Human Trafficking in the United States

In the world today there are about twenty to thirty million slaves in Human Trafficking. Human Trafficking is a form of modern day slavery that people profit from the control and exploitation of others. Human Trafficking is the third largest international crime today. 80% of human trafficking is sexual exploitation and or abuse and the other 20% is labor. 70%of human slaves are female or children. Shyima Hall was forced into that 70%, but was lucky enough to be able to escape the lifestyle of human trafficking. At age ten Shyima’s mother forced her to become a maid to a wealthy Egyptian couple for ten years. The Ibrahims brought Shyima to Los Angeles in August of 2000 on a six month visa. She worked up to 20 hours a day and made 45 dollars per month. Shyima had to sleep in the garage which had no heating or windows, enough though the couple had five bedrooms. She was told by the couple to call them Madame Amel and Haji Nasser, their five children often called Shyima stupid. Her jobs included vacuuming the whole entire two story house, making the beds,washing the dishes, and doing the laundry. The couple was never happy with the job Shyima did; it was never clean enough or always dirty to them.

On April 3,2002 an anonymous caller called the California Department of Social Services and reported that a young girl was living in the garage inside the couple’s house. A few days later Nasser Ibrahim opened the door to a detective asking if he had any young children living in the house. He answered no, no, yes “a distance relative”, but not in school yet. Shyima lied to the police for four months during the investigation because that is what the Ibrahims told her to do. Investigators arranged for Shyima to speak with her family. Her parents are telling her at this is all her fault, and that she is the reason that her mother had a heart attack. Three years later Shyima breaks off all contact with her family and refuses to speak Arabic. In the 2006 trial the Ibrahims describe Shyima as part of their family and even took her to DisneyLand, but she was only allowed to carry their bags. Later that year the Ibrahims plead guilty to all charges had to pay 76,000 dollars in fines. Nasser Ibrahim was sentenced to three years in prison and his wife 22 months in prison, and they both had to be deported. At age 13 Shyima decided to to stay in the United States. Then at the age of 19 she got adopted by Chuck and Jenny, they live near Disneyland and they go there often.

Human trafficking doesn’t just happen in California it even happens right here in Ohio. The common age in Ohio is 13 years old. Over 1000 children are believed to be sexully abused not including the countless adult sex trafficking and labor trafficking victims. Ohio has the most truck stops in the U.S., where most of the sex trafficking of minors happens. Ohio was ranked 45 out of 50 in children’s vulnerability of homelessness, and has high levels of poverty in most cities. A trafficker is someone who profits by receiving cash for having sex with a minor.Traffickers sell underage girls for 400 dollars per hour or more. Signs that a child could be in the human trafficking industry. They have a history of sexual abuse or rape. Having difficulty in school or dropping out. Travel with a significantly older male that is not their legal guardian. The child runs away chronically and has multiple delinquante records. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement(ICE) helps victims of human trafficking and is trying stop it. At age 22 Shyima Hall becomes a Naturalized U.S. Citizen, in front of a federal judge in California with 900 other people. A close friend Mark Bend and ICE federal agent was at her citizenship. After everything that has happened to Shyima, and she wants to become a ICE Homeland Security Investigator.