Human Trafficking defined: The trade of human beings through force, fraud, and/or coercion for the purpose of exploitation for labor, sexual purposes, or organs.
A human trafficker is anyone helping in any part of the process of trafficking: recruitment, transportation, harboring, exploitation. Both females and males have been convicted for their involvement as traffickers nationally and internationally.
Trafficked persons in the United States can be men or women, adults or children, foreign nationals or US citizens. Some are well-educated, while others have no formal education. People can become victims at any age, as infants and adults, but youth are especially vulnerable.
Note: Any situation where one is forced, tricked, or coerced into doing a commercial sexual act such as stripping, pornography or explicit photos also falls under the definition of sex trafficking.