I recently read another case of high-ranking government officials not understanding the words they are using. I wrote about this almost two years ago, in “Human trafficking is not human smuggling” But, I suppose it bears repeating, especially when words matter, and words from both high-ranking politicians and the media get it consistently wrong.
In this case, a story was carried by WIBW in Topeka, Kansas: Sen Marshall: Cartels now make more from human trafficking than drug-running. In the article, it started:
He calls it a national security, humanitarian, and healthcare crisis. Senator Marshall clearly wanted to convey to Kansans how serious he feels the situation currently is at the U.S.-Mexico border. His comments came on a conference call with reporters Tuesday.
He began by saying that cartels are now making more money on human trafficking than they do moving illegal drugs. Marshall claims that cartels are charging Central American families anywhere from $3,000-$9,000 to get people into the U.S.
WIBW
The part Senator Marshall missed, was that charging people to smuggle them into the United States is just that – HUMAN SMUGGLING. Human TRAFFICKING is quite something different.
According to US Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) https://www.ice.gov/factsheets/human-trafficking they explain it this way:
Human trafficking and human smuggling are distinct criminal activities, and the terms are not interchangeable.
Human trafficking centers on exploitation and is generally defined as:
- Sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age; or
- Recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or slavery.
Human smuggling centers on transportation and is generally defined as:
- Importation of people into the United States involving deliberate evasion of immigration laws. This offense includes bringing illegal aliens into the country, as well as the unlawful transportation and harboring of aliens already in the United States.
While there certainly may be some human trafficking involved across the border, those numbers pale in comparison to the numbers of people smuggled across by the coyotes.
Unfortunately, when some people hear about these people entering the country, and they may be sympathetic to their cause, then they often make the mistaken assumption that “human trafficking” really isn’t that bad. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I tried to contact Senator Marshall to explain the error in his wording, but he failed to respond in the past seven days. Words do matter, so if you reside in Kansas, you might want to drop him a line and remind him yourself. He can be reached here: https://www.marshall.senate.gov/.
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Nine more articles you might find enlightening
The worst thing your child won’t tell you
What to tell your child before it’s too late
Can you believe human zoos existed in this country
Learn the dangerous language of human traffickers before your child does
Learning the facts about sexual violence – these stats are incredible
Want to get involved with ending human trafficking?
Saint Bakhita – patron saint of trafficking victims
Look beneath the surface – would you recognize someone being trafficked?
Make a friend – save someone from becoming a trafficking victim
