Our biggest mistake is thinking, “this is a safe place.” After growing up in San Mateo County my entire life, I was naive as a child, thinking I was safe at all times.
As an adult, I feel gratitude for the safety I was provided in and outside my household as a child. Human trafficking is affecting people all around the world, even in places we deem as safe. Keeping children protected needs to be on everyone’s radar and innocence should not be taken advantage of. In recognizing where harm lies, humanity can do their due diligence in learning about misconceptions and helping children and victims in threatening circumstances.
Human trafficking affects 27.6 million worldwide and 100,000 U.S. citizen children are trafficked within the country every year, according to the American Bar Association. Human trafficking usually refers to “… the use of force, fraud or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act (Homeland Security). According to the United Nations, girls are commonly targeted for sexual exploitation while boys are exploited for forced labour, forced criminality and begging. We are taught that traffickers will find people in public, kidnap them and commit horrendous actions to them. The less commonly known tactic is a slow, but steady one. For example, this can be an “exciting” potential suitor for a woman. He is wealthy, showers her with love and, once the victim is comfortable enough, they are lured to go on exotic vacations and later exploited. The United Nations describes common forms of exploitation as forced labor, sexual exploitation, forced marriage, forced begging and organ removal, to name a few.
Recently, big events like Super Bowl XL sparked law enforcement to be on high alert as individuals flew in from all around the world. More than 800 federal agents from the FBI, U.S. Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were involved with navigating potential threats, human trafficking being one of them. It was a loud weekend in the Bay Area and leading up to the Super Bowl, the Oakland Police Chief, James Beere, announced 45 human trafficking related arrests were made.
For many of us, events like the Super Bowl are a form of harmless entertainment, but unfortunately, they also provide exploitation opportunities for traffickers. Locally, the Golden Gate Bridge and Highway 101 corridors are susceptible to trafficking activity, according to Marin County District Attorney Lori Frugoli.
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Raising concerns about human trafficking is necessary for the safety of our communities and children. It is not political, and it concerns basic human rights. On Super Bowl Sunday, a group of resilient women were featured in a public service announcement regarding their abuse in Jeffrey Epstein’s orbit, declaring three million more files to be released. Epstein, a convicted sex offender, was a powerful figure for all the wrong reasons, and it wasn’t until Nov. 18, 2025, that the “Epstein Files Transparency Act” was passed, releasing three million files with explicit and cryptic proof of sexual abuse. As you are reading this, victims are still facing a justice system dismissive of their experiences with repeatedly redacted files, specifically controlled by the U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Demand from victims has gathered worldwide support in the last year, but in 2015, one of Epstein’s associates Ghislaine Maxwell was accused of defamation by Virginia Giuffre. Unfortunately, Giuffre was also a victim of Epstein’s trafficking scheme and died of suicide. Survivors and loved ones are currently pushing for a bill called “Virgina’s Law” that would allow survivors to report their abuse without time limitations. Passing this bill would be a huge win for survivors.
New-age threats to human trafficking are happening virtually. Traffickers are using “sextortion” in which children and teens are coerced into inappropriate acts by an offender. Entry points can happen anywhere online: a game, social media app, messaging platform and/or website. A young user who interacts with a stranger can be unsafe for many reasons, but specifically with human traffickers, their methodology of communication can seem sincere and friendly. Educating kids about “stranger danger” is not just about what can occur in person, but online as well. Victims of sextortion have been as young as 8 years old, according to the FBI. Regardless of background, anyone is a target for these circumstances, making it crucial for parents to monitor their child’s device.
Human trafficking is not a light subject to talk about, but it is our responsibility to protect our children and believe survivors of these horrendous actions. If you believe someone might be a victim to human trafficking, call the 24-hour National human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or text 233-733.
Thanks for your column today, Ms. Espinoza. I wish you wrote this column five years ago so Biden wouldn’t have opened our borders and “lost” over 300,000 kids who were trafficked across the border, whether they wanted to or not. And let’s not get into the numbers of women who were trafficked across borders. Instead of putting the welfare of illegals and criminals over the American people and these “lost” kids, I wish Democrats would take on the responsibility to protect children and survivors. Such as doing something to help the Trump administration find these lost kids and return them home. But they won’t. Sad. Very sad.
Giselle - it is ironic that you are bringing up this topic up in light of the recent walk-outs by students. Most folks apparently have difficulty connecting the dots. Hundreds if not thousands of traffickers are being deported once finally in the hands of ICE. Sanctuary cities have been hiding these criminals for years. Students are now unknowingly abetting their crimes by protesting statutory and required lawful actions by our authorities. Entire school administrations are jumping on the anti-ICE bandwagon. You can't make this up. Have we gone crazy?
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(2) comments
Thanks for your column today, Ms. Espinoza. I wish you wrote this column five years ago so Biden wouldn’t have opened our borders and “lost” over 300,000 kids who were trafficked across the border, whether they wanted to or not. And let’s not get into the numbers of women who were trafficked across borders. Instead of putting the welfare of illegals and criminals over the American people and these “lost” kids, I wish Democrats would take on the responsibility to protect children and survivors. Such as doing something to help the Trump administration find these lost kids and return them home. But they won’t. Sad. Very sad.
Giselle - it is ironic that you are bringing up this topic up in light of the recent walk-outs by students. Most folks apparently have difficulty connecting the dots. Hundreds if not thousands of traffickers are being deported once finally in the hands of ICE. Sanctuary cities have been hiding these criminals for years. Students are now unknowingly abetting their crimes by protesting statutory and required lawful actions by our authorities. Entire school administrations are jumping on the anti-ICE bandwagon. You can't make this up. Have we gone crazy?
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