Human trafficking is right there before our eyes

    Three weeks ago, on a Thursday night, a 19-year-old girl arrived at our Covenant House crisis center desperately in need of a safe place to stay. Our outreach team quickly learned that Roxanne was fleeing her pimp. She was obviously very frightened. Thankfully, Roxanne wanted to go home.
    Our plan was simple: a meal, a hot shower, a good night’s rest and a bus ticket. Early Friday morning, we put Roxanne (along with a bag full of snacks and sandwiches) on a bus to her Midwestern hometown.
    Kids end up “on the street” and eventually at our doors for a host of reasons. The vast majority have experienced years of physical and sexual abuse, violence and trauma. They have run away or been thrown out of homes that no longer want them. On the street and alone, most survive by panhandling, committing petty crimes, dealing drugs, trading sex for a place to stay and, the most degrading of all, prostitution.
    Convincing a young woman to flee her “man, daddy or boyfriend” is very difficult. Many of these young women have been brainwashed or addicted to drugs. Last year, we were attempting to rescue Gigi. Twenty-one years old, Gigi had already been caught up in trafficking in numerous southern states. Fear and addiction were her pimp’s weapons.
    As Gigi explained it to me rather bluntly, “When I look at a man, Mr. Jim, I see drugs. Either the man is gonna give me drugs for sex – or for the sex, the money so I can buy my drugs.” Gigi wouldn’t let us take her in that night. She promised to come back on Monday … and, sadly, never showed.
    The younger they are, often the less likely they are to take the life preserver when it is offered.
    Twenty-five years ago, prostitution and trafficking were at the street level. Now our outreach team, like the FBI, also connects through on-line dating services, where women are advertised, bought and sold. We send emails and texts to women who look to be between 16 and 22 years old. We are still very much in a learning stage, but thankfully we have helped a handful.
    The FBI, along with state and local police, have done a remarkable job over the past two years of expanding their efforts and operations (and partnerships) to literally save dozens of women. In addition to more on-the-ground law enforcement resources, we also need to spend time and money updating our current laws. In Louisiana, the women (17 years of age and older) rescued this month as part of an FBI trafficking sting were booked and charged with prostitution as criminals – not victims.
    We spoke to our Midwesterner, Roxanne, this week and are delighted to report that she is doing well – receiving the care and love she so needs after such a harrowing experience.
    Human trafficking and the sale of young women must be stopped. Prostitution is not a victimless crime. We, as church, must step forward to be a voice for the voiceless, to change the laws that need to be changed to protect these young women.
    Our Holy Father calls all of us to respect the dignity of the poor and the most vulnerable. Please pray for Roxanne and Gigi and the women throughout the world, our nation and our city caught up in human trafficking.
    James R. Kelly is executive director of Covenant House in New Orleans.