Madison Thames, Staff Writer

Over the course of history many laws have been implemented to attempt to stop human trafficking in the United States. While the problem of modern-day slavery is not improving, we speculate on if the government is doing all that they can to actually stop it.

Even former president, George Bush, called human trafficking a “humanitarian crisis” of global proportions. However, the most prevalent fact is that Oklahoma City is the crossroads for human trafficking in the United States.

With this being known, the question I impose is why isn’t Oklahoma, or even the U.S. as a whole doing more to put this issue to a stop.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, the most recent law for human trafficking was the amendment of the Tariff Act of 1930 to include provisions to prohibit the importation of goods to the United States made by benefit of human trafficking or forced labor.

The way I see it, the more a problem increases, the more that should be done to help stop it. Not a single law has been passed in five years, but it is obvious that law did not put an end to modern-day slavery.

Especially since Oklahoma City is a huge foundation for the human trafficking ring in the U.S., being a young women in the area can be dangerous. I am thankful for both freedom and peace.

These are things that we, a lot of times, take for granted. Though there are a lot more people that have these things stripped away from them than what we realize.

According to Polaris, a National Human Trafficking Resource center, “from December 7, 2007, through December 31, 2012, the NHTRC answered 65,557 calls, 1,735 online tip forms, and 5,251 emails — totaling more than 72,000 interactions.”

Thousands upon thousands of American are being caught in this realm of slavery that they never even truly knew existed.

The biggest threat for human trafficking is that it is so silent. Most people think that slavery was abolished by the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, and that was the end of all slavery. What people definitely don’t realize is that there are more slaves in the world today than at any point in history, even when slavery was legal.

There are several everyday activities that we do and do not even realize we are supporting human trafficking to an extent.

When you watch porn, you support human trafficking without realizing it. Porn is the perfect opportunity for traffickers to exploit their victims.

Also what Americans don’t realize is how often the things they buy are made buy Americans that have been trapped in trafficking.

Nail salons and the hotels you vacation at are also very popular places for victims to be used.

Don’t take your freedom for granted. Do something about it. Become educated about the issue and share what you learn with others.

Human trafficking can be struck down so much if the word about it is spread and people become informed about the signs and precautions to take.