreported crimes that we have,” he said.

For those who believe to be victims of human trafficking schemes in the CNMI, or may know a victim of these schemes, feel free to call DHS’ tip line at 866-347-2423.

You may also contact the National Human Trafficking hotline at 888-373-7888