Child trafficking

Human trafficking is a catchall term for exploitation of immigrants. For example, immigrant child prostitution automatically counts as human trafficking. According to Customs and Border Protection, "The victim may not realize that he or she is imprisoned, because coercion is psychological (it may not be physical). Victims are typically impoverished and financially dependent on their captors. Often the crime takes place in plain view-e.g. in a restaurant, worksite, or private home-and is not immediately apparent to observers. Victims can be exploited for labor, sex, or both, particularly in private homes."

Describing these relationships as a form of chattel slavery gives the government a justification to launch new initiatives to investigate them and to punish the older partners more harshly.

Very often the so-called "victims of human trafficking" must be forcefully restrained by their "saviors", or they will attempt to escape from their "saviors". It is quite common for those who have been "saved" and repatriated, to immediately turn around and return to either the country they were "saved" from, or another, similar country. Where they may very well be "saved" again, only to again be repatriated.

It is reminiscent of the instructions found on shampoo bottles: "Lather, rinse, repeat."