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HUMAN TRAFFICKING

 
If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking help is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year.  A special nonimmigrant ‘T Visa’ can be given to an eligible victim legally to remain in the United States for up to 4 years.

Human trafficking is a crime. It is a form of slavery in which traffickers profit from the abuse of others.  You may be the victim of one of the following types of trafficking and need help:  

  •  Labor Trafficking is where people are forced into providing work or services for the profit of another through fraud, force or by physical means.
  •  Sex Trafficking is where people are forced into a money-making sex trade against their will.
Human traffickers separate victims from their support system and create surroundings where they have power over the victim.  The victim is kept in a state of complete dependency.  High levels of dependency often lead victims to ‘prefer the hell they know’ than face the uncertainty of a new world. 
 

Human traffickers may be neighbors, friends, acquaintances, family members, village chiefs, owners of small or medium size business, organized crime and respected members of the community. 

Victims may include people brought into this country in large groups, over the border or on boats, for prostitution rings or forced labor, such as sweatshops or farms or people lured into this country for work or promised citizenship that turns out to be forced sex or labor.  People brought in as spouses but then treated as indentured servants or prostitutes. Entering a country voluntarily doesn’t mean you aren’t trafficked.

If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, you may have been threatened with physical harm or your family has been threatened. If you’re a victim of sex trafficking you may have been told that if you try to leave, your family will find out what you did and you will be dishonored.  You may have been told it’s illegal for you to work and you will be threatened that the law will be contacted.  You may have been threatened with deportation and you may not be willing to share the information regarding the abuses you have suffered.  Human Trafficking is a crime and you can get help from a victim service program in the area you live or work. Click on this link and contact a victim service program in your area to get help.

Victims of human trafficking may be eligible for financial assistance through the Victims Compensation Assistance Program (VCAP).   They may be eligible for financial assistance with relocation, counseling, and replacement of some identification documents.  For more information please go to financial assistance  to learn about the eligible benefits.  

If you are victim of human trafficking and need help or suspect that someone else is a victim: 

  • Call 911 if you are in immediate danger.  
  • Call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.
  • Text the letters "Befree" or the numbers 233733 to reach the National Human Trafficking Resource Center.
  • If you suspect that human trafficking activity is present in your community, you may report a tip online.
  • Contact the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape (PCAR) at 1-800-692-7445.