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Jed Boal ReportingHuman trafficking is a growing problem and an emerging crime here in Utah. A financial infusion of federal money should help the law uncover these abuses of human rights.
Human trafficking amounts to modern-day slavery. Federal, state and local law today received more resources to fight back, and there's new money to help the victims too.
Human trafficking and torture aren't topics we often tackle here in Utah. Kristin Lambert of the Utah Health and Human Rights Project today told a group at the University of Utah that those human rights abuses are real in our state. She likens it to domestic violence 25 years ago.
Kristin Lambert, Utah Health and Human Rights Project: "If we don't know what it is, we're not going to see it."
Traffickers prey on the poor, predominantly women and children, typically in South America and Mexico. They are lured with false promises of good jobs and better lives then forced to work under inhuman conditions. Wwomen and children are often sexually exploited.
Kristin Lambert, Utah Health and Human Rights Project: "It's something that is kept very quiet. It is a secret. Victims are terrified of the perpetrators; they're afraid to come forward."
The US Attorney says that makes prosecution difficult. A year ago a Salt Lake couple was accused of smuggling three women into the country illegally from Mexico and threatening to kill family members if they didn't pay thousands of dollars.
In New Jersey two women were busted for running a human smuggling ring that forces teenage girls from Honduras to work as bar dancers and prostitutes.
Today at a National Conference in New Orleans, the U.S. Attorney General announced eight million dollars in grants to combat human trafficking. Utah will get 450-thousand dollars for law enforcement and to develop a task force. The Utah Health and Human Rights Project will also get 450-thousand for its work with victims.
The US Attorney in Utah says the grant money will give them the resources they need to start investigating and prosecuting these crimes.
