a victim of human trafficking, but it’s far from the only one. Already, more than 1,200 calls have come
to the national hotline from the trucking industry — calls that helped identify close to 400 possible cases of human trafficking involving 692 victims, 234 of whom were minors. “It’s working,” Lanier said. “We get to hear
really cool things.” In Ontario, Calif., she said, a security guard at a truck stop who’d been
trained using Truckers Against Trafficking’s materials noticed suspicious activities going on at a motel across the street. After he called the hotline, law enforcement arrested three traffickers and recovered several victims — including a minor. Te warning signs of human trafficking
can be subtle, Lanier said. A lot of times, people who appear to be voluntarily working as prostitutes are actually under the control of a pimp. Tey may have been coerced or forced
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into prostitution initially and kept there by threats or beatings. If the person is a minor, she said, that’s the only thing that matters: Under federal law, anyone under the age of 18 who is being sold for sex is a victim of human trafficking. Te woman may be bruised, or talk about
needing to make a certain amount of money before she can go home. She may have a branding tattoo — something as blatant as a bar code, or phrases like “cash only,” “Daddy’s girl,” “money maker,” even just the pimp’s name. “Tey brand them like cattle a lot of times,”
Lanier said. Drivers might also notice two women —
one older, one younger — going together from truck to truck or into a motel. Te older one might be working for the trafficker — a victim herself, told she has to train the younger one. Te trafficker might drop someone off at the cab of a truck and come back 15 minutes later to pick her up. Tere might be, as in Kevin Kimmel’s case, a van or RV parked where it wouldn’t normally be, with men coming in and out of it. “We got a tip from a trucker’s wife about
a van at a truck stop in Brownsville, Texas,” Lanier said. “Men were purchasing girls brought over the border.” Lanier understands that drivers might be
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reluctant to get involved. Tat’s why the hotline is completely confidential. What they need to do in return, though, is try to give as much information about the situation as they can to the hotline so law enforcement will have enough details to take action, Lanier said: Location, time, exactly what’s happening, any license plate numbers or vehicle descriptions. Te trucking industry’s response and
willingness to get involved sets it apart, Lanier said, and both Congress and the United Nations have taken notice of its efforts. “Sex trafficking and labor trafficking
happen in every industry around the world,” she said. “It is the trucking industry that has stood up and said ‘We’re not going to bury our heads. We’re going to do something about it.’” For more information, visit www.
truckersagainsttrafficking.org. NT
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