25 Million people
ARE TRAFFICKED WORLDWIDE.
We cannot end this one person, one survivor at a time. But with your help, we can target the systems that make human trafficking possible.
Myth
Human trafficking is always or usually a violent crime.
Reality
The most pervasive myth about human trafficking is that it often involves kidnapping or physically forcing someone into a situation. In reality, most traffickers use psychological means such as, tricking, defrauding, manipulating or threatening victims into providing commercial sex or exploitative labor.
Myth
All human trafficking involves commercial sex.
Reality
Human trafficking is the use of force, fraud or coercion to get another person to provide labor or commercial sex. Worldwide, experts believe there are more situations of labor trafficking than of sex trafficking, but there is much wider awareness of sex trafficking in the U.S. than of labor trafficking.
Myth
Traffickers target victims they don’t know.
Reality
Many survivors have been trafficked by romantic partners, including spouses, and by family members, including parents.
Who We Are
Founded in 2002, Polaris is named for the North Star, which people held in slavery in the United States used as a guide to navigate their way to freedom. Today we are filling in the roadmap for that journey and lighting the path ahead.
Serving victims and survivors through the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
Building a dataset that illuminates how human trafficking really works, in real time.
Turning knowledge into targeted systems-level strategies to disrupt and prevent human trafficking.
Protect Essential Foreign Workers From Labor Trafficking
The Administration can and must lead the way toward fixing the broken system that allows for – even encourages – labor trafficking of workers who are in this country on temporary visas. There are several steps in that direction that the White House and agencies can take immediately and others in which congressional action is necessary. The solutions are clear and the time is now.
Labor Trafficking on Specific Temporary Work Visas
The United States temporary work visa system is badly broken. From 2018-2020, Polaris identified some 15,886 victims of labor trafficking who held temporary visas at the time of their abuse. This report highlights the destructive practice of labor trafficking on temporary work visas, how the system is flawed, and the steps we need to take to fix it.
Human Trafficking Training
Compassionate, committed individuals that care are the most powerful resource there is to prevent and reduce human trafficking. However, to leverage this power, we must ensure we armed with the knowledge necessary to do the work.
