Will Florida's new anti-trafficking hotline conflict with the established national hotline?

Florida is one of the first states in the country to develop its own human trafficking hotline, mandated by a new state law. This came after a bipartisan group of 35 attorneys general asked Congress to examine the National Human Trafficking Hotline, funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Their complaint is that the national hotline does not report enough cases to law enforcement.

“The only way to stop trafficking is to decapitate the snake and put the traffickers behind bars,” said Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody.

It was Moody who described his discovery that Catherine Chen, CEO of Polaris, a nonprofit that runs the national human trafficking hotline, had said, “We can't get out of this problem through arrests. »

“And so when I heard that, as attorney general, I first and foremost met with this executive and asked him why tips were being delayed for law enforcement, why tips weren't being given directly to our law enforcement,” Moody said. “And they said they were more focused on victim-centered approaches than putting criminals behind bars.”

Chen, CEO of Polaris since 2020, says human trafficking affects nearly 28 million people worldwide and generates approximately $236 billion in illicit profits — too large an amount for a single approach. Plus, she said, it's not about a trafficked person being kidnapped and then rescued – it's much more complex than that.

“Some people have relationships with their traffickers,” Chen said. “Some people are parents alongside their traffickers. Some people – their traffickers – know where their loved ones live, where their children live. And so, it's never that simple to be able to say that there is a moment when we are taken and there is a moment when we are rescued.

Chen says the national hotline reports about 30 percent of its calls to law enforcement. These include all cases involving abuse, neglect, or trafficking of a minor, which are reported to child welfare as well as law enforcement. Other cases involve violence or an imminent threat of harm or death…if an adult trafficking victim asks them to call…or if an adult victim asks someone else to call for them. Chen says the other 70 percent of their calls are either people who don't want law enforcement involved or are calling to access services.

“We are, I think, very expressly and specifically partnering with law enforcement,” she said. “And so I really want to state that we are certainly not opposed to law enforcement, and we work very closely with the state's attorneys in general, with the district attorneys, with the law enforcement federal order, but above all, we respect the fact that victims and survivors must be able to act.

The Florida House of Representatives voted unanimously in favor of the bill creating the state's new hotline. In fact, the human trafficking reporting feature was added to an already established hotline that also reports food stamp fraud and gas pump fraud.

Orlando Democratic state Rep. Anna Eskamani, who voted for the bill, says she doesn't think Florida's anti-trafficking hotline will conflict with the national anti-trafficking hotline.

“I hope not,” she said. “I mean, I will say that preventing human trafficking, overwhelmingly, is an incredibly bipartisan issue when there is collective alignment to do what is right. And there is also agreement that this is a problem in Florida since our two main industries are tourism and agriculture and these are the two sectors most vulnerable to trafficking.

Eskamani adds that many people caught in these criminal operations do not speak English and/or are undocumented. They may have come from another country to escape trafficking, so their dealings with Florida law enforcement need to be very thoughtful…

“…because there is a fear of expulsion. That said, the federal government has a visa process for victims of crime,” Eskamani said. “But not everyone knows that, and not all law enforcement officers are trained on this subject.”

Victor Williams is a retired Homeland Security Investigations agent with 14 years of experience in human trafficking. He is also the founder and president of Quest2Freedom, an anti-trafficking nonprofit based in Miami. He says the national hotline and law enforcement could up their games. He recently called the national hotline and had to wait an hour.

“This is not to disparage Polaris, because the only problem I have with them is the time it takes them to respond to the call,” Williams said. “But they do their work from a victim-centered trauma mentality. [care]. If the victim does not want law enforcement to be notified, we do not notify law enforcement.

He says law enforcement officers in all areas should be trained — not just those who work with trafficking task forces. And that they should learn to make their arguments without putting victims on the stand.

“..because I can't force the victim to appear if she doesn't want to. And I definitely don't want to put a traumatized person on the stand,” he said. “So what's left for me then? We have to figure out how to put this bad guy in prison without using this victim.

Williams also points out that most other states don't have their own hotline and therefore rely on Polaris.

The National Human Trafficking Hotline number is (888) 373-7888. The Florida Trafficking Hotline number is (855) 352-7233.

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