04 / The Threat
The problem is nationwide, not isolated.
Trafficking is a distributed, adaptable criminal market. It survives because exploitation pays, and because traffickers work in the gap between the threat and the capability to meet it.
Trafficking is a distributed, adaptable criminal market. It survives because exploitation pays, and because traffickers work in the gap between the threat and the capability to meet it.
Estimated illegal profits generated by forced labor each year.
Source · ILO, 2024People estimated to be in forced labor globally.
Source · ILOFBI field offices that have received human-trafficking complaints, covering every region of the U.S.
Source · FBICountries covered by UNODC’s 2024 global trafficking analysis.
Source · UNODC, 2024The FBI states that human trafficking occurs in every region of the United States, and that each of the Bureau’s 56 field offices has received complaints involving human trafficking, with more than 1,660 pending human-trafficking investigations. This is not confined to a handful of border cities or major metros.
The Office for Victims of Crime adds another layer. From October 2023 through September 2024, 288 OVC human-trafficking grantees provided services to an average of 10,505 clients per quarter. That is service-system evidence of a problem operating at scale.
The same system also shows a problem of under-detection. A crime can be widespread, damaging, and profitable even if only a portion of incidents ever become cases. Victim fear, trauma, dependency, immigration concerns, shame, distrust of authorities, youth status, and online anonymity all suppress reporting. Official guidance from DOJ, DHS, and the FBI points to the same challenge: trafficking often comes to light late, indirectly, or through another offense.
UNODC’s 2024 Global Report covers 156 countries and analyzes cases detected between 2019 and 2023. The number of detected victims in 2022 was 25% higher than in 2019, with a 47% increase in detected victims trafficked for forced labor and a significant rise in detected child victims. Women and girls remained the majority of detected victims globally, accounting for 61% in 2022. At least 162 different nationalities were trafficked to 128 countries of destination in 2022.
Criminal systems adapt to demand, conflict, migration, technology, and enforcement pressure. Trafficking is not static.
That cycle is the engine, and Millstone’s job is to break it: close the gap between threat and capability before exploitation takes hold.
Trafficking persists because it is profitable. Not every offender is in it for money, but the broader system survives because exploitation generates revenue and can be repeated over time.
The ILO reported in 2024 that illegal profits from forced labor amount to US$236 billion annually, and that forced commercial sexual exploitation accounts for more than two-thirds (73%) of those illegal profits, despite a smaller share of victims than forced labor across the private economy. Those profits strengthen criminal networks, encourage corruption, and undermine the rule of law.
Where there is money to be made from exploitation, there will be people who recruit, transport, advertise, threaten, host, facilitate, pay for access, launder proceeds, or protect the enterprise. Some are sexually motivated. Others are financially motivated. Often, the system contains both.
Read the full briefing · Human Trafficking & Child Exploitation
