New data just released from the Polaris National Human Trafficking Hotline shows a disturbing uptick in human trafficking across the country. In 2018, the number of calls for help to the hotline jumped 25% to 51,919 cases.
The hotline deals with various types of human trafficking, mainly forced labor and sex trafficking, However, most of the calls received are tips reporting sex trafficking.
Polaris reports there were more than 900 calls to the hotline reporting sex trafficking in Georgia in 2018. Of those, there were more than 250 reports of sex trafficking, with women being the main victims. Many of the calls to the hotline came from the victims themselves. The top venues for sex trafficking are hotels and motels.
Many of the victims are trafficked in plain sight as they’re shuffled from hotel to hotel as to not rise any suspicion. According to Polaris, victims are sold for sex multiple times a day and live in isolation as their alleged traffickers control them with physical or emotional abuse. The victims never see a dime from the profits their traffickers make.
With the FBI designating Atlanta as a growing hub for human trafficking, it’s possible the number of calls to the hotline will rise in 2020.
Attorneys Patrick McDonough, Trinity Hundredmark and Jonathan Tonge recently filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against the owners and operators of several metro Atlanta hotels that are accused of turning blind eyes to the sex trafficking of four women within their establishments.
