The Hidden Faces of Trafficking: Why Escape Is Only the Beginning

When most people hear human trafficking, they imagine kidnappings, locked rooms, or people smuggled across borders. But the truth is far more complex and far closer to home.

Trafficking often hides in plain sight. It can begin with someone you know... a family member, a romantic partner, or a group that promises protection and belonging. It can also begin with a job offer that seems legitimate until every freedom is taken away.

Two of the most common forms in the United States are sex trafficking and labor trafficking. Though they take different shapes, they share the same core: control, fear, and the destruction of a person’s freedom and dignity.

Sex Trafficking: Hidden Behind Trust and Vulnerability

Sex trafficking rarely begins with strangers. It often starts with people who earn a victim’s trust, family members, intimate partners, friends, or even gangs. According to Polaris, about 42% of sex trafficking victims were recruited by a family member, and another 39% by an intimate partner.

Traffickers know how to identify vulnerability. Runaway and homeless youth, teens with past abuse, or those struggling to belong are frequent targets. Recruiters, often called "scouts," approach young people at malls, bus stations, schools, or city streets, offering food, a place to stay, or affection.

Gangs also use trafficking to gain money and control. They lure young girls and boys with promises of love, loyalty, or belonging, then use violence, drugs, or fear to maintain power. The manipulation is deep and emotional; often making victims believe they are part of a “family.”

Real Examples

• Gang-Linked Trafficking in Los Angeles: In August 2025, a federal indictment charged 11 individuals connected to the Hoover Criminal Gang in South Los Angeles with sex trafficking a 14-year-old girl. The gang leader, Amaya “Lady Duck” Armstead, was accused of orchestrating the sexual exploitation of the minor. The case shows how gang structures intertwine with trafficking operations.

• Large-Scale Sex Trafficking of Minors: Between 2018 and January 2019, five defendants were found guilty of sex trafficking a minor across Virginia and Maryland. They trafficked the victim by force, fraud, and coercion, moving her across jurisdictions, arranging clients, and profiting from her exploitation. Combined, they were sentenced to a total of 81 years in prison.

These cases remind us that sex trafficking often uses the structures of crime, gangs, coercion, and exploitation of minors and adults. It isn’t neatly hidden, it’s embedded in networks.

Why Many Don’t Leave

• Fear and intimidation. Threats of violence or retaliation are constant.

• Dependence. Victims may rely on their traffickers for food, housing, or affection.

• Shame and confusion. Many believe the situation is their fault or that no one will help them.

• No safe options. Leaving can mean hunger, homelessness, or retribution.

Rebuilding After Escape

Healing starts with safety, secure housing, food, and trauma-informed care. Survivors often need long-term counseling, life-skills support, and education or job training to rebuild stability. With the right environment, survivors rediscover not just freedom, but their sense of self-worth and purpose.

Labor Trafficking: Promised Work, Delivered Exploitation

Labor trafficking thrives on economic vulnerability. Victims are recruited with the promise of good pay and opportunity, often through legal work visas or informal job contracts. When they arrive, they face a reality of confiscated passports, withheld wages, inflated debts, improper medical care, and threats of deportation.

Between 2018 and 2020, Polaris identified more than 15,000 labor trafficking victims in the United States who held temporary work visas at the time of their abuse.

Real Examples

• Signal International (Shipbuilding): Indian workers were recruited to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. They were charged over $1,000 a month for overcrowded housing and paid far below promised wages. Courts later awarded millions in restitution.

• John Pickle Company (Manufacturing): Dozens of skilled migrant welders were confined to company property, paid as little as $1 an hour, and stripped of their passports. The company was found guilty of human rights violations.

Labor trafficking also appears in construction, agriculture, cleaning services, and hospitality. Victims often fear deportation or losing everything they’ve invested to reach the U.S., so they stay silent, trapped in debt and dependency.

Why Many Don’t Leave

• Debt bondage. Recruiters charge excessive “fees” for travel or housing.

• Fear of deportation. Threats of immigration consequences keep victims quiet.

• Isolation and language barriers. Many can’t seek help or even communicate their situation.

• Loss of identity. Without documents, rights, or safe housing, victims feel trapped.

Rebuilding After Escape

Restoration begins with stability...safe shelter, legal support, and access to honest work. Survivors may need education and vocational training to rebuild confidence and independence.

The Common Thread: Feeling Trapped

Whether the chains are emotional, financial, or physical, trafficking traps people in cycles of fear and dependence. Many survivors describe feeling invisible, powerless, or unworthy of help. That’s why freedom alone isn’t enough. Survivors need consistent, compassionate support to rebuild their lives.

Where Restorative Hope Ministries Steps In

At Restorative Hope Ministries, we help bridge the gap between escape and restoration. Our mission is to ensure that survivors of all types of trafficking, sex or labor, don’t have to start over alone.

We partner with safe houses, advocacy networks, and local employers to provide:

• Trauma-informed workshops to support personal growth and development.

• Job training and employment opportunities through social enterprise and partnerships.

• Supported employment leading to a sustainable future.

Freedom is only the first step. Restoration is where new life begins.

A Call to Action

Trafficking doesn’t always look like what we expect. It can be a child in your neighborhood, a teen at risk, or a worker cleaning your hotel room.

But restoration can also happen right here, when communities choose to see, to care, and to act.

If you’d like to join us in supporting survivors or learn more about how to get involved, visit www.restorativehopeministries.org. Together, we can ensure every survivor finds more than freedom, they find a future.

With Hope,

Melissa Mills

Survivor Leader