Human Trafficking in Nebraska

Human trafficking happens everywhere, including in Nebraska. The conditions that make people vulnerable to human trafficking, such as discrimination, economic stress, food insecurity, housing insecurity, and migration, exist in every community. 

Human Trafficking is Exploitation

Human trafficking is a form of interpersonal violence that involves exploitation. This means that the perpetrator materially benefits from the abuse. 

When someone uses the term “human trafficking” they are typically referring to either sexual exploitation or labor exploitation.

• Sexual exploitation: According to the Women's Fund of Omaha, sexual exploitation is the exchange of sex or sex acts for anything of value when an individual is coerced or manipulated into the arrangement through a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust. “Anything of value” can include cash, addictive substances, food, housing, or access to social or political power.
• Labor exploitation: Labor exploitation is a predatory employment scheme in which individuals are compelled through force, fraud, or coercion to perform labor or services. 

Understanding Power & Control in Human Trafficking

Like other forms of interpersonal violence, human trafficking is based on power and control. These abusive tactics mirror those used in domestic and sexual violence and may include:

• Creating debt that can never be repaid; 
• Taking most or all of the money paid for services provided by the survivor;
• Threatening to harm the survivor or their family; 
• Threatening to report the survivor to police or immigration enforcement;
• Blaming the survivor for their situation;
• Targeting the survivor’s dependence on addictive substances or creating a dependence on addictive substances;
• Isolating the survivor from family, friends, and other social supports; and
• Inflicting physical and sexual violence on the survivor.

How Traffickers Exploit Relationships

Traffickers often build a relationship with their victims or leverage an existing relationship to gain and maintain power and control. A trafficker may be a family member, intimate partner, friend, or employer of their victims.

Human trafficking intersects with domestic violence and child abuse. Trafficking and exploitation can be generational. A trafficker can be the parent, grandparent, or extended family member of the victim. A trafficking survivor may feel a sense of loyalty to their trafficker whether or not they are biologically or legally a family member.
 

How Traffickers Exploit Vulnerabilities

Traffickers manipulate their victims by identifying and targeting their unmet needs. Traffickers manipulate the vulnerabilities of their potential victims by:

• Providing for their basic needs, including shelter and food;
• Providing access to addictive substances;
• Providing access to luxury items;
• Falsely representing an employment opportunity;
• Feigning a romantic relationship with the survivor; and 
• Using intimidation and threats.
   

Preventing Human Trafficking

Preventing human trafficking does not involve Hollywood-level heroics. We can keep our fellow community members safe from exploitation by ensuring their basic needs are met. We can end human trafficking by addressing factors that place a person at a higher risk of experiencing or perpetrating human trafficking and strengthening factors that make a person less likely to experience or perpetrate human trafficking.

Some of the risk and protective factors for human trafficking also serve as risk and protective factors for domestic and sexual violence. This means that taking steps to prevent human trafficking can go a long way toward reducing all forms of power-based violence.

The following are risk factors that must be addressed to prevent human trafficking:

• Abuse and neglect, including child abuse, domestic violence, and sexual violence;
• Disconnection from culture or separation from community of origin;
• Discrimination based on sex, gender identity, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation;
• Lack of family or community support for gender identity or sexual orientation;
• Lack of resources to meet mental health needs, including for substance use disorder;
• System involvement (child welfare, juvenile justice, criminal legal);
• Economic stress (e.g., debt, extortion, unemployment, underemployment);
• Housing instability, especially during youth;
• Food insecurity;
• Lack of familiarity with U.S. systems (e.g., legal, social service, etc.);
• Lack of understanding of labor rights; and
• Lack of work authorization.

The following are protective factors that must be strengthened to prevent human trafficking:

• Community support and connectedness;
• Meaningful connection to culture and community or origin;
• Acceptance of one’s identity, including gender identity and sexual orientation;
• Safe and supportive school environments;
• Connection with safe, caring adults and friends;
• Access to mental health care support, including substance use disorder treatment;
• Basic needs, such as mental and physical health needs, being fulfilled;
• Safe housing;
• Education about the warning signs of exploitation; and
• Education about healthy relationships and consent.

Supporting Human Trafficking Survivors

It can be challenging for a survivor to leave their trafficker. Survivors of trafficking face may feel a sense of loyalty to their trafficker. Survivors may also face fear, shame, stigma, or simply not understand that the situation is exploitative. In addition, the trafficker may be meeting the needs of the survivor, such as housing or food. 

Survivors of human trafficking deserve to be allowed to name their needs and receive support in meeting these needs. Addressing the circumstances that make a person vulnerable to human trafficking is an essential part of helping survivors of human trafficking to lead safe, self-determined lives.