Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm going to do something completely different now.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
So this is a topic that's extremely important, extremely serious,
much in the news, and yet even though it's much
in the news, I get the sense that a lot
of people have heard the buzzwords, and I may include
myself in this, have heard the buzzwords, but don't really
understand much more than that. Joining us right now is
Erica Reid. She's acting Section chief at the Center for
(00:24):
Countering Human Trafficking at DHS, the Department of Homeland Security,
and we're going to talk about a new back to
school initiative that they are putting forward to well educate
a lot of different people who need to know. Erica,
Welcome to Kaaway and thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
For being here, Thank you for having us, and good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I see a sign behind you that says Blue Campaign,
and I have Blue Campaign in my notes as well,
but I don't know what it is, so can you
please tell us?
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Oh? Absolutely, I love talking about who we are. So
the Blue Campaign we are a national public awareness campaign.
Our job is to date the public on how to
recognize and report possible cases.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Of human trafficking.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
And the way do we do that is we work
with subject matter experts to develop our training and our
awareness material. Our subject matter experts are, of course law
enforcement service providers and users, but most importantly they are
also our lived experience experts, meaning survivors of human trafficking,
and they help us make sure it's realistic and relevant
when we're going out to talk to the communities.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
All Right, I'm going to ask you a really naive question,
but I just want to get everybody on the same page.
I hear the term human trafficking a lot, but I
don't exactly know what it means, or at least I
don't exactly.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Know what all it includes.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So could you give us kind of a good, plain
English working definition of human trafficking?
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Absolutely, and that is not a bad question. This is
exactly why we're here. So, human trafficking is a crime,
and it's a crime of exploiting a person, meaning using
a person for either commercial sex or force labor. And
they're either going to do it through force forcing them
to do it, frauding them to do it.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
And or comhursing them to do it.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Now, since we're here, when we're talking about children, we
have to understand that any child engaging in commercial sex
acts under the age of it. Of course, they're under
the age of eighteen. Force, fraud and cohersion does not
have to be involved with them to be considered human
trafficking victims.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Well, so so with somebody with a a with a
sixteen year old. If a person takes a sixteen year
old and suggests to them that, you know, I'll make this,
I'll make this character. A girl suggests to this girl,
you you should have sex with such and such a
person and I'll split the money with you, and then
we're going to go this other place and do it again.
(02:53):
It doesn't matter if the sixteen year old does it voluntarily,
it still counts as human trafficking.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Is that what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
I'm saying that.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
So it's if there's no force, there's no fraud or cohersion,
if they're engaging in commercial sex act and there then
it is considered human trafficking.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
So one of the things that I understand you're doing
it blue campaign right now, and I think I mentioned
this in my introducing you, is a back to school initiative.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
So talk talk.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
To us a little bit about what we I'm a parent,
what we as parents or or people who may be
worked at schools or need to be looking at, looking
looking out for, and maybe what we might talk to
our children about for them to keep an eye out for.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
I imagine that's not an easy conversation.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Though it isn't an easy conversation, but we know that
it's a conversation that's needed. I'll start with the first part.
I always tell people to go to our website.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Because we're short on time.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
We don't want to give you a whole list of indicators.
So I always say go to DHS dot gov slash
blue camp to look at a list of indicators. So
some indicators that I can give you today for parents
and adults that work with you because they know them
and they're in their space every day, would be bruising
and bruising in a sense of not they play a
(04:14):
sport and they have bruises, but you notice that they
have new bruisings. Another one could be tattoos or brandings.
And when we think about tattoos, not the coming of
age tattoos, not the best friend tattoos, but you know
that this kid, You're like, Hey, what's this tattoo mean?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Where does it come from?
Speaker 4 (04:29):
We know that traffickers actually tattoo those that they are
that are being victimized that they're trafficking as a sign
of that they possess them.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Another one could be behavioral changes.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
Like I said, they're around them every day, and so
you wouldn't know if if a kid or that that's
in your life, or a student that was outgoing is
all of a sudden not as outgoing, very reserved, maybe
very private all of a sudden, or their grades have
changed a little defensive if you ask them questions that
maybe something is going and on. I do want to
point out that there are other indicators that people kind
(05:04):
of don't recognize. Is large lump sums of money. If
you have a kid that of course they have a
summer job or maybe even a part time job, but
you know that job is not paying that much. And
if they have those expensive items, then you might want
to open up the dialogue of going, hey, how's everything?
Where how did you get these shoes? Where did they
come from? These are nice? Those are opportunities to kind
(05:25):
of open at the opportunity to talk about it and
open at dialogue, and those could be indicators of human trafficking.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
We're talking with Erica Reid from the Center for Countering
Human Trafficking at the Department of Homeland Security. I think
many people sort of intuitively understand the risk of human
trafficking for and this isn't happening as much now, but
in the previous several years, people coming across the border,
being brought by coyotes, maybe being in debt to them
(05:53):
and having to work that off through this human trafficking
kind of behavior.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
But I think a lot of what you're.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Talking about today, and what I want more of the
focus to be on, as it has been, is human
trafficking of people already living in America by people already
living in America.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
How big is the scale of this problem?
Speaker 4 (06:15):
So we want people to understand is that, like you
just said, that trafficking doesn't have a face, So a
trafficer could be anyone, and so could the person being
victimized by the crime. So trafficking happens, of course everywhere.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
To say that the scale.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
Is kind of hard to say or identify the scale
because a lot of people that are victimized by the
crime are not even aware that they're being trafficked. It's
not until sometimes they hear about what human trafficking is.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
That they go, oh gosh, this is.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Actually happening to me, or I've seen someone else in
my neighborhood or going to the store that this is
happening too.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
All right, last thing for you, and I know you
touched on it already, but just in case you want
to add anything, what would be your single best piece
of advice for parents.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Education is key, not to not be afraid to have
that conversation with your younger people. First thing first is
I think every parent needs to learn the signs or
learn what human trafficking is.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
They can go to our website and learn it.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
They also can order materials or even download our videos.
They're all free, even the materials, and they can post
them up in their children's schools or even act the
school administration if they can post them up, take them
to the local libraries. But I think they also need
to cultivate an environment where children feel empowered, not just
(07:36):
empowered over their mind and body, but know that they
still have power to raise awareness too.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
So cultivate an environment where they.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Feel safe, you're the trusted adult, but cultivate an environment
where they know that they're needed to fight this crime
through Education.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Give us the website again that you want to refer
people to.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Sure, yes, it's DHS dot gov slash blue.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Campaigns dot gov slash blue campaign Erica read his acting
Section chief at the Center for Countering Human Trafficking at
the Department of Homeland Security. Thanks for your time, Erica,
appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Thank you, Thank you for having us.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Very glad to
I'm going to do something completely different now.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
So this is a topic that's extremely important, extremely serious,
much in the news, and yet even though it's much
in the news, I get the sense that a lot
of people have heard the buzzwords, and I may include
myself in this, have heard the buzzwords, but don't really
understand much more than that. Joining us right now is
Erica Reid. She's acting Section chief at the Center for
(00:24):
Countering Human Trafficking at DHS, the Department of Homeland Security,
and we're going to talk about a new back to
school initiative that they are putting forward to well educate
a lot of different people who need to know. Erica,
Welcome to Kaaway and thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
For being here, Thank you for having us, and good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I see a sign behind you that says Blue Campaign,
and I have Blue Campaign in my notes as well,
but I don't know what it is, so can you
please tell us?
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Oh? Absolutely, I love talking about who we are. So
the Blue Campaign we are a national public awareness campaign.
Our job is to date the public on how to
recognize and report possible cases.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Of human trafficking.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
And the way do we do that is we work
with subject matter experts to develop our training and our
awareness material. Our subject matter experts are, of course law
enforcement service providers and users, but most importantly they are
also our lived experience experts, meaning survivors of human trafficking,
and they help us make sure it's realistic and relevant
when we're going out to talk to the communities.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
All Right, I'm going to ask you a really naive question,
but I just want to get everybody on the same page.
I hear the term human trafficking a lot, but I
don't exactly know what it means, or at least I
don't exactly.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Know what all it includes.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So could you give us kind of a good, plain
English working definition of human trafficking?
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Absolutely, and that is not a bad question. This is
exactly why we're here. So, human trafficking is a crime,
and it's a crime of exploiting a person, meaning using
a person for either commercial sex or force labor. And
they're either going to do it through force forcing them
to do it, frauding them to do it.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
And or comhursing them to do it.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Now, since we're here, when we're talking about children, we
have to understand that any child engaging in commercial sex
acts under the age of it. Of course, they're under
the age of eighteen. Force, fraud and cohersion does not
have to be involved with them to be considered human
trafficking victims.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Well, so so with somebody with a a with a
sixteen year old. If a person takes a sixteen year
old and suggests to them that, you know, I'll make this,
I'll make this character. A girl suggests to this girl,
you you should have sex with such and such a
person and I'll split the money with you, and then
we're going to go this other place and do it again.
(02:53):
It doesn't matter if the sixteen year old does it voluntarily,
it still counts as human trafficking.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Is that what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
I'm saying that.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
So it's if there's no force, there's no fraud or cohersion,
if they're engaging in commercial sex act and there then
it is considered human trafficking.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
So one of the things that I understand you're doing
it blue campaign right now, and I think I mentioned
this in my introducing you, is a back to school initiative.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
So talk talk.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
To us a little bit about what we I'm a parent,
what we as parents or or people who may be
worked at schools or need to be looking at, looking
looking out for, and maybe what we might talk to
our children about for them to keep an eye out for.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
I imagine that's not an easy conversation.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Though it isn't an easy conversation, but we know that
it's a conversation that's needed. I'll start with the first part.
I always tell people to go to our website.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Because we're short on time.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
We don't want to give you a whole list of indicators.
So I always say go to DHS dot gov slash
blue camp to look at a list of indicators. So
some indicators that I can give you today for parents
and adults that work with you because they know them
and they're in their space every day, would be bruising
and bruising in a sense of not they play a
(04:14):
sport and they have bruises, but you notice that they
have new bruisings. Another one could be tattoos or brandings.
And when we think about tattoos, not the coming of
age tattoos, not the best friend tattoos, but you know
that this kid, You're like, Hey, what's this tattoo mean?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Where does it come from?
Speaker 4 (04:29):
We know that traffickers actually tattoo those that they are
that are being victimized that they're trafficking as a sign
of that they possess them.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Another one could be behavioral changes.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
Like I said, they're around them every day, and so
you wouldn't know if if a kid or that that's
in your life, or a student that was outgoing is
all of a sudden not as outgoing, very reserved, maybe
very private all of a sudden, or their grades have
changed a little defensive if you ask them questions that
maybe something is going and on. I do want to
point out that there are other indicators that people kind
(05:04):
of don't recognize. Is large lump sums of money. If
you have a kid that of course they have a
summer job or maybe even a part time job, but
you know that job is not paying that much. And
if they have those expensive items, then you might want
to open up the dialogue of going, hey, how's everything?
Where how did you get these shoes? Where did they
come from? These are nice? Those are opportunities to kind
(05:25):
of open at the opportunity to talk about it and
open at dialogue, and those could be indicators of human trafficking.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
We're talking with Erica Reid from the Center for Countering
Human Trafficking at the Department of Homeland Security. I think
many people sort of intuitively understand the risk of human
trafficking for and this isn't happening as much now, but
in the previous several years, people coming across the border,
being brought by coyotes, maybe being in debt to them
(05:53):
and having to work that off through this human trafficking
kind of behavior.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
But I think a lot of what you're.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Talking about today, and what I want more of the
focus to be on, as it has been, is human
trafficking of people already living in America by people already
living in America.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
How big is the scale of this problem?
Speaker 4 (06:15):
So we want people to understand is that, like you
just said, that trafficking doesn't have a face, So a
trafficer could be anyone, and so could the person being
victimized by the crime. So trafficking happens, of course everywhere.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
To say that the scale.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
Is kind of hard to say or identify the scale
because a lot of people that are victimized by the
crime are not even aware that they're being trafficked. It's
not until sometimes they hear about what human trafficking is.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
That they go, oh gosh, this is.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Actually happening to me, or I've seen someone else in
my neighborhood or going to the store that this is
happening too.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
All right, last thing for you, and I know you
touched on it already, but just in case you want
to add anything, what would be your single best piece
of advice for parents.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Education is key, not to not be afraid to have
that conversation with your younger people. First thing first is
I think every parent needs to learn the signs or
learn what human trafficking is.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
They can go to our website and learn it.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
They also can order materials or even download our videos.
They're all free, even the materials, and they can post
them up in their children's schools or even act the
school administration if they can post them up, take them
to the local libraries. But I think they also need
to cultivate an environment where children feel empowered, not just
(07:36):
empowered over their mind and body, but know that they
still have power to raise awareness too.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
So cultivate an environment where they.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Feel safe, you're the trusted adult, but cultivate an environment
where they know that they're needed to fight this crime
through Education.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Give us the website again that you want to refer
people to.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Sure, yes, it's DHS dot gov slash blue.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Campaigns dot gov slash blue campaign Erica read his acting
Section chief at the Center for Countering Human Trafficking at
the Department of Homeland Security. Thanks for your time, Erica,
appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Thank you, Thank you for having us.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Very glad to
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