A new report on human-trafficking shows about 240 underage girls are transported into the Kansas City metro area every month to be prostituted. The report, the third of 10 segments, is a joint effort by Shared Hope International and the U.S. Justice Department.
“This report says that we have effectively looked underneath the sex industry of the United States and found that most of the product being sold — trafficked victims — are children," said Linda Smith, founder and executive director of Shared Hope International.
The typical victim could live next door, Smith said.
“She is from 11 to 14 when she’s put into the trafficking rings," she said. "She’s often moved like any other product along a truck route or along a major hub. She is pretty vulnerable.”
Phil Cosby, executive director of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families, said the report should serve as a warning.
“It can be a wake-up call, if people will understand how dark this culture of sex trafficking has become," he said. "It can be a clarion call if we look the facts in the face and consider what to do.”
Shared Hope estimates up to 300,000 children in the U.S. are at risk of commercial sexual exploitation.
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Linda Smith talks to Turn Signal about human trafficking.
