What Is the Scope of Human Trafficking into and within the United States?
The prevalence of human trafficking into and within the United States is difficult to estimate for several reasons. Given the covert nature of the crime, accurate statistics on the nature, prevalence, and geography of human trafficking are difficult to calculate (Clawson, Layne, & Small, 2006). Trafficking victims are guarded closely by their captors, many international victims lack valid immigration documentation, trafficked domestic servants remain invisible in private homes, and private businesses often act as a front for a back-end trafficking operation, all of which make human trafficking a particularly difficult crime to identify and count (Kelly, 2002). Additionally, available data are often non-comparable, contain duplicate counts, are limited to information on women and children trafficked for sexual exploitation, and are inconsistently recorded due to differing definitions and beliefs among service providers regarding who is a victim of human trafficking (Clawson, Layne, & Sm
